Scott Perunovich Wins Hobey Baker Award
The Hibbing native is the sixth UMD men's hockey player to win the award.
HIBBING, Minn. – UMD junior defenseman Scott Perunovich is the 2020 Hobey Baker Award Winner, edging out North Dakota forward Jordan Kawaguchi and Maine goaltender Jeremy Swayman.
Perunovich, a Hibbing native, was named NCHC Player of the Year after leading the league in scoring, the first defenseman to do so. He also became the first player in league history to be a three-time all-NCHC first team selection.
Perunovich was the second-ranked defenseman in the country with 40 points, which led UMD and was a career-best. He tallied 22 power play points and finished with 34 assists, which ranks first and second, respectively, in the NCAA. Perunovich was also a three-time winner of the NCHC Offensive Defensive Player of the Year.
Perunovich is the sixth Bulldog to win the Hobey Baker Award, joining Jack Connolly, Junior Lessard, Chris Marinucci, Bill Watson and Tom Kurvers. No other school has produced more Hobey Baker Award winners.
“I had my family and my grandparents around me right now so to be able to share this with everyone means the world to me. Just to be able to see the joy in their faces when [John Buccigross] announced it was pretty special. Lots of excitement, a few tears from a few people so all around it was super fun and I’m just super grateful to have my family around for this. If you’re a defenseman coming into college hockey, there’s no better spot to be than Duluth and I truly mean that. I don’t think that I’d have the career like mine with any other team,” Perunovich said on Saturday night.
“It’s a very prestigious award and UMD has won now six so to kind of join that club and add to it is very special to me. I betcha I’ve probably heard from all of them in the last few days so they’ve been doing a good job of reaching out and they care. That’s kind of what it’s like at UMD. Once you’ve been a Bulldog, you’re always a Bulldog and they’re always in your corner fighting for you, too. So to have all of these guys individually reach out and even some of their parents reach out is truly special and I don’t think you’d get that at a ton of other programs,” Perunovich added.
