Our countdown of the 100 greatest college hockey players of all time concludes, with Al Daniel profiling the top 25. Catch up on Parts 1, 2 and 3 here.
25. Chris Drury, F, Boston University (1994-98)
The multi-sport sensation out of Trumbull, Conn., emerged as a complete college hockey player with his sophomore surge en route to top-10 consideration for the 1996 Hobey Baker Award. Drury subsequently finished as the first runner-up in the 1997 Baker derby, then won the prize as a senior.
With that, the nation’s top-player laurel joined two Hockey East MVP awards, two Walter Brown Awards and one Hockey East top defensive forward title in his individual trophy case. For the team, his contributions yielded a pair of Hockey East playoff crowns and three straight Frozen Four appearances.
24. Bill Masterton, F, Denver (1958-61)
Masterton made a mere 23 appearances in his first season, but totaled 49 points in that span. An All-American in both his second and third year, he capped his collegiate career as the 1961 NCAA tournament’s most outstanding player.
His 196 points in a Pioneer uniform would remain a program record for a quarter-century. Those who have since surpassed him did so in a significantly greater number of career games. And to punctuate Masterton’s status as Denver’s most exceptional all-time forward, he is the namesake for the Pioneers’ MVP award.
23. Aaron Broten, F, Minnesota (1979-81)
Arriving at age 18, Broten was a prolific playmaking complement to sensational senior and near-1980 Olympian Tim Harrer.
A year later, with Harrer gone but with numerous veterans still vying for ice time, Broten followed his 72-point introduction with a 106-point tempest. By then, his goal-assist ratio was more balanced, and the All-American would go pro in lieu of the second half of his college eligibility.
22. Joe Cavanagh, F, Harvard (1968-71)
Cavanagh was the Crimson’s leading point-getter, an AHCA East All-American and an ECAC all-tournament honoree in each of his three collegiate seasons. Naturally, he garnered the ECAC’s top rookie laurel in 1969. He would add the 1971 Walter Brown Award as the top U.S.-born player in a New England program.
Four-and-a-half decades after his final go-around, Cavanagh remains the all-time leading scorer in Beanpot play with 19 points in six games.
21. Kyle Connor, F, Michigan (2015-16)
A 2016 Hobey Baker finalist and first-team All-American, Connor swept the rest of the potential individual hardware in his lone season as a Wolverine. As part of a 35-goal, 71-point rampage through the full schedule, he would claim the Big Ten’s regular-season and postseason MVP award, as well as the nation’s top-rookie laurel.
Not quite the same one-year wonder that Jack Eichel and Paul Kariya were, but an exceptional chapter in the Wolverine hockey annals all the same.
Tony Hrkac brought an exceptionally entertaining and effective skill set to Grand Forks. (Photo credit: UND Media Relations)
20. Tony Hrkac, F, North Dakota (1984-85, 1986-87)
As a rookie, Hrkac was a not-so-shabby third on UND’s point leaderboard, and averaged one assist per game with 36.
But after a year abroad with the Canadian national team, he returned to initiate the affectionately dubbed “Hrkac Circus.” A 116-point eruption led the surging sophomore to the Hobey Baker Award and the team to the 1987 national title.
19. Brian Leetch, D, Boston College (1986-87)
It is not often that a freshman blueliner cracks an All-American roster. But Leetch did just that in his one-and-done campaign at Chestnut Hill, garnering a slot on the East region’s first all-star squad.
Leetch’s accolades were a product of fulfilling the immediate promise he showed as a two-way, transitional sparkplug. In Tom Burke and Reid Oslin’s book, Tales from the Boston College Hockey Locker Room, former teammate Ken Hodge, Jr., recalled that “We just gave it to Leetchie” when taking the puck on a counterattack.
18. Mark Johnson, F, Wisconsin (1976-79)
The son of legendary bench boss “Badger Bob,” Johnson set a sensational tone as the WCHA’s top rookie in 1977. He followed that with two All-American selections and the league MVP laurel as a junior before leaving for the U.S. Olympic team.
Suffice it to say, he had nothing left to prove between NCAA boards by then. After anchoring a gold-medal strike force, Johnson would not return to Madison for his fourth season, opting instead for a pact with the Pittsburgh Penguins. But he still holds the Badger record with 125 career goals.
17. Matt Carle, D, Denver (2003-06)
A two-way force on the Pioneers’ 2004 and 2005 national championship teams, Carle sealed his collegiate legacy with the 2006 Hobey Baker. He remains the only defender to have won the award as a junior.
Four years later, then Denver-bench boss George Gwozdecky told nhl.com’s Bob Snow, “His last year with us, Matt really at times carried the team on his shoulders. He was rewarded with the Hobey, and that is unusual because that award usually goes to someone on a team with a lot of success.” (The 2006 Pioneers fell short of an NCAA tournament bid.)
16. Brett Hull, F, Minnesota-Duluth (1984-86)
Entering Duluth at a time when its core was oozing veteran offense, Hull made an immediate impact with 60 points. He would promptly build on that top-rookie campaign by averaging two points per night (84 in 42) en route to new UMD all-time records as a sophomore.
Even if all other localities remember Brett Hull for his NHL resume, Duluth hockey fans will readily recall where he spent the last of his amateur playing days. (Photo by B Bennett/Getty Images)
15. Robb Stauber, G, Minnesota (1986-89)
Two celestial campaigns as the 1988 Hobey Baker winner and 1989 runner-up cemented Stauber’s legacy.
In his hardware-laden season, he typified durability by starting and claiming the decision each night in a 34-10-0 run. His efficiency peaked the following year with a 2.43 goals-against average in 34 appearances.
14. Johnny Gaudreau, F, Boston College (2011-14)
Gaudreau’s celestial profile came into full view during his freshman postseason, as he keyed the Eagles’ drive to the Hockey East and national title.
His production pace surged in his sophomore campaign, which culminated in a Hobey Hat Trick selection. And he swelled his scoring data all the more as a junior, averaging precisely two points per game with 80 in 40. That would be good for a first-place finish in the Hobey derby, followed by a pro contract in lieu of his senior campaign.
13. Bill Steenson, D, North Dakota (1956-59)
Following Steenson’s death in 2011, Grand Forks Herald beat reporter Brad Elliott Schlossman dusted off this anecdote in a blog post:
“The Moose Jaw, Sask., native was widely respected as evidenced by a conversation that Herald writer Virg Foss had with legendary coach Herb Brooks in the early 1980s (after the Miracle on Ice). Brooks told Foss that Steenson was the best and toughest defenseman he ever saw.”
Brooks was hardly alone. Steenson has sparse company with Harvard’s Mark Fusco (more on him later) among rearguards who have been selected to three All-American teams. To put the syrup on that decadent resume, he captained UND’s 1959 national championship team.
12. Brendan Morrison, F, Michigan (1993-97)
Morrison was a key cog in four consecutive races to first place in the CCHA. In his latter three campaigns, he topped the Wolverines scoring leaderboard and led the club to three straight Frozen Fours.
A repeat CCHA MVP as an upperclassman, he would also finish among the top 10 Hobey Baker nominees on three occasions, finally winning as a senior in 1997. But that was not before he punctuated the 1996 NCAA championship with an overtime clincher and tournament MVP honors.
11. Neal Broten, F, Minnesota (1978-79, 1980-81)
A dynamic playmaker and clutch goal-getter, Broten sandwiched two 71-point runs as a Gopher around a year-long tour with the 1980 Miracle on Ice team. Before his journey to Lake Placid, he won the WCHA’s top-rookie crown in 1979.
Upon returning to campus, Broten showed no signs of post-Olympic hangover, winning the first-ever Hobey Baker Award in 1981. At that point, he had exhausted his challenges in the NCAA, and turned pro that same spring.
10. Jack Eichel, F, Boston University (2014-15)
The obligatory Kariya measuring pole followed Eichel throughout his inevitable one-and-done campaign on Commonwealth Avenue. The surefire top-three NHL draftee’s (ultimately taken second overall) insertion into the Terrier lineup played no small part in the program’s rapid turnaround.
With him as the new scoring pilot, BU went from a losing record the year prior to within one goal of a national championship.
9. Tony Esposito, G, Michigan Tech (1964-67)
The future Hall of Fame netminder for the Chicago Blackhawks was a consistent rock for the Huskies. Esposito thrice led the WCHA in every key goaltending category, good for three consecutive first-team All-American selections.
Only one other goalie, Esposito’s future Summit Series teammate Ken Dryden, can make the latter claim.
8. Mark Fusco, D, Harvard (1979-83)
The 1980 ECAC rookie of the year and three-time All-American capped his Crimson career with the 1983 Hobey Baker, making him the first of (so far) only six defensemen to claim the game’s ultimate individual accolade.
7. Ryan Miller, G, Michigan State (1999-02)
The NCAA’s all-time career shutout leader with 26, Miller was a repeat CCHA MVP and the 2001 Hobey Baker winner. He turned pro following his junior season in 2002, but already had little left to prove in the college ranks by the previous spring.
Miller remains Dryden’s only rival in terms of posting otherworldly numbers every year in every major category. Per Inside College Hockey, he holds the second-, 14th- and 19th-highest single-season save percentages in NCAA history. Under the GAA heading, he holds the third-, 10th- and 17th-most efficient numbers for an individual campaign.
6. Keith Magnuson, D, Denver (1966-69)
The late legend always got his due credit for the invaluable grunt work he did on the home front. There may be some merit to the notion that defensemen are too readily awarded solely for point production, but the stay-at-home Magnuson is widely considered the best rearguard in WCHA history.
While compiling a modest-for-the-era 75 points in three seasons, he garnered the league’s top-rookie laurel. He followed that up with two All-American selections and the WCHA MVP prize as a junior in 1967-68. More tellingly, Magnuson’s impact on the Pioneers translated to two NCAA tournament titles.
Following Keith Magnuson’s untimely passing in 2003, then-Denver coach George Gwozdecky called the former blueliner “Mr. Pioneer.” (Photo credit: DU Athletics)
5. Martin St. Louis, F, Vermont (1993-97)
Only once had the Catamounts enjoyed four consecutive winning seasons in their Division I history prior to St. Louis’ arrival. The size-defying sparkplug made a prompt impact with a 51-point freshman campaign, forming a dynamic tag team with classmate Eric Perrin.
The two would later co-lead the nation with 85 points as juniors, and St. Louis garnered three straight roster spots on the first All-American team.
4. Bill Cleary, F, Harvard (1955-56)
Singularity is a motif in Cleary’s legacy. He logged all of one year of recorded competition in Cambridge, but posted a still-standing single-season program record of 42 goals and 89 points.
That campaign parlayed him to a decorated run with the U.S. national program, and has made him the only athlete from any Harvard athletic team to have his number retired.
3. John Mayasich, F, Minnesota (1952-55)
Minnesota’s all-time career production leader stands alone in the chronicles of a program where supreme solitude is all but unfathomable.
Mayasich is the only three-time scoring champion in the WCHA’s 65-year history. He is the only Gopher with a retired jersey banner in his name and number. And he is the only recipient of the Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award to win the prize solely for his accomplishments as a player. (The rest have garnered lifetime recognition as coaches/builders or for a combination of playing and coaching.)
2. Paul Kariya, F, Maine (1992-94)
As close as Cleary may come, there has yet to be another one-year wonder of Kariya’s caliber in the NCAA’s annals. The 100 points in 39 games as part of Maine’s 1992-93 national championship run are self-explanatory enough.
Many forget, though, that Kariya returned for the first phase of the Black Bears’ title defense as a sophomore. All he did then was average two points per game over a dozen appearances before joining Team Canada en route to the sport’s final amateur Olympic tournament.
Barely 20 years of age, the undersized force had outgrown the college game with unprecedented rapidity and results.
1. Ken Dryden, G, Cornell (1966-69)
If the Hobey Baker Award had existed in 1967, it would have indubitably belonged to a then-sophomore rookie. Dryden went undefeated at 26-0-1 in his first of three seasons in Ithaca, coupling that record with a 1.46 goals-against average and .945 save percentage.
While he did not quite brush that statistical ceiling in either of his two years as an upperclassman, Dryden remained a dominant force. He still boasts three of the seven best single-season winning percentages, three of the top 11 single-season save percentages and three of the 18 slimmest single-season GAAs of all time.
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