The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Submitted by SJHL One former goaltender with the Flin Flon Bombers is in the running for the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in the American college ranks, and he needs hockey fans to throw their support behind him. Carsen Chubak played with the Bombers during the 2007-08 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season and is now in the Phase 2 voting for the Hobey Baker Award after being named the player of the year in the Atlantic Hockey Association while playing with the Niagara University Purple Eagles. Fans can go to www.hobeybakeraward.com and then look for the link to Phase 2 voting to cast their vote. There are several players to choose from with Chubak presently trailing by a large margin. Voting for this phase ends on March 31 and fans can vote once per day from now until then. Chubak hails from Prince Albert and after being the top goaltender at the 2007 Telus Cup national Midget AAA championship, which the Prince Albert Mintos won for a second straight year, Chubak took his talent to northern Manitoba and split goaltending duties with Calvin Bartel for one season. Wanting to be a starting netminder, Chubak asked for a trade and spent the 2008-09 campaign with the Powell River Lumber Kings of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League. In 39 games with Powell River, Chubak posted a 28-10-0 record with a 2.53 goals-against average and was named to the league's all-star team. Chubak then moved on to the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League for his final year of junior eligibility and after appearing in 50 games, where he compiled a 2.98 GAA and 21-19-6 record, he was offered a scholarship to Niagara University. Starting job Chubak landed the starting job as a freshman with the Purple Eagles, but during the ninth game of the season he was involved in a goal-mouth scramble and suffered a serious injury to his knee. Chubak spent the rest of that season having surgery and going through rehabilitation and when he tried to come back the following year it was determined that he needed hip surgery as well. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Chubak worked hard last offseason to get back into shape and when he arrived at camp he was No. 4 on the depth chart. A strong camp, however, moved him up the ranks and when the season started he was the No. 1 goaltender and never relinquished that role. After only seeing action in 10 games his first two years at Niagara, Chubak has played in 34 contests this year and at one stretch had a goalless streak of 258:32. Chubak has been named goalie of the week seven times and on two occasions was conference goaltender of the month. Chubak has a total of six shutouts to go with a 1.91 GAA and a 23-6-5 record, but the Purple Eagles were upset in the conference semifinal 5-3 by Canisius and must now wait to see if they get a wild-card berth into the NCAA tournament. The 23-year-old Chubak has one more year of college eligibility as he works towards a degree in sports management, but being in the running for a prestigious award like the Hobey Baker might only come along once in a lifetime.
