DENVER – Senior forward Jack Devine and sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium of the University of Denver Hockey team were named on Wednesday top-10 finalists for the 2025 Hobey Baker Award,  given annually to the top men's college hockey player in the country.
 
Devine, 21, is a top-10 finalist for the second consecutive season after finishing seventh in the nation in scoring with 56 points and ranking fourth overall with 27 goals as a junior in 2023-24.
 
This season, Devine has played in all 39 games and is leading the country in both assists (41) and points (54). He also owns 13 goals, with seven of his markers coming in the past 11 games and has scored 11 times since the New Year. On the power play, Devine has tallied five goals and leads the team with 27 power-play points (5g/22a).
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native is the first Pioneer to record back-to-back 50-point seasons since Daryn McBride in 1987-88 (58) and 1988-89 (51), and he owns two of just four 50-point campaigns by DU players since 2012. Devine, who also finished with the NCHC scoring title with 32 points, has registered at least a point in 32-of-39 contests this year and multiple points in 16 outings
 
Named to the NCHC All-Conference First Team, Devine produced two career-long point streaks of eight games, doing so to start the season from Oct. 5-Nov. 2 (1g/15a) and again from Nov. 9-Dec. 13 (1g/10a). He began the season with a career-high four assists on Oct. 14 at Alaska Anchorage and recorded multiple points five of the first six contests from Oct. 19-26 (1g/6a). He owns five games this season with three or more points, as he also achieved the performance on Oct. 26 against Wisconsin (1g/2a), Nov. 14 at North Dakota (0g/3a), Feb. 8 at Arizona State (0g/3a) and March 16 versus Colorado College (0g/3a).
 
Devine was twice named the NCHC Player of the Month, earning the accolade in both October and February. He led all NCAA players with 14 points (1g/13a) in October to also earn National Player of the Month accolades. The right wing had points in seven of the eight games in February (5g/9a) and recorded multiple points in six of the outings to be the first DU player to earn NCHC top players honors in multiple months in a single season since defenseman Mike Benning (December 2022, February 2023).
 
A finalist for the NCHC Forward of the Year award, Devine appeared in his 150th career game on Feb. 22 at Miami and registered two assists in the contest to reach 150 career points—the 22nd Pioneer to reach the milestone and first since Rhett Rakhshani in 2010. He is the highest scoring player in the modern era of Denver hockey and ranks 14th on the all-time scoring list with 160 points (57g/103a) in 157 career games, the most since Paul Comrie had 161 points from 1995-99. Devine is one of 10 players in the program record book to record 50 goals, 100 assists and 150 points in their career and was the first to join the 50-100-150 club since Dave Shields from 1986-1990 (71g/108a).
 
Devine selected by the Florida Panthers in the seventh round at No. 221 overall in the 2022 NHL Draft and helped the Pioneers win both the 2022 and 2024 NCAA National Championships.
 
Buium, 19, is tied for first among all defensemen in the country with 42 points and leads his position with 30 assists, which also ranks tied for second in the NCAA for all skaters. He has registered multiple points in 11 outings this year and has picked up points in 27 of the 36 games he's played in. His 10 goals on the year are tied for sixth among blueliners.
 
The San Diego, California, native ranks third overall on the team in scoring and is also third on the Pioneers in blocked shots (40) and penalty minutes (37), and he owns a plus-14 rating on the season.
 
One of two unanimous selections on the NCHC All-Conference First Team, Buium has registered 32 points (10g/22a) in the last 26 games he's played. He had his second multi-goal game of the season this past Saturday in Game 2 of the NCHC Quarterfinals against Colorado College and added a pair of assists in Game 3 on Sunday to help the Pioneers advance to their 11th straight NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals.
 
The Southern Californian owns four three-point contests in 2024-25 and began the campaign with three assists on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage. Buium scored three goals on Nov. 15 at North Dakota and became the first Pioneer defenseman to score three goals in a game since Ryan Caldwell on Feb. 14, 2004 versus Minnesota State. It was the 10th hat trick by a defenseman in school history and was just the third , three-goal outing by a rear guard in NCHC history—Western Michigan's Ronnie Attard had the previous two: Oct. 19, 2021 at Colgate and Feb. 4, 2022 at Colorado College.
 
Buium was named NCHC Defenseman of the Week three times, including earning the honor following a four-point weekend (1g/3a) against Miami on Jan. 10-11. Those were his first games back at Denver after helping the United States win its second-straight gold medal at the IIHF World Junior Championship. The defenseman served as an alternate captain on Team USA, averaged the second-most ice time among all players at the tournament (25:13) and had assists on both the game-tying and overtime-winning goals in the championship final against Finland.
 
A finalist for both the NCHC Player and Offensive Defenseman of the Year awards, Buium is presently tied for 11th in all-time scoring by a DU defenseman with 92 career points (21g/17a) in 78 games. It is the most points by a Pioneer blueliner in their first two seasons since Greg Woods had a pair of 52-point campaigns as a freshman and sophomore in 1975-76 and 1977-78, and it's the most points in a two-year period by a Denver rear guard since Matt Carle combined for 97 total points as a sophomore in 2004-05 (44) and as a junior in 2005-06 (53).
 
Buium was picked No. 12 overall in the first round by the Minnesota Wild in the NHL Draft in June 2024, two months after helping Denver win its NCAA-record 10th national championship. Buium was the first American chosen at last year's entry selection and is the second-highest draft pick in program history (Mark Redmond, 1984, No. 6 Overall, Los Angeles Kings).
 
Devine and Buium were the only two players from the National Collegiate Hockey Conference to be named a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, and Denver is the only program with multiple players to make the list. DU junior forward Aidan Thompson (18g/31a) was also a team nominee for the accolade.
 
The 10 finalists were selected by voting from all 64 Division I college hockey head coaches and online fan balloting. This year's Hobey Baker winner will be chosen from the 10 finalists by the 30-member selection committee, as well as an additional round of fan balloting running from March 19-30 on hobeybaker.com. Criteria for the award includes displaying outstanding skills in all phases of the game, strength of character on and off the ice, sportsmanship and scholastic achievements.
 
The final three Hobey Hat Trick finalists will be announced on April 3, and the Hobey Baker Award will be handed out on Friday, April 11 during the NCAA Frozen Four in St. Louis, Missouri.