DENVER – University of Denver hockey defenseman
Zeev Buium has been named one of three Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalists for the 2025 award, the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation announced on Thursday.
The Hobey Baker Award annually recognizes college hockey's most outstanding player that exemplifies character, sportsmanship, academic achievement and excellence on the ice. The 45th annual award will be announced on Friday, April 11 during the Frozen Four festivities in St. Louis, Missouri. The ceremony will be broadcasted live on NHL Network at 4 p.m. MT.
Buium, 19, is looking to become the third Denver player to win the award, joining
Matt Carle in 2006 and
Will Butcher in 2017. He is the third Pioneer to be Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalist since Butcher's win in 2017, joining
Henrik Borgstrom in 2018 and
Bobby Brink in 2022.
The sophomore was named the Player of the Year in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and leads NCAA defensemen in scoring with 48 points and ranks second among all skaters with 35 assists, trailing only teammate
Jack Devine (44). Buium has recorded a career-high 13 goals this season and has registered multiple points in 13 outings this year. He has also picked up points in 30-of-40 games he's played.
Overall, Buium ranks third overall on the team in scoring and is two points away from his second consecutive 50-point campaign. Buium is also third on the Pioneers in blocked shots (48), second in penalty minutes (44), and his plus-17 rating is tied for the fourth-highest on the squad.
One of two unanimous selections on the NCHC All-Conference First Team, Buium has registered 38 points (13g/25a) in the last 30 games he's played. He is coming off a five point weekend where he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Northeast Regionals after totaling two goals and three assists in victories against No. 2-seed Providence and No. 1 Boston College on March 28-30. The rear guard has tallied in each of the last three games for the longest goal-scoring streak of his collegiate career, and he picked up his fifth three-point outing of 2024-25 with a goal and two assists against the PC Friars in the Regional Semifinals.
The San Diego, California, native began the campaign with three assists on Oct. 5 at Alaska Anchorage and scored three goals on Nov. 15 at North Dakota to become the first Pioneer defenseman to record a hat trick since Ryan Caldwell on Feb. 14, 2004 versus Minnesota State. It was the 10th hat trick by a D-man 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 also recorded a trio of points on Nov. 9 vs. Lindenwood (0g/3a) and Jan. 10 vs. Miami (1g/2a) and now owns 10 such three-point contests in his collegiate career.
He 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 repeat winner of the NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year award in 2024-25, Buium presently ranks 10th all-time in scoring by a DU defenseman with 98 career points (24g/74a). 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 1976-77, and he is looking to join Woods as the only defensemen to reach the century mark in their first two seasons at Denver.
Buium was selected 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).
The Pioneers were the only program in the country to have multiple players named as top-10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, as NCAA-leading scorer
Jack Devine (57 points) joined Buium in that announcement on March 19. Junior forward
Aidan Thompson, who ranks tied for second behind Devine in scoring in the nation (20g/34a), was also a team nominee for this year's honor as the top college hockey player.
Buium is joined by Boston College sophomore forward Ryan Leonard and Michigan State junior forward Isaac Howard as Hobey Hat Trick finalists.
The three players were selected from the initial list of 10 finalist by the 30-member selection committee and a second-round of fan voting. All 64 Division I college hockey head coaches and a first round of fan balloting chose the 10 finalists for the selection committee last month.
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.
