St. Cloud State’s Jimmy Schuldt named a Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick Finalist

St. Cloud State University’s senior defenseman Jimmy Schuldt (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka H.S.) has been named as one of the three Hobey Baker Hat Trick Finalists for 2019, which was announced by the Hobey Baker Award committee on Thursday, April 4.  He is a top three finalist for the Hobey Baker Award along with Harvard’s Adam Fox (junior defenseman) and Massachusetts’ Cale Makar (sophomore defenseman).

This year’s Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced Friday, April 12 from the KeyBank Rink at The Rinks at Harborcenter in Buffalo, NY, during the NCAA Frozen Four. The 39th annual announcement will be televised live on the NHL Network at 6 p.m. ET.

The three finalists were selected from the initial list of Top Ten candidates by the 29-member Selection Committee and an additional round of online fan balloting to determine this year’s Hobey Baker winner. 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.

A three-year team captain for the Huskies, Schuldt recently signed a professional hockey contract with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights after the conclusion of the Huskies’ 2018-19 season.

He is the fourth SCSU player to be selected as a Hobey Baker Award Hat Trick finalist.  The other top three Hobey finalists from St. Cloud State include Mark Hartigan (2002), Drew LeBlanc (2013) and Nic Dowd (2014).  LeBlanc went on to win the Hobey Baker Award in 2013.  SCSU players have been selected as Hobey Baker Award top 10 finalists nine times since 2002.  The lists includes Hartigan (2002), Bobby Goepfert (2007), Ryan Lasch (2008), LeBlanc (2013), Dowd (2014), Ethan Prow (2016), Schuldt (2018 & 2019) and Patrick Newell (2019).

The NCHC Player of the Year and Defensive Defenseman of the Year, Schuldt ranked among the nation’s top blueliners with 10 goals, 25 assists and 35 points in 39 games played.  He finished his four-year career as a three-time team captain and played in 156 consecutive games at SCSU.  He departs campus as the Huskies’ all-time leader among defensemen with 118 points, 38 goals, 80 assists and 19 power play goals.

Schuldt was recently named to the All-CHN First Team for 2019 and was selected as a top 10 finalist for the Senior CLASS Award and as a semifinalist for the Sullivan Award in 2019.  A two-time All-NCHC First Team award winner at SCSU, Schuldt led the Huskies to a 30-6-3 overall record and a first place finish in the NCHC with a 19-2-3 record.  The six losses sets a new team standard for fewest losses in a season by the Huskies at the NCAA DI level.  Of note, SCSU earned the number overall seed for the 2019 NCAA Division I tournament.

A finance major at SCSU, Schuldt was a four-time All-NCHC Academic award recipient

and a four-time NCHC Scholar-Athlete award winner during his collegiate tenure.  Schuldt earned NCHC Defensive Player of the Week three times during the recent 2018-19 season.

The Huskies were ranked as the nation’s number one team 16 weeks over the 2018-19 season and entered the 2019 NCAA Division I tournament as the overall number one seed for the second consecutive season. The Huskies finished a very productive season, which included 30 wins (3rd in the team record) and set a new school record for fewest losses in a year with six.  SCSU won the 2018-19 NCHC regular season title for the second consecutive season and also set a new team record with only 85 goals allowed this winter.  The old record of 90 goals allowed was set in 2015-16.  SCSU also set a season record for fewest power play goals allowed at 17, while the old record of 18 PPGs allowed was set in 2007-08.

He is the son of Steve and Sheri Schuldt of Minnetonka.