Wild Alumnus Emerson Named to List of Hobey Baker Award Nominees
WENATCHEE, Wash. – One of Wenatchee’s most celebrated junior hockey alumni is now a nominee to win college hockey’s most prestigious award.
Wild alumnus Quinn Emerson, who played two years for the organization during Wenatchee’s time in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), has been announced among the initial nominees for this season’s Hobey Baker Award, which is awarded annually to the top player in NCAA hockey. Emerson is one of 88 nominees from across NCAA Division I hockey, representing 49 different NCAA Division I schools, with the winner to be announced at this year’s Division I Frozen Four in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 10.
Emerson hails from Manhattan Beach, California, and is in his senior season at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. During his 2019-20 season in Wenatchee, the forward totaled eight goals and eight assists over 53 regular-season games, and led the Wild to the BCHL’s Fred Page Cup playoffs. After spending his 2020-21 campaign in the North American Hockey League with the Lone Star Brahmas, he returned to the Wild in 2021-22 and racked up 14 goals and 23 assists before departing for the college ranks. He briefly held Wenatchee’s Junior A record with seven goals in a single playoff series during the 2021-22 postseason.
As a Falcon, he has suited up for 122 games and tallied 57 points, blazing past his previous career-best with 25 points so far this year in 22 games. That mark is far and away the best on the Bowling Green State roster this season – his +12 plus/minus rating also tops the team, and his seven goals are tied for third on the Falcons’ roster. This year’s team sits in fourth place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings, just six points back of the league lead.
Fans can take part in an online vote at HobeyBaker.com through midnight on Sunday, March 8, and a second round of fan voting will be held among the 10 remaining finalists from March 18 to 29. The last three finalists standing, known as the “Hobey Hat Trick,” will remain in the running ahead of the final announcement on April 10.
The Hobey Baker Award was established in 1981 – nominees must demonstrate strength of character both on and off the ice, contribute to the integrity of their teams, and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game. The award is named for Hockey Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who excelled for Princeton University in both hockey and football during the 1910s before becoming a pilot in World War I. Baker died in an airplane crash in France shortly after the war, and remains the only person ever enshrined in both the College Football Hall of Fame and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
The 2026 Hobey Baker Award ceremony will be broadcast nationally on NHL Network and streamed live at HobeyBaker.com.
