ST. PAUL, Minn. – For the second straight season, senior forward Felix Trudeau of the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team was named a nominee for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, as announced Wednesday afternoon. The first round of fan voting in now open though March 8. 

The Hobey Baker Award has been presented annually since 1981 to the nation's top Division I men's ice hockey player, in honor of former Princeton ice hockey and football star Hobey Baker, who served as a fighter pilot during World War I. Per the Hobey Baker Award website: "Award criteria include candidates exhibiting the exceptional character traits of the award's namesake… Award candidates must demonstrate strength of character both on and off the ice, contribute to the integrity of his team and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game."

This year, voting will be done through text, as fans should text 26002 to 844-623-9688 to vote for Trudeau. 

Trudeau has gotten off to one of the strongest starts in the country this season, leading Division I with nine power play goals, while also sitting second in both goals per game (0.90) and hat tricks (2). The Terrebonne, Quebec, native leads the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) with 19 goals and 27 points. 

Trudeau tallied both of his hat tricks in a three-game stretch in November, doing so in wins over Canisius (Nov. 14) and LIU (Nov. 22), with a two-goal performance against the Golden Griffins sandwiched between the hattys. He has tallied a point in five of SHU's last six games, as the team is 5-0-1 in that run. 

So far this season, Trudeau has been named the AHA Forward of the Week twice (Nov. 18 & Nov. 25) and Forward of the Month for December. He is also quickly ascending SHU's single-season goals leaderboard, sitting in a tie for six and needing eight more goals to tie Nick Johnson's 27 from 2009-10.

The Pioneers have been surging of late, coming off a four-point weekend against AHA-leading Bentley last weekend. With those results, SHU moved into second in the AHA standings with 30 points (9-4-3). 

Sacred Heart heads to CT Ice this weekend, opening the event with a 4 p.m. tilt against No. 6/7 Quinnipiac at Yale's Ingalls Rink New Haven, Conn.