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Every team should have a Hobey Baker winner

By Michael Trzinski, 01/22/17, 5:00PM CST

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All it takes is a few minutes of a coach's time

Every year for the last several seasons, a fellow by the name of Jim Hayes has been spearheading the Hobey Baker Character Award, an honor that is presented to players from Wisconsin high school teams that display the positive characteristics that Hobey Baker made famous.

This will be the 12th season that the Hobey Baker Foundation has presented the award to deserving high school seniors in the Badger State. This award should be presented to the player that best exemplifies the sportsmanship and character of Hobey Baker.  Integrity, coachability, selflessness, and citizenship should be considered.  This is not a “best player” (i.e., Mr. Hockey) award but a “best kid” award.

So it is an award that is well-known among the coaching ranks.

The sad news?

There has never been 100% participation among the schools.

In the last five seasons, recipients on the boys' side averaged 56 per year, which is roughly 63% of the WIAA teams. On the girls' side, the number of winners averaged 18, or about 60% of all eligible teams.

My point is that this is an honor that should be passed on to a player on every team. Each squad in the state has a senior that is well-deserving of this honor.

And yet, on average, only two of three teams take the time to submit an application for this worthy award.

Here is my challenge to everyone reading this: contact the coach of the team that your child is on, or that you are a fan of, or that you are a coach in the team's feeder program. Let him or her know that this award is an important honor that needs to be bestowed on a player from each of the roughly 120 boys and girls teams.

Make Wisconsin proud. There is no excuse for a 100% participation level for this great honor not to be met.

The deadline for the great honor is February 4, 2017.

Make Hobey Baker proud!