Max Plante Takes Home 2026 Hobey Baker Memorial Award
Max Plante wins the Hobey Baker award photo from UMD Athletics
Max Plante has officially been named the best player in college hockey.
On Friday night in the Presidio Ballroom at the Park MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada, UMD sophomore Max Plante was named the 2025-26 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner. He is just the third sophomore in UMD history to win the Award. This also marks the seventh time in program history that a Bulldog has received the honor.
Plante was selected over Michigan’s T.J. Hughes and Denver’s Eric Pohlkamp, the other two finalists for the award.
“So special and honored,” said Plante on Friday night when asked about joining the prior award recipients. “The names that have won this award are really cool to look at, and to see myself among them is something truly special and something I’ll cherish forever.”
Moments before the award presentation, Plante was named a 2025-26 CCM/AHCA Hockey West First Team All-American. He also earned an All-NCHC First Team selection and was named to the NCAA Tournament Albany Regional All-Tournament Team.
Plante finished his sophomore season with 52 points, the most by a Bulldog since 2011-12, and his 26 goals is the second most since Mike Connolly, who scored 28 in 2010-11.
Plante became one of just 28 players in program history (82 seasons) to record at least 51 points in a single season. He finished third in the NCAA in total points (52) and game-winning goals (6), eighth in power play goals (8), and eighth in points per game (1.30).
The sophomore produced 15 multi-point games, including five games with three or more points. Additionally, Plante averaged 21:50 of ice time per game and recorded a +19 plus/minus rating on the season.
Plante will become the first Hobey Baker recipient since North Dakota’s Ryan Duncan in 2007 to return to his college team after receiving the award. He told reporters on Friday night that he intends to return to UMD for his junior season. This will allow him to play alongside both of his brothers, current sophomore Zam and incoming freshman Victor.
“I plan to come back next year,” said Plante. “Just the fact that I have a chance to play with two brothers at that high of a level, to try to achieve something I haven’t achieved yet, win a national championship. That’s kind of the goal, really, that I had coming into college hockey. Obviously, there's a lot of work to do before we get there, but to be able to do that with not only my brothers, but guys that I've gotten to know really well in my two years at UMD, and they're kind of like brothers now. So it's a super special place to me, and I just kind of want to give it one last go.”
Even UMD head coach Scott Sandelin had high praise for his sophomore forward after his record-breaking season.
“Pretty, pretty cool, I mean, special for him, obviously, for their family, and again, another one for our program,” said Sandelin, who now has coached four Hobey Baker winners at UMD. “We're recruiting good players, right? But again, you know, there's so many great players in the country, and even this year, there could have been five guys or six guys that probably could have won that award. But you know, I just felt Max was very deserving, because it was an important year for our program, and he was one of the catalysts to help kind of get us back on track and where we kind of want to head with the program moving forward.”
UMD’s seven Hobey Baker winners are the most in the NCAA. The Bulldogs now have three more than the next-closest programs – Boston College, Harvard, and the University of Minnesota, which all have four winners.