Harvard men's hockey Captain Scott Fusco was awarded the sixth annual Hobey Baker Memorial Award as college hockey's outstanding player Thursday at the Providence Civic Center.

Fusco joined his older brother Mark '83 on the short list of award winners. No pair of brothers had ever taken two Hobeys--or any other major collegiate sports award--before.

The Crimson center was selected from among a group of 10 finalists who were announced after a vote of all college coaches on March 7.

The award winner was selected from among the 10 by a secret selection committee of 13 chosen by the Decathalon Club of Minnesota, the organization that sponsors the annual presentation.

The 10 finalists, in addition to Fusco, were Michigan State forward Mike Donnelly, Western Michigan wing Dan Dorian, Northern Michigan center Gary Emmons, Boston College forward Scott Harlow, Minnesota-Duluth forward Brett Hull and defenseman Norm Maciver, North Dakota defenseman Scott Sandelin and Providence goalie Chris Terreri.

Fusco became Harvard's all-time leading scorer this season and now has 107 goals and 133 assists for 240 points and a 1.97 points-per-game average. This season, Fusco has accumulated 24-44--68 for a 2.27 p.p.g. average.

Runner-Up

Last year, Fusco placed second in scoring in the NCAA with a 2.53 p.p.g. average and was one of two runners-up to UMD's Bill Watson in the Hobey Baker voting.

"I'm obviously pretty happy to win the award," Fusco said. "I'm kind of surprised. There are a lot of great players among the 10 finalists, and they've all had good seasons and could have won the award. I really wasn't that confident coming in that I was going to win it. I think I played well during the year."

Fusco faced UMD's Watson last year when Harvard dropped twin 4-2 contests to Duluth in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

This year, Fusco played against two Hobey finalists--B.C.'s Harlow and Western Michigan's Dorian.

Fusco scored two goals in Harvard's 4-2 loss to the Eagles in February and recorded three goals and four assists in the Crimson's 4-2 and 7-2 NCAA quarterfinal victories over the Broncos two weeks ago.

In his four years at Harvard, Fusco led his team to four NCAA tournament appearances and was named ECAC and Ivy League Player of the Year the past two years.

In 1984, Fusco took a year off from college to play on the United States Olympic Team, and this year he played on a U.S. Select team of the nation's best college players over the Christmas Break.

"The year I played on the Olympic team was probably the biggest factor in my improvement," Fusco said. "I went from a player who had some offensive skills to a much more complete player. It helped in terms of maturity and leadership."