St. Cloud State University goal tender Charlie Lindgren is one of the few collegiate hockey players nominated for this year’s Hobey Baker award, the top honor a collegiate player can receive. Charlie, who has five shutouts this season, is the grandson of Shirley Lindgren of Lutsen.
Shirley Lindgren is a big fan of St. Cloud State University hockey. As the grandmother of star goalie Charlie Lindgren, she has learned to cheer for the Huskies, especially when Lindgren, a 2016 Hobey Baker candidate, is between the pipes.
Whether or not Lindgren wins the Hobey Baker award, the young man is one heck of a goaltender. So far this year he is tied for the most wins in Division 1 (15), and is somewhere in the top 10 in the following three categories: goals-against average (1.95), saves (626) and shutouts (5).
And he did that as St. Cloud played the toughest first half schedule of anyone in the country.
The Huskies are currently ranked No. 3 in the PairWise Rankings.
Lindgren, a Lakeview North High School graduate, is listed at 6-2 and 190 pounds. Like so many high school players, Lindgren played two years of junior hockey before going to college. In his second year playing for the Sioux Falls Stampede in the United States Hockey League, Lindgren was voted USA Junior Hockey Player of the Year.
The Hobey Baker Memorial Award is the most coveted award a collegiate hockey player can win. The selection process consists of three parts: First, head coaches of NCAA Division 1 schools nominate the top three players in the league and top three players in the nation. Next, hockey fans can vote for their favorite player online through March 6. This is where Shirley wants your help.
“Please vote for Charlie Lindgren every day through March 6th. Please don’t vote just once, do it every day. It takes only a couple of minutes,” said Lindgren, adding that voting must be done through Facebook.
Once Price Waterhhouse has tabulated all of the votes, the top 10 candidates are announced. From there a Hobey Baker Selection Committee narrows the candidates to three, and the winner is picked by a group of 27 individuals representing print and electronic sports media, and college hockey coaches. Fans will eventually have another chance to vote online for the recipient.
Shirley, like a lot of other hockey-loving Minnesotans, is hoping Charlie wins the award.
Next year Shirley will be cheering for both St. Cloud and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Charlie’s younger brother Ryan accepted a scholarship at age 15 to play for the Golden Gophers. He is a highly-rated defenseman who is currently spending his second year playing for the USA under- 18 team and is expected to be the second or third pick in the upcoming National Hockey League draft. Unless he goes straight into the pros, Ryan will be a freshman at the University of Minnesota next fall.
Another brother, Andrew, age 19, who now plays goalie for the Johnstown Tomahawks in the North American Hockey League in juniors, rounds out the hockey playing family.
“I spend every weekend watching hockey or reading about hockey or following it on the computer. I collect articles about my grandsons and save them. It takes up a lot of my time, but I am happy to do it,” said Shirley.
Their father, Bob, played goalie for one year for the University of Michigan, then played for the Saint Paul Vulcans.
“I spent years taking Bob to games and practices as he grew up,” said Shirley. “He was good enough to get a scholarship at Michigan. He’s lucky his sons are so good at playing hockey. It’s a thrill for him to follow them as they continue to play.”
Shirley has lived in Cook County for 25 years, currently at her home on Tait Lake. When her grandsons can, they visit their hockey loving grandmother on Tait Lake.
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