Hobey Baker Award committee issues statement on doping scandal

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Liam
April 22, 2022 (11:54)

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The Hobey Baked award committee has issued a statement in support of Dryden McKay, the Minnesota State University goalie who recently won the award and was suspended for doping shortly after.

The statement acknowledges and supports McKay's defence to the allegations; the PEDs he ingested were done by accident in a contaminated vitamin he was using to treat lingering COVID symptoms.

In response to recent inquiries and social media traffic concerning Dryden McKay, the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Committee would like to confirm that we stand by Dryden McKay as the 2022 winner of our annual award. In January, the NCAA and Minnesota State University-Mankato were aware of the issue and concluded that it was fine for Dryden to continue to play. In addition, independent laboratory tests have concluded that the trillionths of a gram of a banned substance found in a January 23 blood test of Dryden McKay came from a contaminated, all-natural vitamin D3 immune booster. We wish him the best of luck as he continues to pursue excellence through character and hard work in the tradition of Hobey Baker. Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation

McKay will still serve a 6 month suspension, although this Carrie's through the offseason and will likely not affect his playing time much. He'll be eligible to play again in October of this year.

Elliotte Friedman reported many NHL team would still be interested in McKay, who posted a GAA under 1.5 and save percentage over .940 on the season - incredible numbers.

If this situation was indeed an accident from a contaminated substance, which has also previously been backed up by Friedman and now the Hobey Baker Committee, it's good to see McKay's career will not be too impacted by this scandal.

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