ANDY BAGGOT Insider

BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

MADISON, Wis. — Blake Geoffrion was chatting with his dad when his cell phone hummed with an alert that another party was on hold. The caller ID caused an instant reaction.

"It says, 'Barry Alvarez,'" Blake announced to his father, Danny. "That's got to be a butt dial."

Perhaps, but the son was overcome with curiosity.

"Dad, I've got to take this one," Blake said, ending the conversation.

Alvarez, the Wisconsin director of athletics, was indeed calling, taking part in one of his favorite annual projects. He was reaching out to the latest group of inductees to the UW Athletic Hall of Fame and Geoffrion was one of the 11.

"I was so caught off-guard," Geoffrion said. "I was not expecting that at all."

Hall of fame candidates tend to fall into two main categories: Those with long, exceptional careers and those with moments of rare achievement. Geoffrion falls into the latter category.

In 2010, he became the first member of the storied six-time NCAA champion men's hockey program to win the Hobey Baker Award as the best college player in the land.

Geoffrion finished fourth on the Badgers in overall scoring as a senior — behind center Derek Stepan, winger Michael Davies and defenseman Brendan Smith — but he affected teammates and outcomes in such a wide variety of ways that the Hobey announcement was hardly a surprise.

Geoffrion paced UW with 28 goals, 15 power-play conversions and four game-winning goals. A first-team All-American, he centered the No. 1 line, skated on the primary penalty-killing unit and was the top face-off artist on the team. He was the best all-around player on a club that reached the NCAA title game and had 10 players, including Geoffrion, skate a shift in the NHL.

In addition, Geoffrion wore the "C" as captain of the team as a senior, a role he relished and one in which he excelled.

Geoffrion said he's not one to get carried away by awards or flattery, but becoming the 19th player from the UW men's hockey community to be inducted in the school's athletic hall of fame is special.

"This one kind of hit me in a different way," he said. "I actually felt proud of myself. It's a really cool feeling."

The Geoffrion family name is synonymous with such acclaim. Blake's grandfather, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, and great grandfather, Howie Morenz, were inducted in the International Hockey Hall of Fame after trailblazing careers in the NHL.

Blake joked that he's now "one leg up on my dad" because Danny, a former NHL first-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens and the father of four boys, has so far not been inducted in any halls of fame.

"It really is an honor," Danny said, reflecting on Blake's latest achievement. "I've told all my boys that hard work prevails whether you're on the ice or off the ice. It's always good to be recognized like Blake is being recognized at Wisconsin for everything he accomplished. Wisconsin was a big, big part of his life.

"It was like another feather in his hat. He was quite honored to be amongst his peers."

Blake came to Madison from the U.S. National Team Developmental Program as an 18-year-old in 2006, the season after the Badgers won their most recent NCAA championship. A second-round NHL draft pick of the Nashville Predators, his hometown team, he proceeded to grow physically and emotionally, becoming a go-to resource for an incredible collection of young talent along the way.

From the time Geoffrion was drafted in 2006 to '09, then-Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves and his staff landed four NHL first-round picks and six chosen in the second round. Three of the first-round selections came in one fell swoop in 2007. One was Smith, a defenseman from Mimico, Ontario, who came to appreciate Geoffrion right away.

"He was very welcoming to us," Smith said, referring to a group that included Stepan, center Kyle Turris and defensemen Cody Goloubef and Ryan McDonagh. "Right off the bat he was a really good guy that we could kind of lean on. He was very nice in that sense."

Geoffrion increased his on-ice production every season — two goals as a freshman, 10 as a sophomore and 15 as a junior — and evolved into an elite player and emotional pace-setter.

"He kind of grew into that leadership role," Smith said. "What he brought, not a lot of people have. He's very charismatic."

Smith admits he didn't initially see Geoffrion as a future Hobey Baker winner, "but his senior year, he was fantastic," Smith said. "He was basically scoring every night for us. He was massive."

Not just on the scoresheet, either.

"He was great with the media," Smith said of Geoffrion. "He was good at sheltering some of the younger guys. As he matured, he helped some of the younger guys just follow in the right footsteps. He was basically the best player on the team because of what he did on an everyday basis. For any program to win, you need a guy like that."

Geoffrion won the Hobey over field of 10 finalists, one of which was Smith, a first-team All-American who led the nation in goals (15) and points (52) by a defenseman. Smith, now a 10-year NHL veteran with the New York Rangers, said the idea of a personal rivalry or jealously never came to be.

"We were both trying to win," Smith said. "I think we were both very good and they decided to go with Blake, who was very deserving."

Geoffrion wound up playing 55 games in the NHL, including the last 13 with Montreal where his family legacy brought a bright spotlight but also a depressing end to his playing career. He was playing for the Canadiens' minor-league affiliate in 2013 when he sustained a depressed skull fracture during an on-ice collision. Following emergency surgery, physicians advised that he retire, which he did at age 25.

Just like that Geoffrion, now married to Katelyn and the father to two small children, became a poster child for why college athletes should do their best to obtain their degree, which he did in consumer affairs in 2010.

"I was all about him finishing school just because of that," Danny Geoffrion said. "You never know what can happen. Your career can be over, boom, in one second. That's basically what happened with Blake."

For his part, Blake said multiple factors drove him to stay in school instead of turning pro early.

"My mom and dad were always pushing me to get my degree," he said.

Another voice belonged to Blake's cousin, Shane Monahan, a standout baseball player at Clemson in the early 1990s who opted to turn pro as an underclassman.

"He called me every year and told me, 'Get your degree,'" Blake said.

Geoffrion hasn't strayed from the game he loves or, for that matter, the NHL. He's currently the assistant to Florida Panthers' general manager Bill Zito — another UW alum — after spending seven years with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Geoffrion has missed the camaraderie and friendship he enjoyed while going to UW and playing for the Badgers. Those memories are sure to come flooding back when the hall of fame induction ceremony takes place.

"It's a really, really cool feeling," he said.