(Photo by Bob Snow, Bruins Daily)

TAMPA — Last year, he was runner-up to Boston University freshman sensation Jack Eichel.

Friday night Harvard’s returning senior captain Jimmy Vesey stayed true to his school, epitomizing this criteria while winning the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s top college hockey player: displaying outstanding skills in all phases of the game, strength of character on and off the ice, sportsmanship and scholastic achievements.

Among the final three “Hobey Hat Trick” finalists that included Michigan forward Kyle Connor and Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko, Vesey also completed Boston’s own version of the Hobey Hat Trick by becoming the third consecutive Boston-based player to receive the award. BC’s Johnny Gaudreau was the 2014 winner.

The three finalists were selected from the initial list of top 10 candidates by the 27-member Selection Committee and an additional round of online fan balloting to determine this year’s winner.

The award, given since 1981, is in memory of the former Princeton star and World War I pilot who was killed on a training flight in France.

In that Ivy vein, Vesey also becomes Harvard’s fourth winner – the only Ivy-school winners in award history – following brothers Scott and Mark Fusco, in 1983 and ’86, respectively, and Lane MacDonald in 1989. All were also seniors.

Hailing from North Reading, Mass., Vesey is the nation’s leading goal scorer over the past two seasons with 56, including 24 this year. For two years in a row, he is also the Ivy League Player of the Year and the ECAC Player of the Year as well as being twice named each as First Team all-conference and receiving the Walter Brown Award as the top American-born player in New England.

His dad, Jim Sr. played in 15 career NHL games with the Blues and Bruins and is the all-time leading scorer in Merrimack hockey history, while brother, Nolan, plays at Maine.

The six-foot, 195-pound winger with 144 total career points is a Nashville draft pick who also speaks fluent Mandarin.  He declined the pro path after his junior year to return to Harvard.

“I had the privilege to go to Harvard and graduating from there is going go set me up for life,” Vesey said after being name the Hobey recipient. “I had great teammates and we had visions of playing in the Frozen Four this year.

“I made the decision at the banquet last year to come back. I wanted to stay true to coach Donato and my teammates.”

The scuttlebutt around this year’s recipient is that he did the exact opposite with the Predators. Rumor had him foregoing a deal with the Predators. Under the NHL collective-bargaining agreement, drafted NCAA seniors become free agents after August 15 of their last year.

Vesey made that rumor fact Friday night.

When asked if he heard from Nashville the last couple of weeks he stated, “No, not really. At the end of the day in my heart, I wasn’t really ready to sign the contract.”

While that does not preclude a Nashville signing, it’s highly unlikely it will happen.

“This summer I’ll train as hard as I can and get myself in shape and pick a team in August, he offered. “Go into training camp in good shape. There’s 29 teams I can look at.”

A secondary rumor was also addressed — about Vesey signing with Boston.

“I don’t know where that’s coming from,” he said. “I’m not allowed to talk to any team until August 15,” dispelling the Boston rumor mill.

“My advice personally [as a dad],” said the elder Vesey, “is I’d like to see him start somewhere else. But who knows, there might be some changes in Boston. There might be a new coach. Maybe Adam Oates becomes the coach.”

This left the third rumor about Jimmy signing with Toronto, where Vesey Sr. is a scout and Nolan a Leaf’s pick, spurring a pair of Vesey’s eventually playing for Mike Babcock.

“I wouldn’t read too much into that either,” the Hobey winner said.

So, maybe just take Jimmy Vesey by his word about the immediate future: “I’m just going to try and enjoy my last month as a college kid and have some fun with my classmates and be at graduation to receive my diploma.”

That would be May 26, Vesey’s birthday.

Stay tuned.