CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Junior Danny Biega of the Harvard men's hockey team has been named one of two finalists for the ECAC Hockey Player of the Year award, the league office has announced.

It is the second ECAC postseason award nomination for Biega, who is also up for Best Defensive Defenseman. The other finalist for Player of the Year is Colgate forward Austin Smith. The winner will be announced at the league's awards banquet Thursday in Atlantic City, N.J. The finalists and winner were selected by voting by the 12 ECAC Hockey head coaches.

With 34 points on 10 goals and 24 assists in 32 games, Biega is the nation's second-leading scorer among defensemen with 1.06 points per game. The Montreal native and Carolina Hurricanes draft pick helped Harvard hold 15 of its final 16 league opponents to three goals or fewer, limit eight of the final 13 to two goals or fewer and rank fourth in ECAC Hockey in scoring defense.

In addition to leading ECAC Hockey defensemen in league scoring with 23 points, Biega has provided shutdown defense as half of the Crimson's top blue-line pair. He led Harvard with a +10 rating in ECAC games and, despite seeing more ice time than any other Harvard player, was on the ice for only nine even-strength goals against in 22 league games. He logged a plus or even rating in 17 ECAC games and is a team-high +12 overall.

The Crimson (12-9-11, 8-5-9 ECAC Hockey), ranked 19th nationally and seeded third in the ECAC Hockey Championship, will meet 13th-ranked, second-seeded Cornell in Saturday's league semifinals. The winner will advance to Saturday's final. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com.