Eric Hartzell didn't win the Hobey Baker Award, and his Quinnipiac team lost the national championship game to Yale.

But he didn't come away from the Frozen Four empty-handed.

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they signed Hartzell to a one-year, entry-level contract on Sunday night. The deal runs through the end of the current season and has an annual value of $925,000.

Several NHL teams showed heavy interest in Hartzell, a senior goaltender who led the Bobcats to their most successful season in program history. Paul Holmgren, general manager of Philadelphia, and Mark Messier, a special assistant for the Rangers, had both scouted Hartzell at High Point Solutions Arena this winter. At 6-foot-4 and 187 pounds, Hartzell not only has desirable size for a goalie, but he's an outstanding natural athlete.

He won the Ken Dryden Award as the ECAC goaltender of the year, and was also that league's player of the year. He won a school-record 30 games this season, with a 1.57 goals-against average, five shutouts and a .933 save percentage. On Friday, he was named a first-team All-American, but as one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, lost out to St. Cloud State forward Drew LeBlanc. On Saturday, after beating Yale three times already this season, Quinnipiac lost to Yale 4-0 in the national title game. One of the Bulldogs goals was scored on an empty net.