ST. LOUIS — Western Michigan was the first on the ice Wednesday at Enterprise Center as teams in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four practiced in advance of Thursday’s semifinals.
The Broncos play NCHC counterpart Denver to start Thursday’s play. Read USCHO’s Western Michigan Frozen Four preview here.
Sometimes the decisions on award winners are just fairly obvious. Case in point would be the current Player of the Year in the CNE; AHCA First Team All-American; Sid Watson Award winner; Joe Concannon Award winner and newly announced New England Hockey Writers’ D-II/III MVP in the person and goaltender that is Curry’s Shane Soderwall. Now he can add the USCHO D-III Payer of the year to the award haul that has been nothing less than his season excellence deserves.
Soderwall played in twenty-eight games for the Colonels going 24-4-0 on the season. He posted a 1.47 goals-against average with a .945 save percentage while recording eight shutouts. He led the Colonels to the CNE conference championship and overall top-seed for the national tournament where they lost in a national semifinal to Utica in double overtime, 2-1.
“Shane has always been a hard worker even after he took the crease as a starter, said head coach Peter Roundy. “He always practices like he is a back-up trying to earn time. He was our rock all season and gave us a chance to win every single game we played this season. He is deserving of his many awards, and it is great to see him recognized for his incredible and consistent play this season.”
Soderwall will depart Curry after his sophomore season to take his shot at a D-I crease with his transfer to Clarkson but will depart as one of the best ever to wear the purple and white for the Colonels in their long D-III history.
Later today look for the Coach of the Year announcement to wrap-up the USCHO D-III awards for the 2024-25 season.
Shane Soderwall, a sophomore goaltender from Curry, is the recipient of the 2025 Sid Watson Award.
The award, voted on by the nation’s Division III head coaches, is presented to the best player at the men’s NCAA Division III level by the American Hockey Coaches Association.
Soderwall is the first player from Curry to receive this award.
After making himself known with an NCAA record-tying 98 saves in an NCAA quarterfinals game last season, the Algonquin, Ill., native has taken his play to a new level his sophomore year. Soderwall broke his own program record for shutouts in a season with seven this year and now holds the program record for shutouts in a career with 12, doing so in just two years.
He broke the program record for wins in a season this year, currently sitting at a 24-3-0 record. His 1.45 GAA average is third in the country, with the two players in front of him playing 600 less minutes than him. His .945 save percentage is also third in the country, with the two ahead of him making half as many saves. He has proven himself to be one of, if not the best goalies in the country. This season he was named the CNE player and goalie of the year.
Additionally, he was named the conference’s Elite 20 winner, as he sports a perfect 4.0 GPA.
The runner-up for this year’s Sid Watson Award was Tanner Daniels, a junior forward from Hobart and Edinboro, Pa.
Sponsored by the American Hockey Coaches Association, the Sid Watson Award honors the memory of former Bowdoin head coach and athletic director Sid Watson. A three-time AHCA Coach of the Year, Watson served Bowdoin for more than 30 years, winning 326 games in 24 seasons as head coach.
For leading Curry to the top seed of the NCAA men’s Division III Frozen Four, Peter Roundy has been named winner of the 2025 Edward Jeremiah Award as the CCM/AHCA Division III Men’s Coach of the Year.
He is the first Curry coach to earn this honor and the first from the Conference of New England (formerly the Commonwealth Coast Conference.)
Named the conference coach of the year in each of the last two years, Roundy has taken the Curry men’s hockey team to new heights. Over his four years at Curry, he has gone 84-24-4, including a 60-16-2 record in conference play. He has led the Colonels to the NCAA quarterfinals in each of the past three seasons, finally breaking through to the Frozen Four this season.
This season, he has helped lead the program to new highs in all the prominent rankings and entered the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed with a record of 25-3-0.
In addition to his coaching duties, at Curry, Roundy serves as a game administrator and scheduling coordinator.
Roundy came to Curry after spending six seasons coaching at Holy Cross, including two as associate head coach in his final two seasons.
Prior to his time at Holy Cross, Roundy spent four seasons at Trinity. He served as an assistant coach his first two seasons and as the Bantams associate head coach his final two seasons. During the four years that Roundy was at Trinity, the teams posted a 68-30-6 record.
Roundy started his coaching career at Becker, where he served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Hawks in 2010-11. He helped guide the Hawks to a 7-4-3 mark against conference opponents and played a pivotal role in helping Becker complete one of the most successful seasons in the school’s history, as the team reached the conference semifinals for only the second time.
A native of Simsbury, Conn., Roundy earned a bachelor’s degree in health care administration with a minor in business administration from Stonehill in 2010. At Stonehill, Roundy was a four-year member and two-time captain of the hockey team, which won the 2007 Northeast-10 championship, the first in school history. He ranks among the top 10 assist leaders in Stonehill program history.
He earned his master’s degree in public policy studies at Trinity in 2013.
Roundy and his wife, Patrice, have two daughters, Elle and Shea.
Roundy was assisted this year by Mike Sones and Clayton Adams.
The runner-up for this year’s Jeremiah Award was Mark Taylor of Hobart, recipient of this award the last two seasons.
The Edward Jeremiah Award is named in honor of the great Dartmouth coach and was first presented in 1970.
Bailey Olson, a senior forward from Wisconsin-River Falls, is the recipient of the 2025 Laura Hurd Award.
The award, voted on by the nation’s Division III head coaches, is presented to the best player at the NCAA women’s Division III level.
Olson is the fourth player from UWRF to be so honored and third in the past four seasons. That ties UWRF with Middlebury and Plattsburgh, each of whom has also had four recipients.
Olson, a senior co-captain from Willmar, Minn., has led the Falcons to a 24-3-2 overall record, winning the WIAC regular-season and the O’Brien Cup, earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. UWRF advanced to the Frozen Four with a 4-1 win over Elmira in Saturday’s quarterfinal round. Olson scored an unassisted goal in the second period which proved to be the game winner.
Olson was the 2024-25 WIAC player of the year and an all-WIAC first team honoree. She is the nation’s leading scorer with 56 points off 26 goals and 30 assists in 29 games. Next up for the Falcons is a home semifinal on Friday night against Augsburg.
The runner-up for this year’s Hurd Award is Lily Mortenson, a junior forward at Gustavus Adolphus.
The award is named in honor of former Elmira star Laura Hurd who died in a car accident shortly after graduation. Hurd was a four-time all-American who led Elmira to victory in the first NCAA Division III women’s tournament.
For leading her team to a 24-3-1 record heading into the semifinals of the NCAA Division III women’s tournament, Elizabeth Bauer of Augsburg has been chosen by her peers as the 2025 CCM/AHCA Women’s Division III Coach of the Year.
It is the first time that an Augsburg coach has been so honored and just the second MIAC coach to win the award.
Bauer was named the third head coach in the 30-season history of Augsburg women’s hockey in Sept. 2024. Inheriting a team that had lost seven players to graduation and had 11 first-year players and two transfers on its 25-player roster for this campaign, with just three seniors, Bauer led the Auggies to the MIAC regular-season and playoff championships in the 2024-25 season — both for the first time for the Auggies since 1999-2000 — and Augsburg’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Division III national tournament. Augsburg’s 24-3-1 overall record and 16-2-0 MIAC marks are both program records.
She will receive her award at the AHCA Convention on May 5 in Bonita Springs, Fla.
Bauer served as the full-time assistant coach at Augsburg in the 2023-24 season, as the Auggies finished 19-7-0 overall and 15-3-0 in MIAC play. Prior to coming to Augsburg, Bauer spent two seasons as girls’ hockey director for MAP Hockey, an elite off-season training center for hockey players in the Twin Cities. She also spent a year as a sports performance trainer and facility director at St. Croix Acceleration, a training center in Hudson, Wis. From 2020 to 2023, she was an assistant coach for the U16 girls team for Team Wisconsin Hockey.
Bauer played her collegiate hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where she helped lead the Blugolds to their first three national tournament berths, two WIAC O’Brien Cup tournament championships, and one WIAC championship, while posting an overall record of 80-26-9. Scoring 37 career goals and adding 66 assists for 103 total points, Bauer holds the Blugolds’ record for assists and ranks second in school history in points.
In 2019-20, Bauer was named a team captain and earned a spot on the American Hockey Coaches Association/CCM Hockey Division III All-America second team. She earned All-WIAC first team honors three times and honorable mention honors once and was an AHCA Division III all-American scholar in 2019-20.
Bauer has four siblings, including a twin sister Emily who played with her at UW-Eau Claire. Her brother played hockey at Minnesota-Crookston, and her father has been a high school hockey coach in Wisconsin for more than 30 years. A native of Wausau, Wis., Bauer earned her bachelor’s degree with a major in kinesiology and a minor in coaching from UW-Eau Claire in 2020.
Bauer was assisted this year by Nicole Neuberger and Annie Rydel.
The runner-up for this year’s award was last year’s recipient, Joe Cranston of UW-River Falls.
After leading the Broncos to a historic season, Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler has been named the recipient of the 2025 Spencer Penrose Award, presented annually to the CCM/AHCA Division I men’s hockey national coach of the year.
Ferschweiler garners the honor for the first time and becomes the first WMU head coach to claim the award.
Ferschweiler is also only the third NCHC coach to earn the Penrose Award, joining former North Dakota coach Brad Berry, who won the award in 2020, and former Denver coach Jim Montgomery, who took home the honor in 2017. Ferschweiler will be presented with his award in person at the 2025 AHCA Convention held at the Hyatt Coconut Point Resort in Bonita Springs, Fla., on May 4.
Along with the Spencer Penrose Award, Ferschweiler earned his second NCHC Herb Brooks Coach of the Year honor in 2025, also winning it in 2023.
The native of Rochester, Minn. has overseen an unprecedented season at Western Michigan, leading the Broncos to their first-ever Penrose Cup and NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship. WMU became only the second NCHC team to win both the regular-season and postseason titles in the same year.
Ferschweiler has guided the Broncos to a 32-7-1 record so far this season, with the 32 wins the most in the country and tying the WMU school record. The Broncos also tied the NCHC record for conference wins with 19 (19-4-1) this year en route to their first Penrose Cup. Western Michigan added another first at the end of March by earning the program’s first Frozen Four berth after winning the NCAA Fargo Regional. Ferschweiler steered the Broncos to a pair of 2-1 NCAA tournament wins in Fargo, tripling the program’s NCAA tournament win total after entering with only one all-time.
Ferschweiler and WMU will face a familiar foe in the NCAA Frozen Four this Thursday in St. Louis, going up against NCHC rival Denver, who the Broncos beat in double overtime to win their first NCHC Frozen Faceoff title on March 22. That win was the 100th of Ferschweiler’s head coaching career, becoming the fastest WMU head coach to reach the century mark. Puck drop Thursday at the Frozen Four is set for 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT from the Enterprise Center.
Ferschweiler was the lone Spencer Penrose Award finalist among the 10 this year to win both his conference’s coach of the year award and lead his team to the Frozen Four. Denver coach David Carle was also a Penrose Award finalist this year. Ferschweiler was a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award in 2023 as well. The Bronco alumnus is in his fourth year at the helm of Western Michigan after taking over the head job on Aug. 3, 2021.
Before becoming head coach, Ferschweiler spent two seasons as an associate head coach with the Broncos (2019-21). It was his second stint with WMU after he spent four years as an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings under former WMU head coach Jeff Blashill. Prior to entering the professional coaching ranks, Ferschweiler was an assistant coach/associate head coach for WMU from 2010 to 2014.
As a player, Ferschweiler suited up for the Broncos in 116 games and amassed 95 points on 30 goals and 65 assists. He was awarded WMU’s Rob Hodge Most Valuable Player for the 1992-93 season in which he tallied 35 points, including a career-best 15 goals. He was also named the CCHA’s best defensive forward for the 1991-92 season. He received a bachelor’s degree in finance from Western Michigan in 1993.
The Spencer Penrose Award is selected by the nation’s 64 NCAA Division I men’s head coaches from the 10 finalists. To be a finalist, head coaches either won their conference coach of the year award or advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals.
The Spencer Penrose Award is named in memory of the Colorado Springs benefactor who built the Broadmoor Hotel Complex, site of the first 10 NCAA championship hockey tournaments. The NCHC’s regular-season trophy, the Julie and Spencer Penrose Memorial Cup, is named after the same benefactor and was won by Ferschweiler’s Broncos for the first time this year.
Rensselaer has announced the hiring of Eric Lang as the Engineers’ men’s hockey head coach.
Lang, who replaces Dave Smith, comes to Troy, N.Y., after serving as the head coach at American International since 2016. Lang won 155 games at the helm of AIC and captured the Atlantic Hockey regular-season championship or postseason title seven times in his nine seasons.
AIC announced earlier this season that the hockey team is moving down to Division II, starting with the 2025-26 season.
“Today marks an exciting new chapter for RPI hockey and our community. We are thrilled to welcome Eric as our new head coach,” said RPI director of athletics Dr. Kristie Bowers in a statement. “His commitment to building a culture of excellence and his proven track record of championship-level success will undoubtedly take our program back to the top of the ECAC. I am confident that under Eric’s leadership, our student-athletes will achieve success on the ice, in the classroom, and in the community. Please join me in welcoming Eric, his wife Christine, and his children, Addison, EJ, Reese, and Drew, to our RPI hockey family.”
“I am incredibly excited to embark on this new chapter with this team and this historic program,” added Lang. “We have a fantastic opportunity to build something special here and I am ready to lead our players to achieve great things. We have a championship administration that is serious about hockey and getting this program back to the top of the ECAC. We have a lot of work to do, and I cannot wait to get started.”
A former player at American International, Lang led his alma mater to the NCAA tournament on three occasions. In the program’s first-ever NCAA appearance in 2019, Lang guided the Yellow Jackets to a thrilling 2-1 victory over top-seeded St. Cloud State in the regional semifinals in Fargo, N.D.
AIC earned return trips to the NCAA tournament in 2021 and 2022 and were ranked No. 20 in the country and headed for another NCAA berth prior to the cancellation of the 2020 tournament.
Before taking the top job at American International, Lang spent five seasons as an assistant under Brian Riley at Army, where he led the recruiting efforts, video analysis, and power play development. Lang was also a graduate assistant at AIC and the head coach of the Manhattanville women’s hockey program prior to joining the Army bench.
Lang was a four-year letter-winner at AIC and graduated with a degree in psychology in 1998. He later earned his master’s degree in organizational development from AIC. A two-time captain, he was honored with the ECAC Merit Medal and the school’s Henry Butova Leadership Award. He scored 25 goals and recorded 34 assists during his time in a Yellow Jacket uniform.
Lang has also worked for the NHL as an off-ice official and was the head hockey coach for Byram Hills High School in Armonk, N.Y., for four seasons before joining the collegiate ranks.
A press conference introducing Lang is planned for 2 p.m. EDT on Monday, April 14 at the Houston Field House (1900 Peoples Ave, Troy, NY 12180). The event is open to the media and the public.
North Dakota announced on Tuesday the hiring of Bryn Chyzyk as the program’s assistant coach/general manager.
Chyzyk becomes the first general manager to have coaching/recruiting capabilities in college hockey, as he will join the program following a successful run as the general manager of the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks.
“I am so excited to welcome Bryn Chyzyk to our coaching staff,” said North Dakota coach Dane Jackson in a statement. “The relationships he has been able to develop across the entire landscape of hockey will help us find the right types of players we are looking for in our program at all levels of the game. His experience of winning a national championship and spending four seasons as a player at UND will also bring a special knowledge of our program that we hope can be infectious to our current and future student-athletes.”
“Thirteen years ago, I made one of the best decisions in my life to choose to play for UND,” added Chyzyk. “The relationships that were created throughout my time were so impactful in where my life is at today. My family and I couldn’t be more excited to come back to the UND community and I am ready to hit the ground running.”
Chyzyk has spent the previous five seasons with Waterloo, serving as the GM for the last four seasons. Over those years, he has helped the franchise reach the postseason in each of his years as the boss, including the only western conference team to finish among the top three in the last three campaigns. The Black Hawks are currently third once again in the conference standings with a record of 32-18-6-4 entering the final weekend of the regular season.
Prior to Waterloo, Chyzyk worked as a graduate assistant at North Dakota during the 2019-20 season, helping the program capture the Penrose Cup and finish as the No. 1 team in the nation with a 26-5-4 overall record prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. In his role, Chyzyk primarily assisted with hockey operations and evaluation of potential recruiting targets.
Chyzyk had a successful playing career as well, playing four seasons at North Dakota from 2012 to 2016. While at UND, he won two Penrose Cups, advanced to three straight NCAA Frozen Fours and captured the program’s eighth national title in 2015-16 while serving as an alternate captain. He finished his career with 24 goals and 23 assists for 47 points in 128 career games.
Following his collegiate career, Chyzyk played professional hockey at the AHL and ECHL level before having his playing career cut short due to an injury.
This is the fourth of four previews for teams playing in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four this week in St. Louis. Click here for all of USCHO’s Frozen Four coverage.
Season record: 23-13-2
How they got to St. Louis: Won the Toledo Regional, beating Ohio State 8-3 and Cornell 3-2 (OT)
Top players: D Cole Hutson (14-32-46), F Quinn Hutson (23-27-50), F Ryan Greene (13-27-37), F Cole Eiserman (23-11-34)
Top goalie: Mikhail Yegorov (10-5-1, 2.04 goals-against average, .931 save percentage).
Why they’ll win the national championship: Of the participants in St. Louis, BU is the only club playing in its third straight Frozen Four. That experience should help the Terriers. The Hutson brothers have proven time and again that they can score, and mid-season acquisition Mikhail Yegorov in net has provided a reliable backstop that gives BU a chance every time he takes the ice.
Why they won’t win the national championship: Penn State may be playing in its first Frozen Four in only its fourth NCAA tournament appearance in program history, but the Nittany Lions are no also-ran. In Penn State, the Terriers will face a team on a roll, including a dominant finish to the regular season and four impressive postseason victories, including a pair of NCAA tournament wins over Hockey East teams. Should Denver await in the championship game, the Pioneers will be salivating at the chance to dispatch another Hockey East opponent (which they’ve done five times already in the last two tournaments) on the way to an 11th national championship.
All season long, Boston University has proven its resilience. It will have to do it one more time to win its first NCAA tournament in 16 years.
The Terriers didn’t exactly get to their third straight Frozen Four by the skin of their teeth, but they did have to overcome a lukewarm February (4-3-1, no winning streaks) and a 5-2 loss to Connecticut in the Hockey East semifinals, a clunker that had coach Jay Pandolfo publicly criticizing his team in the aftermath.
“We’re not going to be able to get away with playing like that,” Pandolfo said about the loss to UConn. “(The) effort that night, for whatever reason, wasn’t there. But it wasn’t the first time our team had an effort like that over the course of the season. I think we’ve had a lot of lessons, as a team, on how we need to play. There’s no more lessons. That was really the lesson to our group.”
BU didn’t exactly set the world on fire in the first period of its NCAA Toledo Regional opener, when it fell behind 1-0 to Ohio State in the first period, then struggled until finally pouring it on with five unanswered goals in the third to eventually win 8-3. Two nights later, the Terriers needed overtime to dispatch Cornell 3-2.
“It’s pretty simple — it’s win or go home from that point on,” said BU sophomore forward Shane Lachance. “That was our last chance to learn a lesson that, you can’t come out and play like this or else your season is going to be done earlier than you want to. I think we did a good job in Toledo — obviously, that start to the Ohio State game wasn’t great, but we found our way and I think good teams find a way.”
BU will be looking for its sixth NCAA championship and first since 2009, but to even have a shot at it, the Terriers will first have to get through to the championship game, which they failed to do in their previous two trips to the Frozen Four.
Lying in wait is Penn State, which is 14-5-4 since January and is playing in its first Frozen Four since becoming a Division I program in 2012.
“They got a lot of speed,” Pandolfo said. “Their top two lines are really dangerous. They’re going to be a handful, for sure. (They’re) believing in themselves right now too. They’ve got a lot of confidence. They’ve come from a long way back to get where they are. It’s going to be a really tough matchup for us.”
BU junior forward Ryan Greene, one of the players making his third trip to the Frozen Four, said the Terriers can’t get too caught up ruminating about past Frozen Fours that ended sooner than they would have liked.
“You can’t think about it too much,” Greene said. “You win two games you get a national championship, but, you know, you try to erase that from your mind a little bit and just kind of focus on yourself and the team and what you guys have to do as a collective to win. That’s where we’re at right now. We’re just focused on Thursday and excited to hop on the plane here and get going.”
The Terriers enter the national semifinals with considerable weapons, including the Hutson brothers — junior forward Quinn and freshman defenseman Cole — who have combined for 37 goals this season. Throw in freshman goalie Mikhail Yegorov, a midseason acquisition who has posted a .931 save percentage since joining the team in January, and the Terriers should be a tough out.
“The standard here is to win national championships,” Lachance said. “It’s a great accomplishment to get to the Frozen Four, but if you come out empty handed, it’s no different than losing last week in Toledo. (If) you come home empty handed, it’s a disappointment.”
Among the many outstanding first-year players at the D-III level this season, two clearly rose to the top of the list with their exceptional play on the ice and helping their teams to both conference and NCA tournament success. Ryan Burke from Oswego and Landry Schmuck from Aurora are this year’s winners of the USCHO D-III Rookie of the Year Award.
Burke, a first-year forward for Oswego led the Lakers in assists and points while being named the SUNYAC Rookie of the Year. The youthful Lakers won their first conference title since 2011 and Burke was a big part of the team’s resurgence to the top of the standings. Burke finished the season with eleven goals, twenty-eight assists, thirty-nine points and a plus twenty rating while being named a first-team All-Star for the SUNYAC and an AHCA All-American.
“Ryan is a game-changer for us,” noted head coach Ed Gosek. “Ryan possesses a high skill set and hockey IQ but his compete level and willingness to put the team first is what makes hi a special player.”
Sharing this year’s USCHO Rookie of the Year award is Aurora’s Landry Schmuck. Schmuck was also named his conference’s (NCHA) Rookie of the Year having recorded an astounding thirty-one goals and thirteen assists for forty-four points and a plus twenty-five rating. He was particularly effective on the power play where he scored ten goals and provided eight game-winning goals for the Spartans who played in their first national tournament, bowing out in the quarterfinals to Geneseo. Schmuck was named and NEHC All-Star as well as an AHCA All- American.
“Landry is a relentless competitor who is an elite talent,” stated head coach Jason Bloomingburg. “He is absolutely electric every time he touches the ice. For me it all starts with Landry’s love for the game and how much he enjoys being around the rink – it’s contagious. The level of work ethic he brings every day is remarkable, you would never know he is a first-year player. With thirty-one goals this year he can change a game at any time and has been a huge factor for our team’s success throughout the season. I’m very impressed with the consistent level of maturity that Landry has shown every day on the ice but ultimately more impressed with how he carries himself day-to-day off the ice.”
Both Burke and Schmuck are expected to return to their teams next season and build on the incredible first-year performances that have earned them this year’s USCHO rookie of the Year recognition.
Wednesday’s announcements will close out the D-III USCHO awards with both the Player of the Year and Coach of the Year recognitions.
Thanks to Brian Lester for Aurora photo and Coach Bloomingburg’s quote for the column.
Nearly 50 women who played NCAA women’s hockey this season or are committed to play in the future are rostered with the 10 nations competing at the top level IIHF Women’s World Championships that start Thursday in České Budějovice, Czechia. Every woman on the US and Canadian rosters is a current or former NCAA players. In total nearly half of all the women skating in the tournament are future, current or former NCAA players.
Listed below are the the current and committed players for each of the 10 teams competing. Schools listed are the program the player was with in the 2024-25 season or are committed to. Players that are currently in the transfer portal are marked with an asterisk*.
USA
Kirsten Simms, Wisconsin
Laila Edwards, Wisconsin
KK Harvey, Wisconsin
Ava McNaughton, Wisconsin
Lacey Eden, Wisconsin
Tessa Janecke, Penn State
Abbey Murphy, Minnesota
Haley Winn, Clarkson
Joy Dunne, Ohio State
Canada
Ève Gascon, Minnesota Duluth
Chloe Primerano, Minnesota
Finland
Sofianna Sundelin, St. Cloud State
Siiri Yrjölä, St. Cloud State
Julia Schalin, Mercyhurst
Krista Parkkonen, Minnesota
Nelli Laitinen, Minnesota
Sanni Ahola, St. Cloud State
Emilia Kyrkkö, St. Cloud State
Sanni Vanhanen, OSU commit
Czechia
Kristýna Kaltounková, Colgate
Tereza Plosová, Minnesota commit
Adéla Šapovalivová, Wisconsin commit
Andrea Trnková, RPI*
Michaela Hesová, Dartmouth
Natálie Mlýnková, Minnesota
Switzerland
Nicole Vallario, St. Thomas
Monja Wagner, Union
Laura Zimmermann, St. Cloud State
Naemi Herzig, Holy Cross commit
Ivana Wey, Northeastern commit
Sweden
Hilda Svensson, Ohio State commit
Josefin Bouveng, Minnesota
Jenna Raunio, Ohio State commit
Mira Jungåker, Ohio State
Ida Karlsson, Minnesota Duluth
Thea Johansson, Mercyhurst *
Germany
Nina Jobst-Smith, Minnesota Duluth
Lilli Welcke, Boston University
Luisa Welcke, Boston University
Svenja Voigt, St. Cloud State
Nina Christof, RPI
Norway
Millie Sirium, Providence
Thea Reiermark Jørgensen, Lindenwood
Silje Gundersen, Lindenwood
Hungary
Emma Kreisz, Minnesota
Mira Seregély, Maine
Zsófia Pázmándi, Lindenwood
Regina Metzler, Mercyhurst
Boglárka Báhiczki-Tóth, Brown Commit
This is the third of four previews for teams playing in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four this week in St. Louis. Click here for all of USCHO’s Frozen Four coverage.
Season record: 31-11-1
How they got to St. Louis: Won the Manchester Regional, defeating Providence 5-1 and Boston College 3-1
Top players: F Jack Devine (13-44-57), F Aidan Thompson (20-34-54), D Zeev Buium (13-35-48)
Top goalie: Matt Davis (29-9-1, 2.07 goals-against average, .923 save percentage).
Why they’ll win the national championship: You can bet against Denver in the Frozen Four if you want to, but I won’t. There isn’t a single program in college hockey that matches the Pioneers’ postseason pedigree.
Why they won’t win the national championship: As good as this Denver team is and can be, its season could be done Thursday. Western Michigan is a very, very good team, and that semifinal could easily end up being the best game of the entire NCAA tournament.
What do you get for a college hockey program that has done it all?
A year ago, Denver became the first team to win its 10th national title, and the Pioneers hoisted the NCAA championship trophy for the second time in three seasons. Head coach David Carle has been there that whole time and then some, and in his seventh year with the team, they look like making history yet again.
There isn’t a better scoring offense in the country than what Denver has. The Pioneers also have a Hobey Hat Trick finalist in defenseman Zeev Buium, and goaltender Matt Davis has been tremendous between the pipes. He, Buium and their DU teammates keep pushing ahead, not overly weighed down by the targets on their backs.
“You look at the year we had, there’s certainly other teams that maybe had better regular seasons than we did, and certainly we’re playing another one of those teams,” Carle said in previewing Thursday’s semifinal matchup with Western Michigan, which has the No. 2 offense in the nation. “Western has won every championship and trophy available to them (in the NCHC), and to me, them and probably BC, Michigan State, the (Minnesota) Gophers to some extent, they really separated themselves throughout the season as being kind of the premier programs top to bottom, bringing that level of consistency every night.
“For us, we turned over five underclassmen that signed (professional contracts) early, had to deal with the expectation of being the defending champions and we’ve gotten everyone’s best game, and we haven’t maybe necessarily handled that perfectly throughout the year, but I think our guys have taken a real growth mindset. We’ve learned and grown through every challenging experience we’ve had this year, and that was on full display in our (regional tournament) victories against Providence and Boston College.”
In some ways, this is Denver’s tournament to lose. The top two teams from the regular season (Michigan State and Boston College) will be watching the Frozen Four from home, and of the teams remaining, DU has the freshest muscle memory with regards to how to play in April. Not everything has come easily lately for Carle’s squad, but two regional wins against Hockey East powers suggest that national title No. 11 could be coming up fast.
“We’re obviously really excited,” Carle said. “It’s been a challenging year. In the second half, I think we’ve faced a lot of bumps in the road, but I give our guys a lot of credit. They handled themselves extremely well, and we found a way to really turn on our urgency, peak at the right time and secure two victories in a tough environment, in tough logistics, all of the above. I’m proud of the group, and we get to continue fighting and get another game.”
NCAA Division II-III men’s hockey head coaches have recognized the top 31 hockey players in their division by selecting them as CCM Hockey/AHCA All-Americans for 2024-25.
Shane Soderwall, SO, Curry College
(Algonquin, IL) Goalie
Austin Mourar, GR, Hobart College
(Spring City, PA) Defense
James Philpott, SR, Hamilton College^
(Calgary, AB) Defense
Nate Berke, GR, SUNY Cortland
(Williamsville, NY) Forward
Tanner Daniels, JR, Hobart College
(Edinboro, PA) Forward
Luke Tchor, SO, Hamilton College
(Toronto, ON) Forward
Jacob Mucitelli, SR, Aurora University
(Woodgate, NY) Goalie
Connor Kalthoff, SR, St. Olaf College*
(Sartell, MN) Defense
Juliano Santalucia, JR, Aurora University
(Burnaby, BC) Defense
Hassan Aki, JR, Aurora University
(Chestermere, AB) Forward
Fletcher Anderson, SR, UW-Stevens Point#
(Thunder Bay, ON) Forward
Logan Dombrowsky, SO, St. Norbert College
(Stevens Point, WI) Forward
Damon Beaver, JR, Hobart College
(Whitby, ON) Goalie
Cole Jungwith, GR, Wilkes University^
(Bloomington, MN) Defense
Jack Karlsson, JR, Stevenson University
(Koping, Sweden) Defense
Luke Aquaro, SR, Hobart College%
(Yardley, PA) Forward
Nick Cyprian, JR, Chatham University
(Aledo, TX) Forward
Eelis Laaksonen, JR, Curry College
(Espoo, Finland) Forward
Peter Morgan, SR, SUNY Geneseo@
(Sarasita, FL) Forward
Hunter Garvey, So, St. Norbert College
(San Diego, CA) Goalie
Dayton Deics, JR, St. Norbert College#
(Bismarck, ND) Defense
Wyatt Wurst, FR, College of St. Scholastica
(Edina, MN) Defense
Tyler Braccini, JR, Bethel College
(Hanover, MN) Forward
Liam Fraser, SR, St. Norbert College*
(Calgary, AB) Forward
Landry Schmuck, FR, Aurora University
(Huntsville, AL) Forward
Charlie Archer, SR, Hamilton College
(Belleville, ON) Goalie
Sean Melso, SO, SUNY Geneseo
(Philadelphia, PA) Defense
Kevin Weaver-Vitale, GR, SUNY Plattsburgh
(Toronto, ON) Defense
Ryan Burke, FR, SUNY Oswego
(London, ON) Forward
Landyn Greatorex, JR, Salem State
(Reading, MA) Forward
Dominic Murphy, SO, University of New England
(Worcester, MA) Forward
* 2024 First Team Selection
# 2024 Second Team Selection
^ 2024 Third Team Selection
% 2023 First Team Selection
@ 2022 Second Team Selection
NCAA Division III women’s hockey head coaches have recognized the top 32 hockey players in their division by selecting them as CCM Hockey/AHCA All-Americans for 2024-25.
Natalie Stott, JR, Amherst College*^
(Franklin, MA) Goalie
Gretchen Dann, JR, Amherst College
(Hanover, NH) Defense
Sabrina Kim, SR, Middlebury College
(Los Angeles, CA) Defense
Samantha Fantasia, SR, Endicott College
(Billerica, MA) Forward
Erika Goleniak, SR, Elmira College#
(Canton, MI) Forward
Mack Hull, SR, SUNY Oswego
(Watertown, NY) Forward
Kayla Simonson, FY, Augsburg University
(Delano, MN) Goalie
Makenna Aure, JR, UW-River Falls*@
(Alexandria, MN) Defense
Nora Stepan, JR, Augsburg University
(Apple Valley, MN) Defense
Megan Goodreau, JR, UW-River Falls#
(Lino Lakes, MN) Forward
Lily Mortenson, JR, Gustavus Adolphus College
(Champlin, MN) Forward
Bailey Olson, SR, UW-River Falls
(Willmar, MN) Forward
Lexi Levy, SR, SUNY Oswego
(St. Louis, MO) Goalie
Mattie Norton, SR, SUNY Plattsburgh
(Glen Carbon, IL) Defense
Breanna Studley, JR, Colby College
(Berkley, MA) Defense
Anna Dale, SO, Lebanon Valley College
(Juneau, AK) Forward
Jordan Kowalski, SR, Utica University
(Chicopee, MA) Forward
Maeve Reynolds, JR, Amherst College
(Plymouth, MA) Forward
Claire Sammons, SR, Connecticut College
(Naperville, IL) Forward
Jordan O’Kane, JR, UW-River Falls
(Alexandria, MN) Goalie
Maya Roy, GR, Adrian College*@
(Clarkston, MI) Defense
Kathryn Truban, GR, Adrian College^
(Hamilton, NJ) Defense
Emily Cronkhite, SR, Augsburg University
(Eagan, MN) Forward
Courtnie Hogan, SR, St. Norbert College
(Hoffman Estates, IL) Forward
Riley Johnson, JR, Adrian College
(Farmington, MI) Forward
Angela Hawthorne, GR, Utica University
(Santa Clara, CA) Goalie
Erin Murray, SR, William Smith College
(Hanover, MA) Goalie
Sydney Bradley, SR, Alvernia College
(Lititz, PA) Defense
Julia Holmes, GR, Nazareth University#@
(Reading, MA) Defense
Livia Brooks, SO, Norwich University*
(Walpole, MA) Forward
Amy Laskowski, FY, Nazareth University
(Clarendon, Hills, IL) Forward
Karahkwenhawe White, SR, Arcadia University
(Akwesasne, NY) Forward
* 2024 First Team Selection
# 2024 Second Team Selection
^ 2023 First Team Selection
@ 2023 Second Team Selection
This is the second of four previews for teams playing in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four this week in St. Louis. Click here for all of USCHO’s Frozen Four coverage.
Season record: 32-7-1
How they got to St. Louis: Won the Fargo Regional, defeating Minnesota State 2-1 and Massachusetts 2-1
Top players: F Alex Bump (23-24-47), F Grant Slukynsky (10-26-36), D Samuel Sjolund (4-25-29)
Top goalie: Hampton Slukynsky (17-5-1, 1.91 goals-against average, .923 save percentage).
Why they’ll win the national championship: Playoff hockey is meant to be tight, and Western’s last three games have each been decided by one goal. But with as loaded as WMU’s lineup is, with 10 players who have each posted at least 20 points this season, the Broncos might be due to not only win two more games, but also beat the brakes off people in the process.
Why they won’t win the national championship: Two sides of the same coin, and all that. Three of WMU’s four goals in the Fargo Regional came on power plays. What if those kinds of bounces don’t go the Broncos’ way in St. Louis?
It’s tempting to say, at this point, that Western Michigan is playing with house money.
This has been a historic season for the Broncos by anyone’s metrics, as most any coach in college hockey would snatch your arm off for a season with 30-plus wins. But this feels different. WMU had been picked sixth in the NCHC’s preseason poll, yet here the Broncos are, playing in their program’s first-ever Frozen Four.
Where did it all go right? Ask Broncos coach Pat Ferschweiler, and he’ll tell you a lot of it starts between the ears.
“We’re going to approach it like we do every other game — that our next game is our most important game,” Ferschweiler said of his team’s mental plan of attack for the Frozen Four, beginning with Thursday’s semifinal with defending national champion Denver. “We haven’t lost that focus all year, and we’re not going to lose it now.
“We know the quality that Denver has. We know that they’re well coached, they’re extremely well organized and they’re an extremely talented team, but we’ll focus on us, our success, our path to success against Denver. We won’t vary on that at all.”
And they’ve done well not to.
WMU’s last four games have all been close-run things, with the last three each decided by one goal. The Broncos’ road to St. Louis has been anything but easy, especially lately, and getting there speaks to the fast-growing maturity of Ferschweiler’s group.
“It always, to me, starts with the leadership in the locker room, and for this group to come together as quickly as it did, and as well as it did, that’s on (WMU captain) Tim Washe and our leadership corps of Alex Bump, Matteo Costantini and Cam Knuble,” Ferschweiler said. “They’ve helped everyone feel comfortable, and I don’t think you can play at your best unless you’re comfortable, so certainly that’s a big piece of them starting well and ending well.
“We have 16 new hockey players on this squad that have had this kind of success. I think it’s pretty phenomenal, and that’s our locker room, but our D-core is totally revamped. Two returning players. Last year, we were kind of a big, heavy, harder D-core, but this year, we have six extremely mobile guys. We play a different style: we use our feet to defend, we use our sticks to defend, more than our bodies, but I think it also allows us to separate teams from pucks earlier, it allows us to break out cleaner. I think that has been a big key to our defensive numbers this year, simply not playing in our own end.”
Freshman goaltender Hampton Slukynsky has been exceptional whenever the Broncos have been. He vied for playing time all through the regular season with graduate student Cameron Rowe, but eventually, the youngster stood out most.
“As we inched toward the playoffs, as a staff, we talked about wanting one of them to take the reins and one of them to be the starter, but neither would give up that time,” Ferschweiler said. “They were both playing quality games, and the last couple starts of Cam’s, there might have been some cracks in the foundation there a little bit, and not that he played poorly, but Hampton seemed to be edging ahead there, so we just made the decision to go with Hampton.
“I’m comfortable with both our goaltenders, but I’m certainly happy that we have one that’s taking charge and demanding the net, and that’s Hampton.”
Now it’s time for the Broncos to try and put it all together, but that won’t be easy. Next up on WMU’s plate is a Denver team that the Broncos beat in double overtime in the NCHC playoff final.
“Obviously we’re familiar with Denver, and we’re also familiar with the quality of a hockey team that Denver is,” Ferschweiler said.
“We’ve faced them three times this year, there’s been two overtime games and a very tight 3-2 contest, I believe, so we know that, at times, they can be overwhelming, at times their big-time talent can really make some special plays, but our job is to be as consistent as possible, play the best brand of Bronco hockey as possible, and to make sure we represent ourselves well.”
We all just needed to take a little breather after that amazing season and sensational national tournament, but no worries the intrepid East/West duo of myself and Brian Lester have come up with this season’s All-USCHO teams and the representation of talent on the ice is nothing short of spectacular. This year we have fifteen institutions represented with twenty-eight players being recognized. Three-time national champion Hobart, St. Norbert and Aurora each have four representatives while Hamilton has three and Curry and Geneseo have two each showing strong talent from this year’s NCAA quarterfinal teams.
Here are this year’s All-USCHO selections:
First Team
Goaltender – Shane Soderwall – SO – Curry
Defense – Austin Mourar – GR – Hobart
Defense – Juliano Santalucia– SR – Aurora
Forward – Logan Dombrowsky – SO – St. Norbert
Forward – Tanner Daniels – JR – Hobart
Forward – Luke Tchor – SO – Hamilton
Second Team
Goaltender – Damon Beaver – JR – Hobart
Defense – James Philpott – SR – Hamilton
Defense – Connor Kalthoff – SR – St. Olaf
Forward – Nate Berke – SR – Cortland
Forward – Hassan Akl – JR – Aurora
Forward – Fletcher Anderson – SR – Wisconsin – Stevens Point
Third Team
Goaltender – JaCob Mucitelli – SO – Aurora
Defense – Dayton Deics – SR – St. Norbert
Defense – Cole Jungwirth – GR – Wilkes
Forward – Nick Cyprian – SR – Chatham
Forward – Eelis Laaksonen – SR – Curry
Forward – Liam Fraser – SR – St. Norbert
Honorable Mention
Goaltender – Hunter Garvey – SO – St. Norbert
Goaltender – Charlie Archer – SR – Hamilton
Defense – Sean Melso – SR – Geneseo
Defense – Jack Karlsson – JR – Stevenson
Defense – Kevin Weaver-Vitale – GR – Plattsburgh
Forward – Landyn Greatorex – JR – Salem State
Forward – Luke Aquaro – SR – Hobart
Forward – Peter Morgan – SR – Geneseo
Forward – Landry Schmuck – FY – Aurora
Forward – Ryan Burke – FY – Oswego
There are so many players represented here who have already received both conference recognitions as well as national awards or All-American honors and are part of this year’s All-USCHO representatives. Congratulations to all the players along with their teammates and coaches who provided the teamwork and support for their excellence on the ice.
Look for the USCHO D-III Rookie of the Year announcement on Tuesday.
This is the first of four previews for teams playing in the 2025 NCAA Men’s Frozen Four this week in St. Louis. Click here for all of USCHO’s Frozen Four coverage.
Season record: 22-13-4
How they got to St. Louis: Won the Allentown Regional, beating Maine 5-1 and Connecticut 3-2 (OT)
Top players: F Aiden Fink (23-30-53), F Charlie Cerrato (15-27-42), F JJ Wiebusch (14-19-33), F Matt DiMarsico (17-13-32), F Danny Dzhaniyev (12-19-31), F Reese Laubach (15-15-30), D Simon Mack (3-26-29)
Top goalie: Arsenii Sergeev (19-8-4, 2.56 goals-against average, .918 save percentage)
Why they’ll win the national championship: Because why not? The Nittany Lions didn’t win their first Big Ten game until Jan. 3 and didn’t have more wins than losses on the season until Jan. 25. As newcomers to the Frozen Four and the lowest seed in the field, no one expects Penn State to advance past the semifinals, let alone contend for the national title. In their run to the Frozen Four, they delivered a lopsided defeat to a top seed and won their regional title game in overtime. They’re fast, they can score, and they haven’t peaked yet.
Why they won’t win the national championship: In their first-ever Frozen Four contest, the Nittany Lions will play Boston University, a team making its third consecutive Frozen Four appearance. If the difference in experience between these semifinal opponents isn’t enough to sink Penn State, the Nittany Lions’ own shortcomings will be. Like the other teams in this field, Penn State averages a lot of goals per game, but the Nittany Lions struggle to win when opponents keep them to two or fewer goals, with a record of 1-5-2 in those contests. They win when they can play their game. In the Frozen Four, they may not have that advantage.
The Nittany Lions are one of two teams making their first-ever trip to the Frozen Four. Penn State does so in just its 12th season of Division I play, too. That’s a journey that took Western Michigan, the other newcomer, a few more decades to travel.
Another difference between the Nittany Lions and the Broncos can be traced to much more recent history. At the start of this calendar year, Western Michigan was already contending for the NCHC title while Penn State had yet to earn its first Big Ten win.
What a difference three months make.
“We started out very slow,” said Guy Gadowsky, the only head coach Penn State’s ever known. “We were winless in the Big Ten our first nine games and I think at that time we were 40th or something like that in the PairWise after Christmas, and I don’t think anybody gave us a chance.”
Since their 7-9-0 first half, the Nittany Lions have gone 15-4-4, giving them a .773 win percentage since Jan. 3. Gadowsky said that there’s no “watershed” moment for when things began to turn around, but he credits captain Carson Dyck and the other veteran leaders on the team for something they said in December.
“It came from Carson and the leadership group,” said Gadowsky. “It was basically that we were absolutely refusing to let anybody get negative.”
At that point in the season, said Gadowsky, it would have been easy to succumb to negative thinking when “a lot of Big Ten teams [were] doing extremely well and you looked up the mountain and it could seem insurmountable to get out of the basement.”
When the Nittany Lions returned to play following the midseason break, they did so with Arsenii Sergeev in net. The junior transfer from Connecticut had been out of with an injury since Nov. 16. In his first game back, he made 43 saves in a tie game against Notre Dame in Wrigley Field. Two nights later, he backstopped the Nittany Lions to a 3-0 win against the Fighting Irish in South bend, his second shutout of the season and Penn State’s first B1G win of 2024-25. Sergeev has been in net ever since.
“His competitiveness is at the highest level I think I’ve ever seen,” said Gadowsky. “It just matches our locker room so well, and he’s such a good person, such a good, grateful, wonderful teammate.
“The guys just love him. Yes, he’s been great on the ice. He’s been awesome, but his play on the ice isn’t close to the impact he’s had on this program. The impact he’s had on this program is way beyond how great he’s been on the ice.”
Heading into St. Louis, Gadowsky said that the Nittany Lions will be focusing on their own game first. “No matter what happens,” said Gadowsky, “you’re going to be playing a great team that’s playing extremely well, no matter how you slice it. We’re certainly prepared for that.”
Gadowsky said that the Nittany Lions will savor “every aspect” their first trip to the Frozen Four. “We feel very honored and privileged and blessed to be able to be going to St. Louis,” said Gadowsky. “It’s certainly a business trip for us, but it’s one we’re going to enjoy.”
And how this season began and what the Nittany Lions did to turn things around, said Gadowsky, may make this trip to the Frozen Four a little more special.
“This group, it doesn’t really matter where they go together,” said Gadowsky. “They have a pretty good time.”
The NHL’s Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the team has agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract with Boston College sophomore goaltender Jacob Fowler.
Fowler also signed a one-year, one-way AHL contract for the remainder of the 2024-25 season with the Laval Rocket.
The Melbourne, Fla., native played 35 games with Boston College in 2024-25, compiling a 25-7-2 record, along with a .940 save percentage and a 1.63 goals-against average. Fowler, who also recorded seven shutouts, ranked second among all NCAA goaltenders in GAA and shutouts, as well as third in wins and save percentage.
Fowler was named Hockey East goaltender of the year for the second straight season, in addition to being named among the finalists for the Mike Richter Award, awarded annually to the NCAA’s most outstanding goaltender, for the second year in a row.
He also helped the Americans to a gold medal at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, where he played seven games.
Fowler was selected by the Canadiens in the third round (69th overall) of the 2023 NHL Draft.
Thousands of hockey players rotated through Cornell’s New York-based campus over Mike Schafer’s three decades of head coaching.
From an on/ice perspective, their legacy is long entrenched as a piece of the Big Red’s history of building successful champions. Even in this last year, raising the Whitelaw Cup for a second straight season handed the program its second consecutive postseason ECAC Hockey championship.
Yet the true lasting memory of Cornell hockey isn’t something ingrained in an on-ice shot or check for a player like Hank Kempf. It’s not a sprint in practice or a postgame film session. It might not even land in the Ivy League education and life-changing degree from one of the world’s best universities.
The lasting image, the lasting thought of a Cornell hockey player, is a second straight year as a finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award.
“Coach Schafer always talks about how important service is,” said Kempf after being nominated for the first time in 2024. “Playing for Cornell and being under him has really been a great learning lesson into the value of service. It’s been a big thing for me, and it’s influenced me to branch out. Being in the Cornell hockey program is such an incredible place in so many areas, but it’s developed me as a person because you get to do so much away from the rink.”
Kempf was the second member of the Cornell hockey program to be named a finalist for the award given to college hockey’s finest citizen. He is attempting to join Sam Paolini as the only Big Red players to ever win the award after Alyssa Gagliardi and Morgan Richardson became finalists during their time on Cornell’s women’s program, and his nomination is the 10th time that someone from the Ivy League and ECAC-based school appeared on the list of nominees.
Becoming the first Cornell player nominated multiple times to the award, though, is only part of the story for Kempf, who has built a sustainable model of charitable contributions to the greater Cornell and Ithaca communities. His efforts to organize “Big Red Blocks for Healing” stemmed from a tragedy in his own personal life after his mother passed away from a bout with breast cancer, and it’s gotten teammates involved by raising money based on the team’s desire to block shots during games.
The money raised went directly to Kesem, an organization that supports children affected by a cancer diagnosis to a parent by providing programs and services at no cost. In the first year, Cornell’s efforts exceeded the team’s initial expectations, and Kempf recruited Ryan Walsh and Jack O’Brien from the Cornell team to organize a second year alongside the entire coaching staff.
“A bunch of returners stayed [on campus] over the summer,” he said. “Before the [2023-2024 season], we got together and met with some staff. We all kind of decided that it would be a great thing, this year, to do a service project with the team and have it be something that speaks to the team. I was a little hesitant to do something out of the gate in honor of my mom, but after I talked to my family, we all [decided] it was something she would want me to do. From there, it was a no-brainer to do something to honor her and to do something for breast cancer.
“We really looked at something that spoke to us as a shutdown, defensive team, and we love blocking shots. Blocking shots is a thing that’s really big in our program, so it was something that we said would be cool to make [the program] performance-based specifically for using shot blocks to raise money for breast cancer.”
Kempf has also been involved with the Portal de Belen Foundation service trip that took Cornell to poor and needy areas within the Dominican Republic, and he led a service trip to Monte Plata, where the Big Red built a community service center for the area. They later provided goods, services and sports equipment to the children of the area while continuing to lift the spirits of a developing nation with a poverty rate exceeding 27 percent.
He’s additionally worked with the Racker Center, a support center for people with disabilities in the greater Ithaca, N.Y., area, and the Newfield Schools Mentor Program, which hosted children groups on campus at Cornell.
