The Niagara men’s hockey team accounted for four members of a record-setting 14 student-athletes who were named Atlantic Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year for posting a 4.0 or better grade-point average.
Dan Baco, Robert Martini, Chris Noonan and Kevin Ryan were the four Purple Eagles who had 4.0 or higher this past season. NU had the most student-athletes (four) to earn the award and was followed by American International, Army, RIT and Robert Morris who all had a pair of student-athletes and Mercyhurst and Canisius which had a single student-athlete.
“As a team, they are all very responsible in regards to their academics,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “These four student-athletes certainly did a great job balancing the books and hockey.”
For a ninth straight year a new standard has been set in the classroom for the student-athletes of Atlantic Hockey as 179 have earned a spot on the All-Academic Team. The 179 student-athletes eclipse the mark of 175 that were honored after the 2011-12 season. In the ninth year of existence, 18 players earned their fourth appearance on the All-Academic squad. In addition, 26 are appearing for the third time, while 58 are being honored for the second time.
Niagara had 16 members named to the AHA All-Academic Team: Scott Arnold *; Dan Baco *; Jason Beattie *; C.J. Chartrain; Nick Gawron; Sam Goodwin *; Jeff Hannan *; Giancarlo Iuorio; Robert Martini *; Tyler Matthews *; Chris Noonan @; Ryan Rashid *; Kevin Ryan *; Daniel Weiss; Matt Williams; Marc Zanette *.
Robert Morris had a high of 26 members on the All-Academic Team with American International following the Colonials with 22.
To qualify for the Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team an individual must post a 3.0 grade point average or higher in all of the academic periods during which his team was actively competing. Atlantic Hockey’s Top Scholar Athlete is an award given annually to the player or players who achieves the highest grade point average over the course of the academic semesters of competition.
*Two-Time Honoree
