Ryan Thang was a member of two CCHA regular-season and playoff championship teams during his Notre Dame career.

Ryan Thang Selected As Candidate For Lowe's Senior Class Award

Oct. 8, 2009

Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame senior captain Ryan Thang (Edina, Minn.) has been selected as a candidate for the 2009-10 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in the men’s Division I hockey program.

Thang joins 19 other Division I players who have combined excellence in athletics, academics and community service. The award is presented annually to an NCAA Division I student-athlete in nine sports based on achievement’s in the “Four C’s” of classroom, character, community and competition. CLASS is an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School.

Selected by his teammates as team captain for the coming season, Thang goes into his final year on the verge of breaking into Notre Dame’s “Century Club” with 100 career points. The left wing opens the new campaign this weekend with 48 goals and 44 assists for 92 career points. He will be looking to join 43 former Notre Dame players that have scored 100 or more points during their careers. Thang owns 21 career power-play goals to rank 11th on the all-time list and 13 game-winning goals, tying him for first on that all-time list with three other players.

He is coming off a season that saw him notch 10 goals with nine assists for 19 points, getting four power-play goals and two game winners. Thang played in 33 games, missing seven with a high-ankle sprain in February.

Off the ice, Thang has a 3.241 grade-point average in finance in the Mendoza College of Business.

The Edina, Minn., native has been involved in all aspects of the team’s community service efforts throughout his career. For three years, he has participated in the annual Buddy Walk for kids with Down’s syndrome and the University’s Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Christmas Party with Memorial Hospital. During the 2007-08 season, the team was involved with South Bend’s Robinson Center in an after-school program to teach kids how to play hockey. Thang has been a part of the team’s IYHL Mite Skates, working with the community’s youth hockey program, and he has participated in the CCHA’s annual Hockey is Fun Clinic for two years.

This is the fourth year that Lowe’s has sponsored an award for hockey. In 2006-07, former Irish goaltender David Brown `07 won the Senior CLASS Award while in 2007-08, forward Mark Van Guilder `08 and in 2008-09, goaltender Jordan Pearce `09 and forward Erik Condra `09 were among the top 10 finalists.

The Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award was launched in 2001 to honor the attributes of college basketball seniors who fulfill their entire athletic eligibility and pursue the many rewards of a senior season and complete college education.

Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, expanded the Senior CLASS Award program in 2007 to include NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey in addition to men’s lacrosse, baseball, softball and men’s and women’s soccer. Football (Bowl Subdivision) was added in 2008, bringing the award program’s total of NCAA sports to nine.

From the list of 20 nominees, a national media committee will select 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award by early February 2009. Those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot for a nationwide vote that will include coaches, media and fans. The award winner will be announced and recognized at the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four in Detroit, Mich.

“I am always amazed at the commitment to academics, athletics and community that our nominees in hockey demonstrate each year,” said Tom Lamb, Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing.

“This year’s student-athletes have reached new heights in their concerns for a better community, their stellar work in the classroom and their numerous achievements on the field of competition.”

This marks the fourth year for the hockey division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. David Brown of Notre Dame was the inaugural winner in 2007. He was followed by Princeton’s Landis Stankievech of Princeton in 2008 and Michigan State’s Jeff Lerg in 2009.

Lowe's Senior CLASS Award2009-10 Men's Hockey Nominees
Name School Pos. Conference
Jean-Marc Beaudoin Quinnipiac F ECAC Hockey LeaguePeter Boldt Dartmouth D ECAC Hockey LeagueAndrew Braithwaite Merrimack G Hockey EastCody Chupp Ferris State F Central Collegiate Hockey AssociationRyan Donald Yale D ECAC Hockey LeagueMatt Fairchild Air Force F Atlantic Hockey AssociationChay Genoway North Dakota D Western Collegiate Hockey AssociationBarry Goers UMass-Lowell D Hockey EastColin Greening Cornell F ECAC Hockey LeagueDion Knelsen Alaska F Central Collegiate Hockey AssociationAndrew Loewen Canisius College G Atlantic Hockey AssociationDavid McIntyre Colgate F ECAC Hockey LeagueMartin Nolet Massachusetts D Hockey EastGarrett Raboin St. Cloud State D Western Collegiate Hockey AssociationRhett Rakhshani Denver F Western Collegiate Hockey AssociationDan Ringwald RIT D Atlantic Hockey AssociationChris Summers Michigan D Central Collegiate Hockey AssociationRyan Thang Notre Dame F Central Collegiate Hockey AssociationEli Vlaisavljevich Michigan Tech D Western Collegiate Hockey AssociationBrett Watson Massachusett F Hockey East