Feb. 3, 2010
Minneapolis, Minn. – Notre Dame hockey senior alternate captain Kevin Deeth (Gig Harbor, Wash.) has been selected as one of 18 nominees on the national level for the College Hockey Humanitarian Award, presented by BNY Mellon Wealth Management. The award is presented every year to college hockey’s finest citizen for their contributions to society in all areas.
This is the 15th year for the Hockey Humanitarian Award that will be presented in a special ceremony on Friday, April 9th, at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., in conjunction with the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four.
Deeth is in his fourth year at Notre Dame and serves as one of the team’s three alternate captains. He currently is fifth on the team in scoring with three goals and 15 assists for 18 points. He has scored once on the power play and is -4 for the season. The veteran center is currently fifth on the all-time games played list with 157 games and ranks 35th on Notre Dame’s all-time points list with 113 (35 goals, 78 assists).
Throughout his career, Deeth has been active in the team’s community service projects and this year as an alternate team captain he has become the team’s leader within the community.
During the 2009-10 season the team has been involved in several pet projects. Included among the projects was the highly successful, “Give Them The Shirts Off Our Backs,” jersey auction that was held the weekend of Jan. 29-30 with all proceeds going to the Wounded Warriors Project. The auction itself raised $16,604.60 and with matching gifts from several benefactors totaling $25,000, the grand total raised for the Wounded Warriors Project reached $41,604.60.
Other projects the team is involved in this season include:
– Working with the South Bend School District as members of the “Dream Team.” This is a group of 10 players who volunteer as mentors at two local elementary schools – Perley and Madison – where they work with 2nd and 3rd graders. They interact with the kids, acting as Big Brothers, talking about school, playing sports, etc. The group does this for an hour twice a week.
– One day a week the team is involved with the South Bend Robinson Center working with inter-city kids in an after school program. Deeth and several players are continuing a program started last season by graduated teammate Luke Lucyk where the teach inter-city kids the game of hockey, putting them through various drills, teaching the game. The kids from the program attend an Irish hockey game and skate with the Notre Dame players.
– Also this season, Kevin has participated in the annual Buddy Walk for kids with Downs Syndrome, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk and has served as a mentor at St. Joseph Middle School where he reads to students. He has spent time at Notre Dame’s Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC), just talking to children 2-3 years of age. On the hockey front, he, like all his teammates assist with clinics for the Irish Youth Hockey League (IYHL) and on Nov. 28, 2009 participated in the Skate with the Irish following the game with Bowling Green.
Joining Deeth on the list of 18 nominees for the Hockey Humanitarian Award are: Bobby Butler (New Hampshire), Ethan Cox (Colgate), Kirsten Dier (Amherst College), Jon Globke (New England College), Barry Goers (UMass.-Lowell), Caitlin Hogan (St. Cloud State), Dion Knelsen (Alaska), Sam Kuzyk (Adrian College), Shareef Labreche (Buffalo State), Zach Miller (Williams College), Mario Mielleli (Augsburg College), Bridget O’Gorman (Connecticut), Jordan Pietrus (Brown University), Garrett Raboin (St. Cloud State), Todd Sheridan (The College at Brockport), Brandon Vossberg (Denver) and Brett Watson (Massachusetts).
Finalists for the award will be announced on the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation website at www.hockeyhumanitarian.org in February. More information on the history of the award, the 2010 schedule of events and a list of past nominees, finalists and recipients can be found at http://www.hockeyhumanitarian.org