University of Alaska Fairbanks
Department of Athletics & Campus Recreation
PO Box 757440
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7440
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 1999
Contact: Scott Roselius
Sports Information Director
907-474-6805
Fairbanks - The University of Alaska Fairbanks Department of Athletics has announced today that the five finalists for the 1999 College Hockey Humanitarian Award have been announced. Five college hockey players, who exhibited a strong commitment to their communities, their teams, and their studies, have been named finalists for the 1999 Humanitarian Award, which is presented annually to college hockey's finest citizen.
The group, which includes three men and two women, is Jamie Daniel Baby, a senior center for the two-time NCAA Division II champion University of Alabama-Huntsville; Pete Gardiner, a junior forward and former runner-up of the ECAC Rookie of the Year Award at Rensselaer; Sara Whipple Nelson, a senior defenseman and one-time Most Improved Player for the Dartmouth College women's team; Kristine Price, a senior defenseman and three-time captain of the Rochester Institute of Technology women's team; Ryan Reinheller, a sophomore forward, and former Rookie of the Year in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League, who now plays at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The announcement of this year's recipient will be made on Friday, April 2nd in Anaheim, California. It will be part of the festivities surrounding NCAA hockey's Division I Frozen Four. This will be the fourth year the Award will be presented. Boston University goalie J.P. McKersie received the initial Humanitarian Award in 1996. University of Michigan defenseman Blake Sloan was the 1997 recipient, while University of Wisconsin forward Erik Raygor was last year's Humanitarian.
Ryan Reinheller, University of Alaska Fairbanks. A native of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Reinheller who is in second year with the UAF Nanooks, has shown a strong commitment to his team and community wherever he's lived or played. For the past five years, he has traveled to Mexico to help build homes for the homeless. When not on a construction site, he has spent time caring for and playing with the Mexican children. Also, for the past five years, he has volunteered his time at the Eagles' Nest Ranch summer camp for kids. A letter, that accompanied Reinheller's nomination, read: "My name is ... and I have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I am 10 years old and in grade five. Ryan is nice to me. At camp, he carries me when I get tired. He took me to an Edmonton Oilers hockey game for a treat, and he slept beside my bed on the floor that night because I was scared without my mom there. He loves me and I love him. I want to be like Ryan when I grow up." From 1995 to 1997, Reinheller played for the Penticton Panthers Junior A team. While each player is expected to do one public appearance per month, he did one a week. This consisted of alternately going to one of the six elementary or junior high schools or going to one of the senior rest homes or going to the home of a senior to perform a task the person was incapable of doing. On the ice for the Panthers, he was the BCJHL rookie scoring leader in 1995-96 and the Rookie of the Year. The year before, while playing in the International Junior Hockey League, he was the Rookie of the Year, the leading scorer and received the Most Gentlemanly Player, while, in 1993-94, for the Medicine Hat Midgets AAA Tigers, he was voted the Most Dedicated Player both on and off the ice.
Phone: (907) 474-7205
Fax: (907) 474-5162
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