Braithwaite Named a Finalist for Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award

OVERLAND PARK, KS – Senior goaltender Andrew Braithwaite (Kingston, Ontario) is one of 20 hockey student-athletes named a finalist for the 2009-10 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.

To be eligible for the award, candidates must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable accomplishments in four areas of excellence – classroom, character, community, and competition.

Braithwaite, named the Hockey East Co-Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2008 for the second time in three years, is one of four players from Hockey East listed as a finalist and is the only goaltender.

The 20 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School™, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

This year’s candidate class includes two preseason Inside College Hockey All-Americans, two returning American Hockey Coaches Association All-Americans from last season and eight candidates from teams ranked in the USA Today/USA Hockey preseason top 15 poll. Seven candidates helped their teams earn a spot in the 2009 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship. Half of the 20 candidates have cumulative grade point averages of 3.5 and above. Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award™ winner at the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four® in April.

This marks the fourth year for the ice hockey division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. Michigan State University goaltender Jeff Lerg received the award for the 2008-09 season and Princeton University center Landis Stankievech took home the 2007-08 honor. In 2006-07, University of Notre Dame goaltender David Brown won the inaugural men’s hockey award.

2009-10 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award
Jean-Marc Beaudoin Forward Quinnipiac University
Peter Boldt Defense Dartmouth College
Andrew Braithwaite Goalie Merrimack College
Cody Chupp Right Wing Ferris State University
Ryan Donald Defender Yale University
Matt Fairchild Forward United States Air Force Academy
Chay Genoway Defenseman University of North Dakota
Barry Goers Defenseman University of Massachusetts Lowell
Colin Greening Forward Cornell University
Dion Knelsen Center University of Alaska Fairbanks
Andrew Loewen Goaltender Canisius College
David McIntyre Forward Colgate University
Martin Nolet Defenseman University of Massachusetts Amherst
Garrett Raboin Defense St. Cloud State University
Rhett Rakhshani Forward University of Denver
Dan Ringwald Defenseman Rochester Institute of Technology
Chris Summers Defense University of Michigan
Ryan Thang Left Wing University of Notre Dame
Eli Vlaisavljevich Defense Michigan Technological University
Brett Watson Forward University of Massachusetts Amherst