Athletics

July 29, 2016 | Athletic Communications

Huskies Named to Hockey East All-Academic Teams

Among those honored, women's ice hockey player Annie Belanger boasted a perfect 4.0 GPA for the season.

Two-time honoree Annie Belanger was among a select group to earn recognition as one of Hockey East’s Top Scholar Athlete by boasting a 4.0 GPA for the season. (Athletic Communications/UConn Photo)

Twenty-three student-athletes from UConn's men's and women's ice hockey teams were recognized, including two-time honoree Annie Belanger, who was among a select group to earn recognition as one of Hockey East’s Top Scholar Athletes by boasting a 4.0 GPA for the season. (Athletic Communications/UConn Photo)

The UConn men’s and women’s hockey teams placed 23 student-athletes on the Hockey East All-Academic teams for the 2015-16 season.

Hockey East announced that 12 men and 11 women were among the student-athletes named. Each student-athlete achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or better in each of the two academic periods during which he or she was actively competing.

Two-time honoree Annie Belanger (Sherbrooke, Quebec) was among a select group to earn recognition as one of Hockey East’s Top Scholar Athletes by boasting a 4.0 GPA for the season. Belanger’s perfect 4.0 GPA earned her the goaltender spot on the 2015-16 Hockey East Academic All-Star Team.

Other women named to the team:

Three Husky standouts grabbed all-academic honors for a fourth year: Elaine Chuli (Waterford, Ont.), Caitlin Hewes (Stillwater, Minn.), and Margaret Zimmer (St. Charles, Ill.) each became four-time honorees after receiving their degrees from UConn in May. Fellow graduates Leah Buress (Windsor, Ont.) and Cassandra Opela (Penfield, N.Y.) also received the recognition and were both first-time honorees.

Rising senior Lexi Lersch (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) became a three-time all-academic honoree, while Belanger and Lindsey Roethke (Buffalo, Minn.) took home the accolade for the second consecutive season, after both earned the honor as freshmen in the 2014-15 season.

Two UConn freshmen, Jaime Fox (Unionville, Ont.) and Nora Maclaine (Easton, Mass.), picked up the honor after just their first season with the Huskies, along with Leah Lum (Richmond, B.C.), who was a first-time honoree as a sophomore.

The UConn men's hockey team.
UConn’s ice hockey teams excelled academically as well as on the ice. (Athletic Communications/UConn Photo)

Men named to the team:

Program graduates Kyle Huson (Parker, Colo.) and Joey Ferriss (Novi, Mich.) led the UConn contingent earning Hockey East honors for the second-straight season. The two claimed academic accolades all four years in Storrs, having collected Atlantic Hockey All-Academic honors after their freshman and sophomore seasons as well.

Fellow graduates Patrick Kirtland (Rocky Hill, Conn.) and Shawn Pauly (Bellingham, Wash.) were also named to this year’s team.  For Pauly, it was his third-straight season garnering all-academic honors.

Picking up Hockey East honors for the second-straight season were rising juniors Johnny Austin (St. Louis Park, Minn.), Spencer Naas (Minnetonka, Minn.), Kasperi Ojantakanen (Helsinki, Finland), Steve Thulin (North Reading, Mass.), and Jeff Wight (Coquitlam, British Columbia).

Rising senior Joona Kunnas (Vantaa, Finland), rising junior Jesse Schwartz (Toronto, Ontario), and rising sophomore Karl El-Mir (Montreal, Quebec) were all first-time honorees on the HEA All-Academic squad.