League Trio Honored for Academic Prowess
ALBANY, NY - League standouts Chase Polacek of Rensselaer, Stephane Boileau of Union and Harry Zolniercyzk of Brown have been named to the Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District men's at-large teams, it was announced Wednesday.
Polacek has been named to the All-District first team, while Boileau and Zolniercyzk earned second-team accolades.
Polacek, a senior forward from Edina, Minn., is a business and management major with a 3.44 cumulative GPA. The assistant captain of the men’s hockey team, he led his squad in scoring with 21 goals and 27 assists for 48 points. Polacek was also the team leader in power play goals (11), short-handed goals (2) and game-winning tallies (9).
A two-time ECAC Hockey Player of the Year, Polacek helped carry the nationally-ranked Engineers into the NCAA Tournament – the team’s first appearance since 1995 – as RPI went 20-13-5 overall and 11-9-2 in conference play. Ranking in the top 20 nationally in five statistical categories, he was recognized for his outstanding season with a number of accolades, including All-ECACH First Team, AHCA First Team All-America, INCH All-America, USCHO.com All-America, Hobey Baker Top 10 finalist and the All-College Hockey News First Team.
Polacek, who concluded his career with 160 points (65 goals, 95 assists) in a school record 154 games played, was also a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award and was a three-time team Most Valuable Player. Additionally, the former Academy of Holy Angels standout served as a Student Ambassador and volunteered his time with a number of organizations across the Capital Region, including Relay for Life, STRIDE Adaptive Sports, the United Way, the Center for the Disabled and as a clinician for various youth hockey teams.
Boileau, a three-time winner of Union’s Thomas VanArden Dukeheart Award for highest grade point average on the team, earned a 3.89 GPA as a Neuroscience (pre-med)/Economics major.
He was named ECAC Hockey's Student-Athlete of the Year, the third Union winner of the award in the last five years. Boileau was also one of 10 finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, and also earned a nomination for the 2011 Hockey Humanitarian Award. Boileau has posted four goals and six assists in 26 games to move among the top 50 point-scorers in school history.
Zolnierczyk led the Bears in scoring in 2010-11 with 31 points (16g, 15a), three game-winning goals, two short-handed goals, and six power play goals. The Bears' captain, Zolnierczyk also had a team-high 17 points (10g, 7a) in ECAC Hockey games. A 30-point scorer for the second consecutive season, Zolnierczyk finished his four-year career with 69 points (30g, 39a) in 114 games. A two-time ECAC Hockey Player of the Week, Zolnierczyk was instrumental in organizing the Bears' fundraiser in the month of November, as the team grew mustaches to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer. An economics concentrator with a 3.57 GPA, Zolnierczyk singed an NHL contract with the Philadelphia Flyers at the end of the season.
