Cook Named Student-Athlete of Year

ALBANY, N.Y. - Matt Cook, a senior forward at Union College, has been named the 2008-09 ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year, it was announced today by the ECAC Hockey office.  The Belle Mead, New Jersey native is the  recipient of the award, which recognizes academic achievement of ECAC Hockey student-athletes.

Cook is an Economics major at Union College with a minor in mathematics.  While in Schenectady Cook maintained a near-perfect grade-point-average.  He has been selected to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic squad each year at Union College and has made the Dean's List after each semester.  He was named among the finalists for the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.  He intends to pursue his MBA upon graduation. 

Cook is an elite athlete that has earned a strong reputation in Schenectady and throughout the league as a leader on the ice.  In the 2008-09 season, he served his second season as team captain and led the Dutchmen to their first tournament championship since 1993 by winning the 2008 Governor's Cup in Albany, New York. 

He also has taken an active role in the community by volunteering at local youth practices and the local SAIL program in the Schenectady school district.  He has also participated in Habitat for Humanity and has volunteered at the YMCA soup kitchen.  Cook also served as an instructor for the Minerva Games for local grade schoolers and coached a skills clinic for youth hockey players.

Each school was asked to nominate a top scholar athlete who met the following requirements: a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.50 on a 4.00 scale through the fall term; participation in a minimum of 50 percent of the team's contests (33 percent of team's minutes for goaltenders); demonstrated leadership on and off the ice (e.g., character, contributions to the community, participation/involvement in institutional groups/committees, etc.).

Other nominees included:  Matt Generous, St. Lawrence, Tom Pizzo, Clarkson, Mark Anderson, Colgate, Tom Dignard, Yale and Mathia Lange, Rensselaer.

About ECAC Hockey
ECAC Hockey boasts elite student-athletes and teams from 12 of the nation's most prestigious institutions - Brown University, Clarkson University, Colgate University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, Quinnipiac University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, St. Lawrence University, Union College and Yale University.

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