EASTON, Mass. (January 17, 2024) – Stonehill College sophomore defender Hannah Squires has been announced as one of 18 nominees for the 2024 Hockey Humanitarian Award by The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation today.
Squires is the first nominee in the two-year history of the Stonehill women's ice hockey program and the College's first nominee since men's hockey alum James Varney was nominated in 2019. The group of nominees includes nine graduate students, five seniors, three juniors, and Squires as the lone sophomore and lone nominee representing the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA). Squires is one of six women's hockey student-athlete nominees announced by the Foundation.
The Hockey Humanitarian Award is celebrating its 29th season and is presented annually to college hockey's finest citizen — a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team but also to the community at large through leadership in volunteerism. Finalists for the 2024 Hockey Humanitarian Award will be announced in February. The 2024 recipient will be announced Friday, April 12, during the NCAA Men's Frozen Four weekend in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Squires, a women's hockey program member from its inauguration a season ago, has shown her selflessness both on and off the ice. In the early stages of the 2023-24 campaign, she volunteered to miss two weeks of practice and games to donate stem cells through the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), a nonprofit organization formerly known as Be the Match that she registered for the moment she turned 18 years old. She was found to be a match for a 70-year-old cancer patient in need of a stem cell donation that could potentially save their life. There was no hesitation once finding out about the opportunity; however, she would need to go through the bone marrow donation two weeks into the 2023-24 hockey season. Squires never doubted what she would do but would need her team and coaches' blessing to miss two weeks of training and contest to complete the donation process.
Once first-year head coach Lee-J Mirasolo learned of her defender's opportunity to save a life, there was no uncertainty about allowing Squires to pursue this chance of a lifetime and endure the entire donation process. After this formality, she began to prep and undergo the battery of tests necessary leading up to her stem cell donation in early October.
Squires again showed her selfless manner on the ice just weeks later after her return from the stem cell donation process, this time stepping up when her team needed her the most. In a weekend series against NEWHA rival Saint Michael's College, where both rostered Stonehill netminders could not play, Squires volunteered to lace up the pads and step in between the pipes, a position she has never played in-game action. She stepped in and thrived, earning two wins in goal, and securing the series sweep for the Skyhawks.
Through Squires journey with NMDP, formerly Be the Match, the Stonehill women's hockey program has stepped up to support the program. It will host its first NMDP-sponsored game against Sacred Heart University on Friday, January 26, at 5 p.m. The Skyhawks and organization will also be on Stonehill's campus Thursday, January 25, hosting a registry and information event inside Meehan Hall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Stonehill (11-13-0, 11-7-0 NEWHA) returns to action next weekend, traveling to South Burlington, Vermont, to Saint Michael's for the return weekend series. Puck drop of Friday's opener is set for 7:10 p.m., before the series concludes on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Skyhawks return home the following weekend for the Sacred Heart series on Friday (5 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m.), January 26-27.
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RELEASE COURTESY OF STONEHILL ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS