The Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation is pleased to announce that Sarah Thompson (Orleans, Ontario), a graduate student at St. Lawrence University (Syracuse ‘24) is the recipient of this year’s Hockey Humanitarian Award. The Award was presented to Thompson during a ceremony at the Stifel Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri as part of the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four.
For 30 years, the award has been 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.
Three-time award finalist Thompson is the 12th female and the seventh ECAC Hockey student-athlete to be honored. She was recognized along with the recipients of the Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award, the Mike Richter Award and the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.
This year’s other award finalists were: Keri Clougherty of Boston College; Kendra Fortin of Bemidji State University; Hank Kempf of Cornell University; and Raice Szott of Merrimack College.
While an undergrad at Syracuse University, Thompson started a foundation called ‘Sticks Together’ to provide children in disadvantaged areas opportunities to learn and grow through the sport of hockey. Her belief that hockey has no boundaries fueled her desire to give back and share her love for the sport and bridge cultural gaps around the world.
“I’m incredibly honored to be selected among such an inspiring group of finalists,” said Thompson. “As student-athletes, we have a powerful platform to create meaningful change, and I feel so fortunate to have done that through Sticks Together. What started as a simple desire to give back has grown into something much bigger, allowing me to share the game of hockey with communities around the world. Seeing a child’s face light up as they score their first goal is a feeling I’ll never forget. None of this would have been possible without the incredible support of our donors, sponsors, mentors, my team, and my family—thank you for helping make Sticks Together what it is today.”
The brainstorming began before the COVID-19 pandemic and continues today. The pause in moving forward because of COVID strengthened her passion and conviction to launch the initiative and she has not stopped working to grow the project ever since. She has led humanitarian trips to Argentina (2022), South Africa (2023) and the Philippines (2024).
Sticks Together aims to provide the necessary resources to give children in underprivileged communities the opportunity to learn and play the sport of hockey. As a part of the initiative, the group donates recycled hockey equipment and teaches the game to students around the world. The mission is to give children an escape from their everyday life and share with them the joy of playing the sport with those who may not have the opportunity otherwise.
This season at St. Lawrence, Thompson played center in 38 games tallying two goals, two assists, blocking 11 shots and winning 99 face offs. During her time at Syracuse, she earned 2022 and 2023 American Hockey Coaches Association All-America Scholar recognition, was a 2021, 2022 and 2023 College Hockey America All-Academic Team selection and was on the Syracuse Athletic Director’s Honor Roll every semester. She played 121 games for the Orange, tallying 29 goals and 20 assists for 49 points. She scored eight power-play goals and three game winners.
“This is such a great moment for Sarah and all of the people associated with Sticks Together,” said head coach Chris Wells. “She has built a sustainable organization that provides great opportunities for the game we all love! In just one year at SLU, she has made such an impact on our program. Her maturity and thoughtfulness have been experienced by all of us and her unselfish attitude will be remembered here long after she has graduated. She doesn’t do any of this for any other reason, but to spread goodwill. She doesn’t want any recognition for it, but she deserves to be getting every bit of it for all she has done.” On Friday night, the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation presented Thompson and her Sticks Together Foundation with a check for $3,000. The other four finalists each received $500 for their respective designated charities. These donations from the HHA Foundation are made possible through the generous support of the awards partners and donors.
For more information about Sticks Together visit stickstogether.org.
