« Hockey 2015-16

Kyle Criscuolo

School
Harvard
Position
Forward
Major
Psychology

Classroom

Kyle Criscuolo is a model student for his teammates. Last season he became the first Harvard hockey player to be named ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year, recognizing strength on the ice and in the classroom. Criscuolo is held in high regard by his professors and advisers. As an example, Professor Bill Alford, Criscuolo’s academic adviser and well-known professor at Harvard Law School, wrote Criscuolo’s recommendation letter for the ECAC Award. His cumulative GPA remains above 3.50, and although he would like to continue playing hockey professionally after graduation, he does have aspirations of attending law school in the future.

Character

“Criscuolo’s character speaks for itself. The two-time captain is a well-respected leader by both his teammates, who vote on captains at Harvard, and his coaches, who entrust him to be linchpin between the players and coaching staff. As the communications director for the team, I am continually impressed with his professionalism with the media. This has included speaking with the media after tough defeats and great victories. As mentioned above in the classroom section, I believe it says a lot about Criscuolo that Professor Alford, the faculty fellow to the hockey team, would put his name behind Kyle in the form of a recommendation letter.” - Brock Malone, Team Communications Director

Community

Criscuolo has been a driving force in pushing the Harvard hockey team to participate in a number of community service efforts throughout the last three years. In the summers of 2014 and 2015, Criscuolo organized Harvard’s participation in the Boston Wiffle Ball Challenge, which raises money for the Travis Roy Foundation and the Franciscan Hospital for Children. Also, Criscuolo has been a organizer and participant in the Crimson spending a day at the Cristo Rey Boston School where the team provided manual labor in the form of cleaning the school, rearranging furniture, painting, raking the grounds and general maintenance. This fall, although unable to participate, Criscuolo helped his teammates organize its participation in the 2015 Terry Fox Run. The Terry Fox Run has been a staple in Canada since Terry Fox began his journey to run from the Atlantic to Pacific coast to raise awareness for cancer research after he was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1977. Criscuolo partnered with the women’s team captain to form the Making Strides Count program. The program brings kids from a local Boys and Girls Club and teaches them to skate through a weekly program that last eight weeks this winter. Criscuolo was also pivotal in a “Skate Day” with children from the One Summit program. All of the children involved had been personally affected by cancer either as patients or siblings.

Competition

In addition to being named the ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year in 2015, Criscuolo earned a spot on the All-ECAC Hockey and Ivy League Second Team. He also was named a semi-finalist for the Walter Brown Award, recognizing New England’s top collegiate hockey player. Criscuolo is also one of the most accomplished players on the ice for Harvard. He has posted a positive plus-minus rating each season, highlighted by his +25 mark which led the team last year. He also led the team with 31 assists and finished second with 48 points. For his career he has 81 points and a +32 rating. His individual successes helped lead Harvard to the ECAC Hockey Tournament Championship in Lake Placid last year, earning the Crimson a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006.