Hockey winner Greening approaches leadership role with business in mind
As a co-captain of the Big Red with Michael Kennedy his junior year in 2008-09, Cornell University forward Colin Greening couldn’t have asked for a better transition from his junior year to his senior year in 2009-10 both on and off the ice. And to cap off his senior season, Greening is the recipient of the 2010 Lowe’s Senior Class award.
“The only real transition was from last year’s class to this year’s class both on the ice and off,” Greening said. “Mike had a very similar personality and that was beneficial to me with the transition of being a co-captain last year to being the captain this year.”
A seventh-round draft pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Ottawa Senators, Greening helped the Big Red capture this year’s ECAC tournament and helped the team secure another NCAA tournament appearance during his senior campaign.
While Greening’s success should be acknowledged, his character both on and off the ice and his leadership helped paved a successful four years in Ithaca, New York.
“You don’t get individual success without team success,” he said. “When you have guys who helped in the community and on the ice, you get to learn a lot about them both as a person and as a team. Whether it’s going to a team outing during the day or going to the movies at night, it shows how diverse you are.”
Not only did the team bond together as a whole on and off the ice – whether it was a team meeting or going to the movies – but Greening and the squad showed a lot of support in the campus community. Take for example the Cornell women’s hockey team, which made it all the way to the national championship game in the Women’s Frozen Four in Minneapolis just one day after the men’s team won the ECAC tournament.
While the men’s team was unable to make the trip for the women’s national title game against Minnesota-Duluth, the men’s team did support the women in their ECAC tournament victory against Clarkson a couple weeks prior. Greening noted that the women’s team had some similar characteristics as the men’s team. After all, they both won their conference tournament.
“We went to every game and every event we could on campus,” Greening said. “We wound up watching the ECAC women’s title game on campus and I have to say that both our team and their team have similar characteristics.
“Both hockey teams on campus have had a great tradition of hockey. And most of all, we both have similar personalities and I think we both have the will to win.”
Engaging in a community is one of many responsibilities that come with being a leader. Not only did Greening spend hours for numerous organizations in the school community as well as helping out in the Ithaca area – for such charities as Big Brothers/Big Sisters – but being a two-year captain came with lots of responsibility in the classroom.
Greening, an economics and management major, has a 3.95 GPA and was named a second-team ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-American in the at-large category as a junior.
All of this made his transition off the ice a success too during the 2009-10 academic year.
“Being a leader is never easy as with any business,” Greening noted. “To me, my transition was what it meant to show the duties and responsibilities it takes to being a leader on the ice and in the community.”
