If one would think that the new addition to the Beaudoin family would affect the new father in a negative way as he leads the young Bobcats’ squad, well then that person doesn’t know much about Jean-Marc Beaudoin.

“I had no concerns about Jean-Marc being a great father,” said Rand Pecknold, head coach of the Quinnipiac University men’s ice hockey team. “It hasn’t negatively affected his school work, or his play on the ice in any way. He’s so mature and he’s been able to balance his schedule extremely well.”

Beaudoin says it’s all about finding the right balance and that his wife and teammates have shown both of them tremendous support.

“You don’t want to overwhelm yourself,” the St. Paul, Alberta, native said. “I take great pride in everything I do. I want do well in school. I want to be home. I want to be a good dad and be there for my son, as well as my teammates. My wife and my teammates have been so supportive. The 30 guys on the team have been great for my son and have made my job that much easier.”

Although many student-athletes may need their full time in college to finally exude some of the qualities that Beaudoin exhibits, the forward made an impact on the Quinnipiac program and, especially Pecknold, from his first day on campus.

“He’s one of the best couple of guys I’ve had in my 19 years of coaching in terms of character and his high-end competiveness,” the long-time coach said. “He’s the type of kid you want in the locker room. Lots of kids will do the right thing when someone’s watching, but Jean-Marc will always do the right thing.”

Pecknold says that while Beaudoin isn’t a real vocal leader who yells and screams a lot, the forward’s professionalism and tremendous work ethic garners instant respect from his teammates.

“He’s beyond respected by his teammates,” Pecknold said. “He truly leads by example.  He shows great commitment in every facet of his life and I think the players respond to that.”

Beaudoin hopes that his commitment and leadership qualities leave a legacy that future Quinnipiac players will follow.

“I think it’s a lot about accountability that the little things don’t slip away,” Beaudoin said. “I take my leadership role very seriously. I hope that when I come back, there are players who say ‘That’s how we want to play and be seen.’ I just want to leave my mark on this young team.”

The senior, who has totaled 97 points (42-55) in his four seasons prior to the team’s weekend matchup against Dartmouth in the ECAC Hockey tournament, also says what drives him on the ice has changed since the birth of his son.

“A lot of my passion on the ice comes from my son and my family,” Beaudoin said. “It also comes from the guys on the team. We have great character and that’s what keeps me going.”

When he’s not on the ice, Beaudoin can be found making an impact within the Hamden, Conn., community. Last season, the hockey team helped raise more than $30,000 for the fight against pediatric cancer through the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, and this year, Beaudoin helped lead Quinnipiac’s fundraising efforts for Autism Speaks.

The two-time ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team member also tutors a young elementary school student, who emigrated from France with his family. Unfortunately for the child, none of his teachers spoke French, but after Beaudoin - who speaks the language fluently - and his teammates visited the school to read to children, the pair were connected.

“It’s been a new challenge, but it’s been great,” the captain said. “The community has supported us tremendously and I think we’ve done a good job being role models to them.

“The past four years have been an amazing experience.”

In this day and age, what 21-year-old guy, about to embark on his senior season of college basketball, the undisputed leader of the team at an elite-level program and an All-America candidate, wouldn’t be tempted to milk being connected to a contemporary major celebrity for all it’s worth if the opportunity presented itself?

Gonzaga guard and CLASS finalist Matt Bouldin.

One day last September the word suddenly was out on blogs, Web sites and other forms of media from Spokane, Wash., and beyond that there was something going on between Bouldin and 20-year-old singing star Taylor Swift. Rumors that Bouldin opted not to promote, because they were lacking the element of truth.

“It was funny how that was created and how it built up,” Bouldin said. “Pretty much all that happened was that I was in the front row at her concert in Spokane with some people who pointed me out and she said hi to me from on stage.

“The next day, I get an email from my sister in New York who had heard somehow and was wondering what it was all about.”

Bouldin remains quite content with the level of celebrity he has earned on his own in the environs of Gonzaga and the West Coast Conference, and to lesser degree across the nation. And to continue to display the class that has made him an award finalist.

“Matt’s shown impeccable character throughout his career here,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “He’s always been very responsible and mature, on and off the floor, in season and in the off season. There have never been any issues.

“This is Matt’s team and he has the full respect and trust of the players and staff.”   

A major contributing factor in Gonzaga’s success in Few’s decade as head coach, which has included advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen four times, has been the family atmosphere that encompasses the program and attracts quality players like Bouldin. And the Zags basketball family does not set itself apart from the surrounding community and the world at large.

Few and his wife, Marcy, and the rest of the Zags’ staff headline, and players have roles in, the annual Coaches vs. Cancer BasketBALL and Gala, a black-tie affair at the historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane that has raised nearly $4 million since its inception in 2002. In the summer, Camp Goodtimes is held at a lake 40 miles north of the city where kids with cancer engage in activities with the Gonzaga staff and players.

At such times, Few said, Bouldin shines.

“Matt really likes kids and he’s very good, very natural around them,” Few said. “Whether it has been at the dinner, the camp or visiting hospital oncology wards, he has always been very willing and very generous with his time.”

On the court, Bouldin’s team went into the week of February 16 with a 21-4 record, ranked No. 9 nationally in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 13 in the Associated Press Poll. The Bulldogs were on track for a 10th straight WCC regular season championship.

Individually, Bouldin ranked in the top 250 nationally in seven categories, with the highest being 34th in free throw percentage at 86.2 percent. He ranked in the top five in the WCC in six categories, including most of the “hustle” ones, and was No. 1 in minutes played, averaging 36.1 per contest.

And as good a college player as he has been, Few and others believe Bouldin could be even better at the NBA level if given the opportunity.

“Put him in with the best athletes in the world and he’s going to shine,” Few said. “Maybe not from the scoring aspect, but as far as playmaking and doing all the other things.

“The better the players are that he’s with, the better Matt’s going to be. I really believe that.” 

Raboin did, joining the Huskies as a walk-on paying his own way. He was undersized for a college defenseman even at 5-11, 175 pounds, which he is listed at, but he wanted a chance.

He was 21 then, finishing his third season with the Lincoln (Neb.) Stars of the U.S. Hockey League. Most players in the nation’s top junior league leave after one or two seasons. Raboin waited to fulfill his dream of playing in the WCHA, the best conference in his mind.

“There were times in juniors, I wondered if it would happen or not,” Raboin said, “but I just kept going and the rewards are worth it.”

Raboin, a senior actually closer to 5-10 in height, is the Huskies’ team captain for a second season. He has 77 career points. One more point and Raboin will be the fourth-leading scorer among defensemen in SCSU’s Division I era.

“One of the first days of practice his freshman year, you knew,” Motzko said. “Your coaches do a double-take in the first couple hours. Oh-oh, we didn’t realize we were getting one this good.”

Raboin has been a four-year regular. He missed two early games, then played in the next 132 before sitting out February 12 with the flu. Motzko, as he promised, found a little scholarship money for Raboin his first year and more his second when he was picked an alternate captain.

“Those are the fun ones,” Motzko said. “That’s college athletics when you get surprises like [Raboin]. He’s an unbelievable kid. As good a kid as I have been around and a leader and he is the fiercest competitor.”

With a gentle side. Raboin’s major is special education. His parents are both teachers in that field in Detroit Lakes, Minn. Garrett met many of their students and has some disabled family members. He knew that he, too, wanted to instruct physically and mentally challenged students.

“Just the way they view life, with the cards stacked against them, is inspiring for me,” Raboin said. “You may think you have a bad day—you are really not.”

He recently thanked his parents, Bruce and Amy, for always reminding him how fortunate he is.

His father said Garrett is a natural for a special education career with his sense of humor, patience and unselfishness, adding: “He has been around special needs [individuals] right from birth.”

He was also born into a hockey family. His father was a college player at Providence. Later he played pro hockey in Europe and ran summer hockey camps. “Wherever I’d go, Garrett went,” said Bruce Raboin, his high school coach.

In college, Raboin followed Huskies’ tradition and as a sophomore and junior was a volunteer coach with the St. Cloud Slapshots, an adaptive floor hockey team. “That was a special time,” he said. “I’d teach them the game, incorporating my knowledge of hockey and interest in students with disabilities. It was exciting. I never felt like I was working.”

On the ice, it’s a different story. There Raboin toils and sweats. “He is an iron man; he can play all night long,” Motzko said. “Any physical play this league has had to dish out, he is in the middle of it.”

“He plays the body more than anybody on the team,” said Aaron Marvin, a junior center for the Huskies. “He refuses to lose battles, he refuses to give up.”

Junior Chris Hepp, Raboin’s partner on defense, marvels at his skills and passion. “[Raboin] has that offensive touch,” Hepp said. “He goes and makes plays and I can sit back and watch. He wants it that much more than anyone else.”

Raboin, who has five goals and 13 assists for 18 points this season, said he has to play hard-nosed: “That’s how I play my best, on edge.”

His teammates rely on the player they call Rabs or Grandpa—he turns 25 in March—for funny one-liners in the locker room to ease tension and wise words around the net before games. “[Raboin] does everything the right way,” Hepp said. “He makes it easy to follow him.”

This summer Raboin will marry Emily Lindquist, a woman from his hometown, and look for a pro hockey team short one defenseman.

“Someone will sign him next year,” Motzko said. “[Raboin] will be in the American Hockey League and whatever coach he has is going to love him. And they will decide if he can go further.” Further would be the NHL.

So far, the undrafted Raboin has taken the right path.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School™, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. 

This year’s candidate class includes 12 student-athletes on teams ranked in Collegiate Baseball magazine’s preseason top 40 poll and seven players tabbed as preseason All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Twelve of the candidates carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better, with one recording a perfect 4.0.

Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award™ winner at the NCAA College World Series® in June.

The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition. 

“The candidates for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in baseball are fulfilling a commitment to their universities and, at the same time, representing those schools in the community,” said Tom Lamb, Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing. “They have recognized the value of both a college degree and public service while taking advantage of the opportunity to play the game they love.”

This marks the fourth year for the baseball division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.  The University of Alabama’s Emeel Salem was the inaugural winner in 2007, Rice University’s Cole St. Clair was the recipient in 2008 and the University of Florida’s Brandon McArthur took home the award in 2009.

Look for teams with senior leadership.

Whether it’s the mid-major 12 seed challenging the marquee 5, or a battle of bluebloods for the national championship, seniors tend to rock and rule. Just look at the past decade of NCAA champions. Where there weren’t senior stars—Michigan State’s Matteen Cleaves and Mo Peterson, Duke’s Shane Battier, or North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, winner of the 2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award – there usually was senior glue.

We remember 2003 for the breakout of Syracuse freshman Carmelo Anthony. But we never should forget the Orange likely wouldn’t have survived the early rounds and reached the Final Four without senior captain Kueth Duany. A refugee of the civil war in The Sudan, Duany infused his team with championship intangibles. He switched positions and sacrificed personal stats without complaint to make way for the talented Anthony. Duany was the smart, tough heart of coach Jim Boeheim’s signature zone defense. The senior glue.

“Seniors seem to tune in a little more to details that your younger players get a little bored with,” says Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson, coach of Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award candidate Adam Koch. “They understand the importance of those details and help bring the guys along. What one or a couple of seniors really provide is that different level on a daily basis.”

You’ll find senior leaders all up and down the talent line. Some will be in the NBA next year. Some are destined to be CEOs. But they all embody the four Cs that the CLASS award celebrates. Check the list of nominees. Read those bios.

Competition? You’ll find competitive heart everywhere, whether it beats within an all-American like Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody and his double-digit averages in scoring and rebounding, or a young man like Duquesne’s Jason Duty, who walked on as a freshman to be practice fodder for a team torn by tragedy and rose to earn a scholarship as one of the Atlantic-10’s top three-point marksmen.

Josh Young of Drake is not only an all-Missouri Valley guard who’s on track to become the Bulldogs’ career scoring leader in February, he’s a Classroom ace with a 3.14 grade average in management and marketing who interned at Wells Fargo.

If you like a little dirty work in your Community service, you’ll love UNI’s Koch, who has spent summers doing things like sandbagging the flooded Iowa community of Cedar Falls, or helping citizens of Parkersburg dig themselves from the rubble of an F5 tornado.

And how many of us fully grasp the Character that Texas star Damion James needed just to survive his childhood? James refused to get sucked into the gangs and drug-trafficking that surrounded him, made his way to UT and became one of the nation’s best players while leading a title contender.

“Freshmen are trying to survive,” explains Illinois coach Bruce Weber. “Sophomores start to figure it out. To juniors, it means a little more. To seniors, it means everything.”

The Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award honors them.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School™, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. 

This year’s candidate class includes 10 student-athletes on teams ranked in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) preseason top 25 poll and 10 players who finished the 2009 season as Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Americans. Five candidates were on the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America team in 2009. Nineteen of the candidates carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better.

Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award™ winner at the NCAA Women’s College World Series® in June.

The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition. 

“These young women are committed to their studies and to their teams’ success on the diamond,” said Tom Lamb, Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing. “They also have consistently contributed to important service projects in their communities, making their collegiate experiences that much richer.”

This marks the fourth year for the softball division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. University of Florida pitcher Stacey Nelson received the award for the 2009 season and Virginia Tech pitcher Angela Tincher took home the 2008 honor. In 2007, University of Arizona outfielder Caitlin Lowe won the inaugural softball award.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School™, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. 

This year’s candidate class includes 13 student-athletes on teams ranked in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media preseason top 20 poll. In addition, nine candidates are on the preseason Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Division I All-American list. Six candidates own cumulative grade point averages of 3.5 or better.

Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the 2010 Senior CLASS Award™ winner at the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore May 29-31.

The 20 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition. 

“The lacrosse candidates represent a diverse cross-section of universities and a wide array of academic courses of study,” said Tom Lamb, Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing. “But the common denominator is a passion for their sport and for finishing their careers as students and athletes at the top.”

This marks the fourth year for the men’s lacrosse division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. Cornell University midfielder Max Seibald received the award for the 2009 season and Syracuse University attackman Mike Leveille took home the 2008 honor. In 2007, Cornell goalkeeper Matt McMonagle won the inaugural men’s lacrosse award.

Rakhshani hails from the seaside Los Angeles suburb of Huntington Beach, while Fairchild comes from Ashburn, in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. If not for the roller hockey boom of the 1990s, these offensive stars – both of them candidates for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award – might have stayed 2,600 miles further apart than they are today. But the chance to learn hockey on wheels, as opposed to on ice, led to skill development and opportunities that neither could likely have imagined.

Frank Serratore, who is Fairchild’s coach at Air Force, likens the roller hockey boom to the days when he first learned the sport during cold Minnesota winters, when kids would learn the skills needed for success on their own with little in the way of formal coaching.

“Roller hockey is primarly an unstructured game; the culture is very similar to the outdoor rink and frozen pond environments of yesteryear. In essence, roller hockey kids develop the same skills and instincts as the northern kids did back in the day when they recreated on the outdoor ice with their neighborhood buddies,” Serratore said. “In this relatively unstructured environment, the kids develop good skills and a high level of creativity, which we refer in hockey as “hockey sense.” Most importantly, these kids acquire a deep-seeded passion for the game because they are having a tremendous amount of fun and and any high-level player will tell you the game of hockey is most enjoyable in its purest form.”

The coach says that creativity was evident in Fairchild’s game the moment he arrived at the Academy, but his game has definitely gotten more polished as a collegian.

“Matt has a great skill set and he just out-athletes a lot of guys,” Serratore said. “Down low in the corners, with his ability to handle the puck, it’s like he’s playing a keep-away game.”

An hour north of the Falcons’ home rink, in Denver, Rakhshani has been doing anything but keep fans away during his three-plus seasons with the Pioneers. While racking up a host of league and national honors, including his candidacy for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, Rakhshani has led the Pioneers offensively and helped them to the top of the national polls at times this season.

“Rhett has tremendous stick skills and he’s capable of doing some wonderful things that other people just can’t do,” said Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky. “He has such great roller hockey hands and is so fast, so what he’s able to do – pick the corner or shoot a puck off a pass, maintain possession when he’s knocked off balance – those are the things that he’s really, really good at.”

The humble Fairchild, who is majoring in systems engineering management and has been on the Dean’s List every semester, jokes that you see those roller hockey skills in everyone of his peers, except him. While planning a future that will include his commitment to the armed forces, he’s more interested in team accomplishments, and delights in the surge Air Force hockey has made in recent years, going from a perennial also-ran to a yearly contender for the NCAA tournament.

“It’s gone from friends telling me they didn’t know Air Force even had a hockey team, to saying, ‘hey, I saw your game on TV last weekend,’” Fairchild said.

Rakhshani, who is majoring in management, is on track for a college degree, but may put the business world on hold for a career which involves shooting pucks. A fourth-round draft pick of the NHL’s New York Islanders, Rakhshani is listed by many as a top pro prospect. That would be another chance to put those skills learned on the roller hockey rinks of Southern California to good use.

“Roller hockey is more of an offensive game so there are more offensive opportunities you’re given,” he said. “A lot of it is just hockey sense, but over time I’ve been able to develop a little bit of a scoring touch and a quick release.”

Thousands of miles from the suburbs of Our Nation’s Capital, and from the stretches of sand made famous by the Beach Boys, Fairchild and Rakhshani have met in the middle, where they’re making magic on the ice.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School™, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 20 candidates who were announced in October.

Nationwide balloting begins immediately to determine the winner. Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award™ winner in April at the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four® in Detroit, Michigan.

The 2009-10 finalists are: Jean-Marc Beaudoin, Quinnipiac University; Cody Chupp, Ferris State University; Matt Fairchild, United States Air Force Academy; Colin Greening, Cornell University; Dion Knelsen, University of Alaska, Fairbanks; Martin Nolet, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Garrett Raboin, St. Cloud State University; Rhett Rakhshani, University of Denver; Dan Ringwald, Rochester Institute of Technology; and Eli Vlaisavljevich, Michigan Technological University.

These 10 names will be placed on the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award hockey ballot for a nationwide vote beginning today and concluding March 16. Fan balloting is available on the award’s official Web site, http://www.seniorCLASSaward.com, as well as through text messaging. Fans can text HOCKEY to 74567 to vote for the finalists. These votes will be combined with votes from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award.

“The hockey finalists have spent almost four years perfecting their game on the ice,” said Tom Lamb, Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing. “We commend their pursuit of perfection in the rink but also their emphasis on getting a college degree and preparing for life after their senior year.”

This marks the fourth year for the ice hockey division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. Michigan State University goaltender Jeff Lerg received the award for the 2008-09 season and Princeton University center Landis Stankievech took home the 2007-08 honor. In 2006-07, University of Notre Dame goaltender David Brown won the inaugural men’s hockey award.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School™, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 30 men’s candidates and 30 women’s candidates who were announced in October.

Nationwide balloting begins immediately to determine the winner. Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award winners during the 2010 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Fours in early April.

The 2009-10 men’s finalists are: Matt Bouldin, Gonzaga University; Da’Sean Butler, West Virginia University; Marquis Hall, Lehigh University; Luke Harangody, University of Notre Dame; Damion James, University of Texas at Austin; Adam Koch, University of Northern Iowa; Chris Kramer, Purdue University; Raymar Morgan, Michigan State University; Jon Scheyer, Duke University; and Josh Young, Drake University.

The women’s finalists for 2009-10 are: Jayne Appel, Stanford University; Amy Beggin, University of New Mexico; Joy Cheek, Duke University; Alysha Clark, Middle Tennessee State University; Tyra Grant, Pennsylvania State University; Kelsey Griffin, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Allison Hightower, Louisiana State University; Ashley Houts, University of Georgia; Ashley Sweat, Kansas State University; and Bianca Thomas, University of Mississippi.

These 20 names will be placed on the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award basketball ballot for a nationwide vote beginning today and concluding March 22. Fan balloting will be available on the award’s official Web site, http://www.seniorCLASSaward.com, as well as through text messaging. Fans can text MBBALL to 74567 to vote for men’s finalists and WBBALL to 74567 to vote for women’s finalists. These votes will be combined with votes from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award.

“Like all student-athletes, basketball players have many demands on their time,” said Tom Lamb, Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing. “These finalists have made it a priority to use some of their spare time to improve their communities through various service projects. Lowe’s puts a premium on community service and values the contributions these young people make each day.”

This marks the ninth year for the basketball division of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. Previous winners of the men’s basketball award include Juan Dixon of Maryland (2002), David West of Xavier (2003), Jameer Nelson of St. Joseph’s (2004), Wayne Simien of Kansas (2005), J.J. Redick of Duke (2006), Alando Tucker of Wisconsin (2007), Shan Foster of Vanderbilt (2008) and Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina (2009). Past recipients of the women’s award include Sue Bird of Connecticut (2002), LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State (2003), Alana Beard of Duke (2004), Kendra Wecker of Kansas State (2005), Seimone Augustus of LSU (2006), Alison Bales of Duke (2007), Candice Wiggins of Stanford (2008) and Courtney Paris of Oklahoma (2009).