PEABODY — St. Mary’s alum and Peabody native Madison Hentosh was honored along with 10 other Endicott Hockey teammates with American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) All-America Scholars honors.
To be eligible for these honors, athletes must achieve a GPA of 3.75 each semester and have played in 40 percent of their team’s games.
For Hentosh, the honor is gratifying but even more special because she gets to share it with some of her teammates.
“It is awesome to get honored, but it is extra special when it can be shared with so many other teammates. Teams before us have set those expectations for us to live up to, and now we are just raising that bar for teams to come,” said Hentosh.
She added, “We take pride in our team GPA, and we strive for it to increase every year. We are all student-athletes, but the student aspect always comes first as academic success leads to a lot of opportunities athletically.”
It is no easy task to juggle academics and athletics in college especially considering the team’s success of being the inaugural Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) champions and making it to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.
However, Endicott’s defenseman says the process of maintaining excellence in both areas is a bit better when everyone is striving to do so.
“When it comes to balancing both academics and athletics, I think it helps when you are around people who are also trying to accomplish the same goals. Success off the ice is just as important as on it, and as a team, I believe we all really buy into that. It all comes down to time management and really prioritizing what is important,” said Hentosh.
Hentosh, who is heading into her senior year this fall and is majoring in marketing communications & advertising, hopes to stay in the sports industry after graduation.
“I want to stay within the sports industry as I have been exposed to it already through my internships, and it is something I have a passion for. I would love to work for a professional sports organization working for their marketing and or advertising team or even dealing with community or fan relations in some aspect,” she said.
This fall, she will be starting to make that hope a reality by interning in the fall with Dirty Water Media and NESN’s Dirty Water TV.
Turning towards the Ice, Hentosh says her focus for her senior year remains as it always has on winning.
“Our goals stay the same every year, and we just want to keep progressing and getting better. The CCC is the obvious goal, but we want to make that next step and make a run in the NCAA tournament,” said Hentosh.
