MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Senior Josh Kosack of the Union College men’s hockey team was named one of three finalists for the 2021 Hockey Humanitarian Award, the HHA Foundation announced.
The award, which is celebrating its 26th season, is 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.
Kosack is the only Division I student-athlete to be named a finalist for the award this season, joining Delaney Wolf of St. Mary’s University and the tandem of Andrew Walker and Jacob Adkins from UMass Boston. He is only the second Union student-athlete to be named a finalist for the prestigious national award, joining former Dutchmen Jeff Wilson ’02.
In 2019, a chance encounter with a teenage fan at an away game inspired Kosack to create “Kozi’s Kids,” an initiative that gives local Schenectady children a chance to experience a college hockey game – many for the first time. Through the program, which utilizes unused game tickets and concession vouchers from Union players, Kosack arranges for transportation to a Union men’s hockey game, gives children a tour of the locker room before the game, and also answers questions from the children about life as a college student and a student-athlete.
The nature of Kozi’s Kids changed dramatically this year due to the pandemic, but that did not stop Kosack from giving back to the community in different ways. Without hockey games to bring local children to this season, he single-handedly raised more than $5,000 to purchase Christmas presents for COCOA House in Schenectady this holiday season. And in the same week that his team received word that its 2020-21 season was canceled, Josh delivered more than 100 coats to a local Schenectady charity as part of a drive he initiated on campus
The 26th recipient of the Hockey Humanitarian Award will be honored in a ceremony on Friday, April 9 as part of the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four weekend in Pittsburgh, Pa. Additionally, the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation will make a donation to the charity most important to each of the finalists, with the donations made possible by the generous support of the award’s partners and donors.
