ST. LOUIS — St. Lawrence graduate student forward Sarah Thompson was named Friday as the recipient of the 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award. Thompson received the award during a ceremony at the Stifel Theatre in St. Louis as part of the NCAA men’s Division I Frozen Four.
The award has been presented annually for 30 years by the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation to college hockey’s finest citizen, recognizing a student-athlete who has made significant contributions not only to the recipient’s team, but through serving the greater community by leading as a volunteer.
While studying as an undergraduate at Syracuse University – where she played hockey all four years – Thompson founded “Sticks Together,” a program designed to offer children in disadvantaged areas the chance to learn and grow through hockey.
Driven by her belief that hockey transcends boundaries, she aimed to bridge cultural gaps and share her passion for the sport globally. That led to humanitarian trips to Argentina (2022), South Africa (2023), and the Philippines (2024).
Sticks Together provides underprivileged communities with resources to learn and play hockey, including donating recycled equipment and teaching the game to children worldwide. The organization seeks to give kids an escape from daily struggles while fostering joy and connection through a sport they might not otherwise experience.
“This is something that I’ve worked on essentially since my sophomore year,” said Thompson. “So to be able to commemorate my career, especially since I’m done with hockey now, this has been a really great way to cap it off.”
Despite being excited to learn that she had won the award, Thompson had to hold off telling others because of the confidentiality of the announcement.
“I wanted to share that excitement with all my teammates,” Thompson said, “But I couldn’t, so that was really hard because they’ve been a huge part of this as well: my coaches and teammates.”
Thompson received a check on Friday for $3,000 from the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation for Sticks Together. The next Sticks Together trip is a team visit this summer to St. Lawrence’s satellite campus in Kenya. The funds will help make that a reality.
In her acceptance speech, Thompson had encouragement for the audience.
“Be generous. Lend a helping hand to others and never take a moment or a privilege for granted,” said Thompson about what she wanted others to take away from her message. “I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve taken away from all these trips working with these kids is that they’re so grateful and so happy. And I try to take that with me wherever I go.”
Thompson is a three-time award finalist and is the 12th woman to receive the award. Other award finalists this year were: Keri Clougherty of Boston College; Kendra Fortin of Bemidji State; Hank Kempf of Cornell; and Raice Szott of Merrimack. Each finalist received a check for $500 for their designated charities.
“I read up on all the other stories and it takes a really incredibly driven person to be able to come up with these creative ideas and use their platform for such positive change,” said Thompson about the other finalists. “I’d really love to get to know these people and meet them and hear all the things that they’ve done to get to where they are because it’s truly incredible.”
Thompson encourages other student-athletes to find ways to give back.
“As student athletes, I can say we’re so lucky to have all the people you know that are there to help us and support us,” Thompson said. “I think there’s more people than you think that are willing to help you with things outside of just your sport. So use that to your advantage and think of creative ways that you can use your platform for positive change.”
For Thompson, the giving has also been receiving.
“The lessons I’ve learned from these kids are things that I’ll take with me forever,” said Thompson. “As much as we’re trying to share that culture, our culture of hockey with them, we get to learn theirs. And they’re really excited to share their culture too.
“So I think it’s that exchange that is really special. And that often just goes unnoticed. But it’s definitely one of the parts of Sticks Together that I appreciate the most.”
