Hockey East announced Wednesday that Maine’s Elise Morphy has been honored as the 2024-25 Night Shift Academic Champion.
The award was created in 2024 honoring outstanding accomplishments from one men’s and one women’s player both on the ice and in the classroom.
In 2024, Hockey East and Night Shift Brewing partnered to highlight both the academic and athletic success of student-athletes across the league. As a result, Morphy will receive scholarship funds that include a portion of the proceeds of Hockey East Ale, the first-ever collaboration between the conference and a brewery for its own branded beverage.
“Hockey East is proud to honor Elise Morphy as the 2024-25 Hockey East Academic Champion in acknowledgment of her exceptional accomplishments both in the classroom and on the ice,” said Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf in a statement. “We are also thankful to our partners at Night Shift Brewing for providing our student-athletes with scholarships to help make their academic goals a reality.”
Morphy is a two-time captain and has maintained a 4.0 GPA during her five years at Maine while majoring in pre-med biology. She was honored four times by the university as the student with the highest GPA in Maine’s School of Biology and Ecology. She has been named to the Hockey East all-academic team in each of her four years, earning top scholar honors in each of those seasons and distinguished scholar status in 2023-24. Morphy achieved an MCAT score in the top 2% of all results.
On the ice, Morphy has collected numerous accolades, including Hockey East defender of the month in December 2023, is a two-time Hockey East defender of the week, and entered the 2024-25 season as the fourth-highest scoring active defender in Hockey East. She has recorded 12 goals, 36 assists, and 48 points in a Maine-record 157 games played.
Morphy is also an active member of the Orono community, volunteering at the Dirigo Pines assisted living facility since 2023 as part of the UMaine BARD Institute as a research assistant. She also spends time tutoring other student-athletes through the Maine Academic Support Services and volunteers with the Maine Inferno girls hockey program to instruct practices and learn to skate sessions.
