Sidney Peters of Gophers wins Hockey Humanitarian Award

On the day she was accepted to medical school, Sidney Peters got even more good news.

Peters, a senior goalie for the Gophers women's hockey team, on Friday was named the winner of the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given to the player who most personifies true community spirit through the selfless commitment of leadership, effort and time.

"It's a huge honor to be associated with this award,'' said Peters, who was a two-time NCAA champion for the Gophers and had a 53-17-6 record with a 1.65 goals-against average and .921 save percentage. "It's been a wild five years. I've gotten to do a lot with hockey and a lot off the ice. … I'm excited to see what the future holds.''

Earlier Friday, the Geneva, Ill., native learned she had been accepted to the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md., and was offered a spot in the Air Force.

Peters' service off the ice includes more than 830 hours of volunteer hours with various community outreach activities, including serving as an emergency medical technician with the University of Minnesota Medical Services. She went on a self-described life-changing trip to Haiti with Project Medishare, where she spent eight days volunteering at Haiti's only critical care and trauma hospital.

"I came away with a lot of lessons and a new perspective on my career and my life,'' Peters said. "We're all capable of so much more than we do.''

Other finalists were Bowdoin's Camil Blanchet, Yale's Courtney Pensavalle, Fredonia State's Luke Rivera and Ohio State's Lauren Spring.

Randy Johnson