Inside College Hockey | Carlson wins Humanitarian Award

April 8, 2005
NCAA Frozen Four
Small Town Star
Carlson wins Humanitarian Award

By Nate Ewell

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Sarah Carlson's rural hometown of Kenny Lake, Alaska, isn't literally the end of the road. The road continues, she explains, about 20 miles further before it ends. The nearest post office is 45 minutes away. The nearest McDonald's is a four- or five-hour drive.

It's been said that small towns produce good people. Apparently, at least in Carlson's case, really small towns produce great people.

The Boston College defenseman was presented with the Hockey Humanitarian Award on Friday at Nationwide Arena, becoming the 10th recipient of the award given to college hockey's finest citizen.

Carlson is no slouch on the ice, either, where she's a first-team All-Hockey East player and has participated in USA Hockey Olympic Development camps. But this honor was for her off-the-ice activities, including traveling to Mexico for a community service trip, voluteering at a hockey camp for handicapped children, organizing a sled hockey game fundraiser for disabled children, and working for an after-school program in inner-city Boston.

Carlson, a nursing major, said that her volunteer efforts helped her adjust to the big city after growing up in Kenny Lake, where her first home had no running water and her family lived off the land.

"My life has focused on getting to know people and helping out if I can," she said. "No matter where you are, that makes it easy to adjust to your surroundings. Because of that, and because of my teammates, Boston really wasn't too big of a shock."

Carlson's story and shining smile were, in many ways, the story of the Friday festivities at Nationwide. College hockey fans saw first hand the impact of a small-town kid.