Atlantic Hockey Online Spotlight: Persick Works To Make Canisius and Buffalo A Better Place

February 25, 2004

Courtesy of Steve Rudnicki, Canisius Sports Information Department

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A tough guy mentality is commonly associated with hockey players. Grit, determination and physical toughness are all traits that describe how the public traditionally views hockey players. Every so often, a student-athlete comes around that shows another side of the “typical” hockey player -- the compassionate, caring individual that is honored by his brethren for helping others and making his community a better place to live. Canisius College junior defenseman Mark Persick, a finalist for the 2003-04 Hockey Humanitarian Award, is one of those student-athletes.

Persick’s accomplishments have earned him the honor of being one of the five student-athletes throughout all of college hockey to be considered for the ninth annual award, presented annually to college hockey’s finest citizen. This year’s recipient will be announced April 9, during the Frozen Four in Boston, Mass., at historic Fanueil Hall.

“Mark has been a tremendous asset to our program, both on the ice and as a member of the community,” said Canisius College head coach Brian Cavanaugh. “In my 23 years at Canisius, we have had only a handful of student-athletes that display the type of commitment and dedication that Mark shows to the College and community that he is a part of. He has been able to organize and carryout several programs that the team has participated in, and all the recognition that he is receiving is well earned.”

Persick, a Yorkton, Sask. native, was nominated on the basis of his service and community work at Canisius as President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). He joins former Griff Ryan Stewart, a 1998 nominee, as the only Canisius hockey players to be candidates for the award.

Persick, a two-year captain, has complied a lengthy list of accomplishments throughout the Canisius College community and also within the neighboring Hamlin Park section of Buffalo. Being a campus in an urban setting, Canisius has worked hard over the past years to become a better neighbor to the citizens surrounding the campus, and Persick is one of the leaders on campus helping to coordinate this effort.

Last summer, Persick participated in the College’s community-day cleanup of the Hamlin Park area. Persick was on a landscape crew that built a flower garden in an empty lot in an effort to beautify the neighborhood.

As President of the SAAC, he organized monthly visits to Buffalo’s Women and Children’s Hospital with other student-athletes and participated in pizza parties, tree decorating, and other holiday activities with patients. He also organized fundraising by the Canisius hockey team for Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The team held a sale of the Roswell Park “Holiday Cards” (Christmas cards that are designed by patients) at a local mall and set up tables at a few of home games to sell the cards.

Persick also led the hockey team’s effort to collect donations for its annual support of St. Anne’s Parish, a local church in the city. The team collected over $150, and Persick led a group of volunteers that purchased bags and boxes of food that were taken to the orphanage by the team. For the current semester, Persick has organized a group of students to volunteer their time at the church’s soup kitchen.

“Mark has a laudatory list of achievements and diversity in the areas of academics, athletics and employment,” said Joe Van Volkenburg, assistant to the director of campus ministry at Canisius. “Mark, like many students, is humble when it comes to telling others of his many accomplishments, however Mark is always willing to share his gifts and talents in the classroom, as a student leader on campus, and on the ice.”

Continuing with the theme of helping the community, Persick organized a program to get immigrants from Vive la Casa, a layover for immigrants awaiting INS approval, free tickets to Canisius hockey games. He also arranged for transportation to the game and for immigrants to use the College’s athletic facilities on weekends.

Among the newer projects on campus, Persick has created and organized the school’s “Dorm Wars” contest to increase student involvement and attendance at home athletic events. He is currently organizing a “City-Wide” food drive. His idea is to have Canisius College compete against Buffalo State College and the University at Buffalo in a city-wide food drive that would also involve alumni of the three schools.

“Mark epitomizes what we hope the student-athlete at Canisius strives to be and is well on his way to becoming a fantastic leader and productive member of the community,” said Timothy J. Dillon, Canisius director of athletics. “As the President of the SAAC, he led several initiatives within the athletic department and was able to implement his “Dorm Wars” project that he created while attending the 2003 NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference. We are all proud to have Mark as a member of the Canisius community.”

While many professional athletes give sports a bad name in the newspaper every day, fans around the world can rest assured that if more student-athletes like Mark Persick are on the way, the world of sports can only become a better place. Canisius College already has.

#GoGriffs.com#