Lakers' Jakaitis in running for national award

NEWS RELEASE

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

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Jakaitis is named a Lowe's Senior CLASS Finalist

Fan voting for the final award begins March 10

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Lake Superior State senior Jeff Jakaitis is among 10 finalists for the 2006-07 Men's Hockey Lowe's Senior CLASS Award and will compete in the all-new hockey division of the national award for NCAA senior student athletes.

Lowe's recently announced the addition of men's hockey and three other NCAA sports to the award program that originally was launched in 2001 with basketball.

Finalists were selected from a list of 30 candidates based on personal qualities that define a complete student athlete. The criteria to determine the top 10 included the areas of classroom, character and community in addition to performance in the hockey rink during the season.

In addition to Jakaitis, the finalists are Matt Anderson of U-Mass, David Brown of Notre Dame, Billy Devoney of Air Force, Glenn Fisher of Denver, Curtis Fraser of Alaska, Michel Leveille of Maine, Kirk MacDonald of RPI, Ryan Mahrle of Western Michigan and Nate Raduns of St. Cloud State.

These finalists will be placed on the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award ballot for a nationwide vote leading up to the NCAA Hockey Championships. Fan balloting will be coupled with votes from coaches, media and sponsors to determine the recipient of the award. Winners will be announced during the weekend of the Frozen Four.

"Not only are these finalists among the nation's best college hockey athletes, they also have a very impressive list of achievements in the classroom and in the community," said Bob Gfeller, Lowe's senior vice president of marketing and advertising. "We salute these tremendous NCAA student athletes for making an impact with their time and talents."

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the award was initially developed in response to the trend of college basketball players leaving school early to turn professional. Since that time, the collegiate community has embraced the award and the idea of honoring seniors for remaining committed to their university throughout their entire collegiate athletic eligibility.

Earlier this year, Lowe's announced it would extend the award beginning in 2007 to include four other NCAA sports: men's hockey, men's lacrosse, baseball and softball.

Fan voting for the men's hockey award will begin March 10 at www.seniorclassaward.com.

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