MSU's Miller nominated for humanitarian award

For the second year in a row, Michigan State captain Drew Miller was nominated for the 2006 Hockey Humanitarian Award. The award is given annually to the finest citizen amongst all NCAA Division I and Division III players, male or female.

Miller, a junior from East Lansing, joins 17 other nominees from across the country. The field will be narrowed to five finalists on Friday, Jan. 20, with the 2006 hockey humanitarian being honored on Apr. 7 at the 2006 Frozen Four in Milwaukee.

Boston College senior Sarah Carlson was the 2005 recipient of the Hockey Humanitarian Award. Miller is joined in 2006 by CCHA rivals Western Michigan's Eric Marvin and Chris Trick, a senior forward at Norte Dame and Troy native. In all, the nominees include 11 men and seven women, 14 Division I student-athletes and four from Division III.

In his three-year Spartan career Miller has collected 29 goals and 36 assists for 65 points. He was selected, by his teammates, to serve as an assistant captain, during his sophomore season, and currently captains the Green and White as a junior. Off the ice, however, Miller's MSU career has been even more impressive.

"Drew is selfless with his time and his commitments to the community," said hockey SASS coordinator Angela Howard. "He is always willing to help others, no matter the day, time or location; the variety of events Drew has participated in is impressive."

A year ago Miller started the Spartan Buddy Program and has coordinated relationships between MSU student-athletes and pediatric patients at Sparrow Hospital. He has participated in pen-pal programs with local classrooms, participated in Teams for Toys, DARE, The Special Olympics and dedicated hour after hour of his personal time to local children battling cancer.