Blackhawks' projects with youth help keep name in spotlight

The Blackhawks have become a major player in the promotions department.

Just look at the excitement generated Friday night by the return of legends Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita.

The Blackhawks' name also is attached to many worthwhile projects, and that has to create a positive image for a hockey franchise definitely back on the Chicago sports radar screen.

Many of these projects are not new, but they're getting more attention now with the increased interest.

The Chicago Blackhawk Alumni Association, under the direction of president Cliff Koroll, will present the 2008 Keith Magnuson Blackhawk Alumni Scholarship awards to Adam Goldblatt of Glenbrook North, Sean Mills from Neuqua Valley and Daniel Moir from Naperville North.

Each of the winners will receive a scholarship of $5,000 per year for four years and will be welcomed into the Blackhawk Alumni mentoring program. They will be officially introduced at the United Center on Sunday, March 16, at 2 p.m. when the Hawks host Calgary.

The Hawks didn't stop there.

Brian Murtha and Adam Croft from Stevenson and Matthew Spica and Audrey Stapleton of Barrington were four of the 12 players named to the 2008 Blackhawk Alumni All-Scholastic teams for boys and girls.

Also honored were Chris Cimoch of St. Rita, Matthew Young of New Trier Green, Michael Slolak and Sam Sitzer of Oak Park, Sydney Lieb of NaperValley, Kathy Shei of Loyola Jr., Megan Bozek of Glenbrook Combined Jr., and Beth Hitchcock of New Trier Jr.

The students were selected by a committee of high school coaches and will be formally introduced with the scholarship winners on March 31 at the annual Chicago Blackhawk Alumni Scholarship banquet.

The event will be held at the McDonald's Lodge on the McDonald's corporate campus in Oak Brook.

Tickets for this program are available by contacting Mike Mullins at mmullins@mullinsfood.com.

Basketball

Domineque Shorb (Buffalo Grove) finished her college basketball career with 1,809 points, suffering an ACL injury that cut short her final season at Trinity International University in Deerfield. She earned all-region honors for two years and first-team All-America recognition in 2006 at Harper College, finishing third on the school's all-time scoring list. The Sports Management major was all-conference at Trinity in her one full season.

• Kenyon College junior Bryan Yelvington (Hersey) was named to the North Coast Athletic Conference first team. He scored 15.3 points per game to lead Kenyon and grabbed 7.6 rebounds, shooting .518 from the floor and .829 at the free throw line. Both shooting percentages ranked No. 1 on the team.

• Jonny Reibel (Hoffman Estates) of Rollins College was named to the Sunshine State conference first team. He averaged 20 points and 7.2 assists in league play, leading the conference in points per game and assist/turnover ratio.

• Beth Lucas (Hersey) of Lake Forest College made the Midwest Conference first team, and Melissa Gorski (Buffalo Grove) of Monmouth College was second team.

• Alex Washington (Wheeling) of Augustana College had 14 points in both wins over Elmhurst and Illinois Wesleyan to enable the Vikings to claim their second straight league tournament title and earn a bid in the NCAA Division III tourney.

• Justin Gray (Prospect) of Concordia University Chicago was named to the first team in the Northern Athletics Conference.

• Brittany Hogen (Hersey) scored her first double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside against Northern Kentucky.

• Gabrielle Cottrell (Prospect) of Manhattan College earned third-team honors in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

• George Hogen (Hersey) and Ryan Wendel (Buffalo Grove) completed their four-year career at Lawrence University with a 23-2 mark in the regular season. Their Lawrence teams won three conference and conference tournament titles and received an automatic bid into the 2008 NCAA tourney, where they bowed out in overtime to Wheaton.

• Matt Corning (Mundelein) of the University of Chicago was named to the University Athletic Association all-conference first team. He was the third-leading scorer in the UAA at 17.8 points per game and ranked second in field-goal percentage (.554) and ninth in free throws (.770).

Also from the Maroons, Jake Pancratz (Schaumburg) was a second-team selection. He was second in the league in assists and averaged 11.9 points.

•Kayla Ming (Grayslake) finished her collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside when she was named to the Great Lakes Valley all-conference second team. She had a conference-leading 77 3-pointers, shot a second-best 87.8 at the free-throw line and was fourth in scoring at 17.9 points per game.

Ming set single-season school records with her free-throw percentage, 3-pointers made, free-throw percentage in a single game (14-14) and most free throws made in a game (14).

She was named conference player of the week after road wins at Southern Indiana and Kentucky Wesleyan, averaging 25.5 points, 4.5 steals, 3 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

Ming set single-season school records with her free-throw percentage, 3-pointers made, free-throw percentage in a single game (14-14) and most free throws made in a game (14).

She was named conference player of the week after road wins at Southern Indiana and Kentucky Wesleyan, averaging 25.5 points, 4.5 steals, 3 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

Baseball

Pitcher Ryan Copeland (Elk Grove) of Illinois State was named to the Austin Peay Invitational all-tourney team. Last Saturday he threw 7 innings and struck out a career-high 9 batters against Bethune-Cookman. He yielded 7 hits and 2 earned runs.

• J.D. Rotzoll (Prospect) of Concordia University Chicago (7-1) hit .486 in eight games on a spring trip to Arizona, collecting 13 RBI, 5 doubles and 2 triples.

Also for Concordia, pitcher Ryan Hantel (Prospect) went 2-0 with 10 strikeouts and shares the school's career record with 19 wins.

Carl Petersen (Maine West) was 1-1 in two games with 12 strikeouts.

• Mark Kelly (Hoffman Estates) of Southern Illinois hit a 2-run homer in a 5-3 win over Northern Illinois.

• Matt Davis (Prospect) is hitting .320 after seven games with Eastern Kentucky. He has 2 doubles and a triple.

• Freshman pitcher Grant Monroe (Schaumburg) is 2-1 for 14 innings and 3 starts with Duke.

Track and field

Micky Cobrin (Stevenson) ran on the University of Arkansas' distance medley relay (9:30.08) that clocked an NCAA automatic-qualifying time in the Arkansas Last Chance meet. He ran a 3:58.19 split.

Lacrosse

Jaclyn Griffin (Barrington) of Bentley College (Waltham, Mass.), who is coming off a strong rookie season with 53 points and a conference-leading 74 draw controls and second-team all-conference and all-region recognition, has earned preseason All-America honors from Inside Lacrosse magazine. She was named to the Division II All-America second team. Griffin also led the team last season with 43 ground balls.

Bodybuilding

David Keyes (Conant) of Eastern Illinois University was the overall winner in the Mr. EIU bodybuilding competition. He will graduate in May with a degree in Exercise Science and Kinesiology.