Dakota Keene, a 2013 graduate of St. Dom’s skates with the puck. He’s currently with UMass-Boston. UMass-Boston Athletics
St. Dominic Academy graduate Dakota Keene has been named one of five finalists for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, presented annually to college hockey’s “finest citizen” for leadership in community service.
Keene, who is from Poland and graduated from St. Dom’s in 2013, is a senior and the captain of the University of Massachuttes-Boston Beacons, a NCAA Division III team that plays in the New England Hockey Conference.
Keene has 10 goals and 22 assists in 92 games with the Beacons. He is also the co-President of the UMass Boston Student-Athletic Advisory Committee.
Keene founded the campus’ “Hope Happens Here” chapter, which helps UMass-Boston students learn about mental health issues. Keene organized “Hope Happens Here” games for all of the UMass-Boston athletic teams and raised more than $2,500 dollars for the organization at the men’s designated game this season.
He helped the men’s hockey team get a “Team Impact” — Malambo Mazoka-Tyler, a 5-year-old who had a liver transplant when he was 11 months old. Keene also serves as a board member of the Student Alliance for Indigenous Peoples Association on campus.
“I kind of came from a family where you work for everything you have, and you try to give back when you have the opportunity to,” Keene told the Sun Journal. “I was blessed to play college hockey, and it gives you a great platform to build off that (and) a lot of people don’t take advantage of that.”
Clarkson University senior forward Devin Brosseau, University of Notre Dame senior forward Cal Burke, St. Anselm College senior forward Amanda Conger and Saint Mary’s University junior Delaney Wolf are the other four finalists.
The award winner will be announced April 10 as part of the festivities surrounding the NCAA Division I men’s hockey Frozen Four, which will be held in Detroit, Michigan.
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