ITHACA, N.Y. — Forward Christian Hilbrich of the Cornell men's hockey team has been named one of 10 finalists for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award. An acronym, for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas of excellence — community, classroom, character and competition.
 
Hilbrich joins two other ECAC Hockey representatives among the finalists, which were unveiled Wednesday. The Big Red has a tradition with the award, with Colin Greening '10 winning it after his senior season, and Keir Ross '12 and Andy Iles '14 finishing in the top five.

Hilbrich has the rare combination of hulking size and the skill of a goal-scorer, as demonstrated by his team-leading 10 goals last season and nine goals during the 2013-14 campaign. He scored the Big Red's biggest goal last weekend, swatting in a rebound with 9.4 seconds remaining in the third period to lift Cornell to a 3-3 tie with Brown at Lynah Rink. The Big Red was 6-1-2 in games in which he scored last season, including a victory over NCAA tournament-bound Denver in which Hilbrich had two goals and an assist. He has been invited to attend summer development camps with three NHL teams — the Washington Capitals (2013), Anaheim Ducks (2014) and New York Rangers (2015). Hilbrich was also named the winner of the team's 2013 Greg Ratushny Award, which is presented annually to the team's most promising freshman.
 
Hilbrich has been named to the dean's list four times in Cornell's Dyson School of Business, where he is an Applied Economics and Management major with a Finance concentration. He currently carries a 3.49 GPA and has won the team's Wendell & Francella Earle Award, which is presented to the team's top student in each class, in each of his first three seasons at Cornell. He has also served as a teaching assistant for Marketing and Leadership & Management in Sports classes. Hilbrich is a three-time selection to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team.
 
Hilbrich is a member of Cornell's prestigious Sphinx Head Senior Honor Society, which recognizes members of the junior and senior class who have distinguished themselves in leadership and service to the university. He was part of the 125th Tapping Class in April 2015.
 
Some of the community service projects Hilbrich has been involved with include a service trip in May 2014 with El Portal de Belén Foundation to Don Juan, Dominican Republic. The group was involved in the construction of a chapel in the community of Bosque Abajo, and it provided clothing and construction materials to a community in need. He has also volunteered with the Big Red Paw program, which focuses on serving as a mentor through visits to nearby Newfield Elementary School. (See complete bio on Senior CLASS web site)
 
Official ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The winner will be announced at the 2016 NCAA Men's Frozen Four, which will be staged April 7-9 in Tampa, Fla.

2016 Senior CLASS Men's Ice Hockey Finalists
Raplh Cuddemi, Canisius
Theo Di Pauli von Treuheim, Union
David Glen, Penn State
Christian Hilbrich, Cornell
Jake Hildebrand, Michigan State
Alexander Kuqali, RIT
Zac Lynch, Robert Morris
Ethan Prow, St. Cloud State
Jimmy Vesey, Harvard
Tyson Wilson, Robert Morris