ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's hockey team announced the winners of its annual awards at the 63rd Cornell Men's Hockey Awards Banquet, hosted by the Cornell Hockey Association, last Friday evening (April 18) at RaNic Golf Club.
Senior defenseman Jack O'Brien led all honorees with four awards, while junior forwards Jonathan Castagna and Jake Kraft each took home multiple honors. O'Brien's classmate Nick DeSantis, along with junior forward Luke Devlin, sophomore defenseman Michael Fisher and freshman defenseman Xavier Veilleux also took home hardware.
O'Brien received the senior portion of the Wendell and Francella Earle Award, his third consecutive season receiving the annual award presented to the team member from each class who has achieved the highest cumulative grade-point average. He is the 12th player to earn the award at least three times and the first to do so in three successive seasons since Connor Murphy (2017-19). The award is endowed in perpetuity by the Earle Family, honoring Wendell Earle, a Cornell professor and team advisor who frequently hosted Cornell hockey players and their families. Fisher (sophomore) and Kraft (junior) were the others to receive the Wendell and Francella Earle Award.
O'Brien also received the Bill Doran Sportsmanship Award, as the senior defenseman was whistled for just two infractions in 34 games this season and had only three penalties called against him during his entire collegiate career. He was additionally named the recipient of the Cornell Hockey Association Award, bestowed upon a player who demonstrates enthusiasm, dedication, desire, and an unselfish willingness to provide the team with extra energy, and the Sam Woodside Award, handed to the senior player who has most improved in overall playing ability and demonstrated team leadership through his play during his Cornell career. Appearing in all 34 of the Big Red's games this season, O'Brien registered a career-high six points, all of which came on assists, with his lone multi-point game coming at St. Lawrence on Dec. 6.
Castagna was named the recipient of the Nicky Bawlf Award, given to the program's most valuable player, as the junior forward concluded the season with a team- and career-high 34 points on 15 goals and 19 assists — leading the Big Red in goals, points, short-handed goals, and plus-minus (plus-25). Nationally, his 65.2 faceoff win percentage (439-of-673) led all Division I forwards with at least 100 faceoff wins, while his 439 faceoff wins ranked seventh in the country. Castagna also received the Joe DeLibero/Stan Tsapis Award, conferred to the player who displays skilled efficiency, unselfish dedication, and a hard-nosed competitive desire.
Castagna and Kraft were co-recipients of the Crimson Cup, awarded to the most outstanding player(s) in the season series against the Big Red's bitter Ivy League rival, Harvard. It is only the second time in as many seasons in the award's history that it has been presented to multiple recipients. Castagna led all players with six points (4-2—6) across five games against the Crimson, highlighted by a two-goal effort in Cornell's 3-1 win at Harvard on Nov. 7 and a goal and an assist in the Big Red's 4-1 home victory on Jan. 24. He also scored a short-handed goal in Cornell's 5-2 win in the winner-take-all game of the ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinals on March 15. Kraft tallied five points (4-1—5) in the series, highlighted by a two-goal performance in the Big Red's 4-1 win in the ECAC Hockey Championship quarterfinals on March 14 and a goal and an assist the following night.
The three short-handed goals scored by Castagna were tied for the second-most in Division I and the most by a Big Red player since Mike Iggulden in 2004-05. He also netted the program's lone hat trick of the season at Yale on Jan. 30. Kraft recorded a short-handed goal against Dartmouth as part of a two-goal effort against the Big Green on Jan. 23.
DeSantis received the Mark Weiss Memorial Award, bestowed upon a senior who exemplifies the determination and passion that the late Mark Weiss had for life and the sport. The senior forward recorded eight points (four goals, four assists) while suiting up in 33 of Cornell's 34 games, with three of his four goals on the season serving as game-winners. He concluded his collegiate career having amassed 56 points (29 goals, 27 assists) with the Big Red, highlighted by a 20-point freshman campaign in 2022-23, and finished with a plus-49 rating — one of just 11 active Division I players to reach that mark over the past four seasons.
Devlin was honored with the team's Ironman Award, missing 14 games between late January and mid-March with an injury. After missing the entire 2024-25 season due to injury, Devlin returned to the Big Red and played the first 19 games of the season. He returned to the lineup on March 27 when Cornell faced Denver in the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship in Loveland, Colo., concluding the year with five points (three goals, two assists), including two goals against RPI on Nov. 22.
Veilleux received the Greg Ratushny Award for being the program's most promising freshman player. In his first year on East Hill, the defenseman finished with 26 points (six goals, 20 assists), tying Penn State's Jackson Smith for the most points by a freshman defenseman in Division I this season. Veilleux's 26 points were the most by a freshman defenseman in program history, surpassing the previous highs set by Chris Norton '88 (23 in 1984-85) and Ben Robertson (23 in 2023-24). Five of Veilleux's six goals came on the power play, pacing the Big Red and tying three others for third-most power-play goals by a defenseman in Division I — more than doubling Cornell's previous program record for power-play goals by a freshman defenseman in the process.
