Hobart junior ice hockey student-athlete Ryan Adler consistently has been one of the Statesmen’s top defensemen. He also finished this past season as one of the team’s leading scorers.

But he is just as impressive off the ice. One of eight finalists for the 2008 Hockey Humanitarian Award presented during the NCAA Frozen Four in Denver earlier this year, Adler is a model student-athlete. Well, with one small exception.

“He’s so focused on being perfect that he doesn’t relax and enjoy being good. He’s a little tightly wrapped at times, but in a good way,” said Hobart head men’s ice hockey coach Mark Taylor. “Nobody’s perfect.”

While Adler may not be perfect, he has come up with a perfect way to channel all his intensity into an initiative that benefits a worthwhile cause.

Adler officially launched Hobart Hockey Helpers in May of last year. Designed as an umbrella for the Hobart hockey team’s community-service efforts, the organization has partnered with the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group aimed at providing support for severely injured service members upon their return from Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas around the world.

No stranger to giving back, the Piscataway, New Jersey, native spent a couple of years between high school and college playing juniors hockey, and as a member of a team in Ohio, he participated in a reading outreach to elementary school children. However, he was inspired to create a large-scale community-service initiative after a conversation with friend, Drew Miller, now a forward for the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, who established the Spartan Buddy program while playing at Michigan State.

“The great thing about what Drew did was he sparked someone to do something,” said Adler, who began focusing on the WWP after Taylor mentioned the organization and research revealed that the Jacksonville, Florida-based group had very little reach beyond Virginia. “Thinking of our location right smack in the middle of New York, we thought we could expand this thing through New York into major cities like Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, and, in college, you have kids from all over so we could spread into Massachusetts and New Hampshire.”

Adler spent his sophomore year developing Hobart Hockey Helpers, including establishing the name, logo, Web site and WWP partnership. Now, just over a year later, the organization has raised nearly $10,000 for WWP and made a significant impact on the lives of the nation’s service men and women through a series of fund-raisers and other events.

Most of the money raised thus far – $6,000 – has come from a single February 15 home contest in which the Statesmen played in camouflage jerseys featuring the WWP logo and invited two veterans of the Iraq War to drop the ceremonial first puck. The team also sponsored a raffle and an auction and sold Hobart Hockey Helpers hats to generate donations. 

Interestingly, there was far more riding on that game than increased exposure and contributions. The eventual 5-3 loss to Eastern College Athletic Conference West opponent Utica could have jeopardized Hobart’s chances of earning a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament. (It didn’t. Hobart went on to advance to the quarterfinals of this year’s tournament.)

“That loss could have cost us an NCAA bid and the players knew it, yet they felt strongly about his cause and the efforts to put aside hockey,” said Taylor. “Ryan received great words of respect from a teammate and standing applause from his teammates in the locker room following that game. It was special. I must admit, it brought me back in perspective. We lost that game but won a lot of real things that night.”

Hobart Hockey Helpers also partnered with a Rochester, New York, construction company to repair and upgrade the home of a Canandaigua, New York, serviceman; helped place more than 2,000 flags for an event in Seneca Lake State Park that raised money for the local VA and other groups; and teamed up with the Rochester Americans (American Hockey League) and the Rochester Knighthawks (National Lacrosse League), which wore camouflage jerseys while the Hobart hockey team raised donations and awareness during the games.

Heading into its second full year of operation, the team has changed its name to Hockey Helpers, though its commitment to WWP and serving the community remains the same. The Triple-A baseball team in Syracuse will dedicate its August 25 game against Rochester to the WWP, and plans for an October 4 golf outing also are underway. Adler also is finalizing a deal in which schools will be able to purchase hats with their school logo or name on the back, the WWP logo on the side and the Hobart hockey logo in the front. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the hats will benefit the WWP.

Taylor said Hockey Helpers has given an identity to the team’s volunteer and humanitarian efforts so players embrace the causes more.

“The partnership with WWP has been huge,” said Taylor. “The players have so much pride in what they are doing with that and so much respect for Ryan in what he has done and continues to do.”

Others outside the team have begun to notice Adler’s initiative as well. In addition to being recognized as a Hockey Humanitarian Award finalist, he earned the school’s Dorinne Maxwell Memorial Citizenship Prize. The $500 cash award was donated to the WWP. Ultimately, Adler said, he hopes Hockey Helpers will inspire others just like his friend inspired him.

“What I personally envision is that a Hockey Helpers will develop at other schools and they do their own community service projects, whether it’s WWP or going in their own direction,” he said.

Adler is an economics major and environmental studies minor at Hobart.