Forward Aleca Hughes ’12 of the Yale women’s ice hockey team was named a finalist for the 2011 BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award this week, the fifth Yale women’s hockey player to be so honored. The award recognizes male or female college hockey players at the Division I or Division III levels who give back to their communities in the true humanitarian spirit. She is one of eight finalists who were selected from a pool of 25 nominees nationwide.

Hughes was nominated for her work inspired by teammate Mandi Schwartz’s ’11 battle with leukemia, including a major role in the organization of the two Yale bone marrow drives that accumulated more than 1,600 potential donors for the National Marrow Donor Program’s “Be The Match” registry. Hughes also organized the women’s ice hockey team’s “White Out for Mandi,” an event at Ingalls Rink which attracted over 1,000 people to the Whale in support of Schwartz, and raised more than $22,000 for her cause.