Twenty players from across the country with track records of excellence on and off the ice have been named candidates for the 2017-18 Senior CLASS Award.

The candidates represent 20 schools and all six Division I conferences. Included in the group are the nation’s top two active career scorers (Robert Morris’s Brady Ferguson and Notre Dame’s Jake Evans) and three returning first-team all-conference selections (Ferguson, Bemidji State’s Michael Bitzer and Bowling Green’s Mitch McLain).

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the award honors achievement in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award encourages student-athletes to use their platforms in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

The 20 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists in February. A winner will be selected from those finalists by a nationwide voting system of media, coaches and fans, and will be announced at the 2018 Frozen Four in St. Paul.