{"id":134098,"date":"2022-04-01T09:00:38","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T14:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=134098"},"modified":"2022-03-28T19:27:27","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T00:27:27","slug":"134098","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2022\/04\/01\/134098\/","title":{"rendered":"Hockey Humanitarian Award Finalist Spotlight: For Union’s Kosack, community involvement part of bigger picture of student-athlete life"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Union senior Josh Kosack had an impressive 2021-22 season, on and off the ice (photo: Amanda Lopez).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It all started with a simple smile.<\/p>\n

Josh Kosack remembers the moment fondly, standing in the runway waiting to take the ice at Dartmouth\u2019s Thompson Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw this kid sitting there who had Down Syndrome and I just started talking to him and his mom,\u201d remembers Kosack, a senior at Union who is among the finalists for the 2022 Hockey Humanitarian Award presented to college hockey\u2019s top citizen. \u201cI gave him a high five and I gave him a puck after warmups. I kind of thought that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Kosack talked with the young boy before every period as he waited to take the ice, little did he know the difference he made.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of weeks later, his mom emailed the president of our school to say how much of an impact I had on [her] son,\u201d Kosack said.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot forward realized that if such a little gesture left that big of an impression, imagine what putting some effort into doing good could have.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Josh Kosack shows off Christmas gift for the Schenectady community (photo: Union Athletics).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI knew I wanted to do something but had no idea what I wanted to do, so I started brainstorming,\u201d said Kosack. \u201cI recognized all the tickets we had to games that went unused. We get two tickets per [player] to every game and we have guys from Finland, Sweden, Russia, all over Canada. All these tickets were going unused because their parents couldn\u2019t come all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kosack decided that the allotment of tickets to Union home games needed to go to good use.<\/p>\n

Enter the C.O.C.O.A. House, an organization established by Union students back in 1996 that provides academic support and expanded opportunities for at-risk youth in New York\u2019s Capital District. Kosack connected with the executive director of the organization, Will Rivas, and let\u2019s just say it was the start of something very good.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started bringing the kids from the C.O.C.O.A. House to the games and loving it,\u201d said Kosack. \u201cI\u2019d go over there when I could and play Legos with them or help them with their math homework.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was such a wonderful relationship for Kosack, but one that became strained when COVID struck in early 2020. C.O.C.O.A. House couldn\u2019t host these young, at-risk boys and girls. There was no afterschool program. There were no Union hockey games for them to attend.<\/p>\n

But for Kosack, the relationship was already engrained in his blood. Just because Union hockey was canceled for the 2020-21 season, Kosack knew he couldn\u2019t just let this relationship fizzle.<\/p>\n

So he returned to brainstorming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to Will and said, \u2018Let me raise some money,\u2019 and we raised $5,000 to buy iPads and laptops to help [these kids] with their remote learning,\u201d Kosack said, noting he had some leftover money that was used to purchase Christmas presents for the children.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Josh Kosack enjoys a recent visit to the C.O.C.O.A. House (photo: Union Athletics).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was such a success for Kosack and C.O.C.O.A. House, that even when Union hockey returned to the ice this season, Kosack had a desire to raise the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to Will to see what he might need and he said they were trying to renovate the house next door,\u201d Kosack said.<\/p>\n

That house was Will Rivas\u2019 childhood home and he purchased it from the town of Schenectady with the hopes of making it into a teen empowerment center to continue to provide support to the children who age out of C.O.C.O.A. House.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to give [these teen] a different mind frame for what\u2019s out there in life,\u201d Kosack said. \u201cNot all of these kids had the best guidance growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was time for another fundraiser. This time, though, the goal was much more than $5,000. Kosack raised $45,000. $10,000 went towards buying even more Christmas presents. Another $10,000 is being put towards a lounge in the new house that will bear Kosack\u2019s name: The Kozi\u2019s Kids Lounge.<\/p>\n

The town of Schenectady, N.Y., is quite a distance from Kosack\u2019s home in Oakville, Ont. And it\u2019s hard to know whether that will become Kosack\u2019s residence once he graduates this year or possibly even another city should professional hockey come calling. But one thing is for sure, no matter where Kosack resides, he\u2019ll forever be connected to Schenectady and the many youth whose lives he has \u2013 and will continue \u2013 to touch.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchenectady will always hold a special place in my heart,\u201d said Kosack, who plans to continue to raise money for C.O.C.O.A. House and Kozi\u2019s Kids through his social media channels. \u201cComing in here, I\u2019d didn\u2019t know what to expect. I just put myself out there for different opportunities. The impact [these youth] have had one my life as opposed to the impact I\u2019ve had on theirs is incredible. Wherever I end up around North America, whether it back home in Canada or somewhere in the States, I\u2019ll always an impact there.\u201d<\/p>\n

And to think, it all started with a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It all started with a simple smile. Josh Kosack remembers the moment fondly, standing in the runway waiting to take the ice at Dartmouth\u2019s Thompson Arena. \u201cI saw this kid sitting there who had Down Syndrome and I just started talking to him and his mom,\u201d remembers Kosack, a senior at Union who is among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":127302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[812,631],"coauthors":[800],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHockey Humanitarian Award Finalist Spotlight: For Union's Kosack, community involvement part of bigger picture of student-athlete life - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It all started with a simple smile. 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