Eizenman Voted to ACHA Hall

Alon Eizenman (wearing the C) celebrates the 2001 ACHA national championship with (left to right) Greg Held, Joe Battista and Mike Blevins.

 
Former Icers forward Alon Eizenman was announced on Monday as the sole member of the ACHA Hall of Fame's Class of 2012. He will become the third representative of Penn State with the honor, joining Joe Battista (Class of 2008) and Josh Brandwene (Class of 2009) once his formal induction takes place at the ACHA meetings in Naples, FL on April 28th.

Since the ACHA Hall of Fame was established in 2007, only nine people have been inducted, and only three have gotten in on the basis of their playing career (Oakland forward/Icers nemesis Will McMahon and Michigan-Dearborn forward Jesse Hubenschmidt are the other two). How does one join such exclusive company? Try this list of accolades, taken from the press release.

1997-1998 ACHA Men’s Division 1 National Champions
1997-1998 ACHA Men’s Division 1 Honorable Mention All-American
1998-1999 ACHA Men’s Division 1 1st Team All-American
1998-1999 ACHA Men’s Division 1 National Championships 1st Team All-Tournament
1999-2000 ACHA Men’s Division 1 National Champions
1999-2000 ACHA Men’s Division 1 National Championships Tournament MVP
1999-2000 ACHA Men’s Division 1 National Championships 1st Team All-Tournament
1999-2000 ACHA Men’s Division 1 Player-of-the-Year
1999-2000 Bob Johnson Award Winner
1999-2000 ACHA Men’s Division 1 1st Team All-American
1999-2000 ACHA Men’s Division 1 Academic All-American
2000-2001 ACHA Men’s Division 1 National Champions
2000-2001 ACHA Men’s Division 1 National Championships Tournament MVP
2000-2001 ACHA Men’s Division 1 2nd Team All-American
2000-2001 ACHA Men’s Division 1 Academic All-American
2000-2001 Penn State University Team Captain
2007 Penn State University Hockey Hall of Fame Inductee

In addition to those awards, he was the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 Ted Caufman Icers Most Valuable Player, the 1998-1999 Jon Shellington Offensive Player award winner, the 1997-1998 team rookie of the year and awarded for the best academic performance on the team in 1999-2000. He was the team's leading scorer in both 1998-1999 and 1999-2000.

Eizenman arrived at Penn State for the 1997-1998 season from Toronto and the Wexford Raiders organization, where he totaled 79 points in a 59-game Midget AAA career before reeling off the glut of accomplishments above. His 165 assists as an Icer (to go with his 95 goals) still rank third in Penn State's record book, but that obviously doesn't scratch the surface of his impact on the program or his dynamic abilities as a player.

His goal 15:49 into overtime of the 2000 ACHA championship game against Eastern Michigan capped the Magic City Miracle, probably the most memorable tournament run in Icers history. He also scored with 1:37 left in the semifinals against Michigan-Dearborn to force overtime and began a comeback from a late 4-2 deficit against Minot State in the game previous to that by scoring with 4:47 remaining. The following season, he helped the Icers go from nail-biters to flat-out domination in winning a second consecutive national championship. In arguably the most one-sided tournament in ACHA history, PSU won all four games it played by at least four goals - and even the two four-goal wins (6-2 over Kent State and 7-3 over Illinois) were deceptively "close." Eizenman, as mentioned, was named MVP of both tournaments. He graduated from PSU with an honors degree in finance in 2001.

Before, during and after his time at Penn State, Eizenman competed internationally for Israel. He won gold at the IIHF Group D World Championships in 2000 and again at the IIHF Division II World Championships in 2005, the latter coming with Eizenman skating on a line with brothers Erez and Oren (who played collegiately at RPI and professionally in the AHL and ECHL). He also was team captain of the 1997 Israeli team in the World Under-20 Championships in 1997.

Following a brief pro career in France, Eizenman ended up in law school at the University of Toronto, receiving his J.D. in 2007. He now practices in his hometown, where he resides with his wife Erin and two-year-old daughter Sophie, at the firm of Stikeman Elliott LLP.