NEWS RELEASES

Trevor Mack is a playmaker. Forward, defenseman – it doesn’t matter. Mack can make it happen.

He’s tied for second on the team in points, putting up 8-23—31 in 14 games, including a power play goal and a sudden-death shootout game winner. Although typically a power forward, he’s currently helping out the defense while several players are out due to injury. It is not a huge change for him, though, as he has always been a strong two-way player who knows how to get the puck up and make the plays.

He leads the team with 23 assists, including 10 on the power play and one on the penalty kill, and he’s fifth in goals. He’s also not afraid to throw his body around if needed; his 32 penalty minutes are fourth on the team.

At 22, Mack is one of the older players on the squad, so even though it’s his first season at Mason, he tries to be vocal on the bench, help everyone else out and set an example for the younger guys. He admires Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals, one of the best playmakers in the NHL, for his ability to see the ice really well and play both sides of the puck.

Mack was born in Brunswick, Maine, and moved to Virginia when he was two years old. He started skating when he was nine years old, essentially teaching himself at public skates. Once he got that down, he got into hockey and never looked back.

The Ashburn Xtreme travel hockey team was his first time playing competitive hockey. He joined the team in second grade and stayed with them all the way through his senior year of high school, when the Xtreme won their first USA Hockey National U18 AA Tier 2 Championship by defeating the Florida Junior Panthers 5-1 in Hartford, CT.

He also played right wing for his high school’s hockey team all four years. Mack and the Stone Bridge Bulldogs were two-time Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League (NVSHL) state champions, and he made the NVSHL All-Star team his junior and senior year.

But hockey hasn’t been all easy gliding for Mack. He faced a setback when he was in bantams. He and his friends tried out for the Washington Little Caps AAA team, and all his friends made the squad. Mack did not. He had serious thoughts about quitting at that point, but he kept working hard on the Xtreme and then on his high school varsity team as well. His achievements since then speak for themselves.

After graduating from Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, VA, in 2013, Mack went to Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) to play ACHA Division I hockey for a year before deciding to take time off to play junior hockey – the highest level of amateur hockey .

Mack played a year for the New York Apple Core Tier III Junior A team from Brewster, NY, in the Eastern Hockey League Premier Division, then was traded to the New England Wolves Tier III team based in New Hampshire. After two years in Juniors, he went back to school at IUP for a year.

Despite the intense level of skill and competition he has experienced in his career, he says he has never gotten more than a minor concussion – an almost unheard of feat for a hockey player. (Smiling, he quickly rapped his knuckles on the table for good luck.)

He transferred to Mason this fall for its business marketing program as well as to be closer to home. He has been the new kid on a team every year for the past five years and is looking forward to the stability of returning next fall for his junior year.