Three finalists named for 2025 Jeff Sauer Award

MADISON – Three students have been named as finalists for the eighth annual Jeff Sauer Humanitarian Award, which is presented annually to recognize good high school hockey players being great people.

They are Wyatt Ehrhardt, a senior forward from Middleton; Gretchen Gajewski, a senior forward who plays for the Hayward co-op; and George Karasek, a senior defenseman Oregon.

Ehrhardt, the Cardinals’ captain scored 40 goals and had 72 points during the regular season. He is the president of the Key Club at Middleton, which encourages students to do community service and is one of the leaders in Middleton Meals Matter, which has raised 30,000 pounds of food and $18,000 to fight food insecurity in Middleton.

Gajewski is a member of honor society at Hayward who helped organize the Teddy Bear toss at a game this year and is heavily involved with initiatives that stress mental health. On the ice, she had one goal. She plans to attend the University of St. Thomas

Karasek, Oregon’s captain who posted a 3.79 grade point average. He volunteers at his church and organized a team project to cleanup parks in the Oregon area. George plans to attend UW-Platteville. He scored three goals and had four assists during the regular season.

Last year, Autumn Cooper of Superior, now playing at Bemidji State, was the recipient of the award which hopes to encourage community service among girls and boys high school hockey players in the state of Wisconsin. It is named after the legendary former University of Wisconsin coach and hockey ambassador Jeff Sauer, who passed away in February, 2017.

The Coach Sauer Foundation, which sponsors the award, was very impressed with all the nominated candidates and their stories of student athletes who deserve notice for reasons that ultimately are more important than mere personal statistics.

The award will be presented as part of the Wisconsin High School Hockey Coaches annual dinner during the WIAA state tournament events in Middleton.