Wyatt Erhardt wins 2025 Jeff Sauer Award

Wyatt Ehrhardt, a senior from Middleton, has been named the eighth recipient of the Jeff Sauer Humanitarian Award, the Coach Sauer Foundation announced. The award was presented Thursday at the Wisconsin High School Coaches Association dinner in Middleton.

The annual award 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 who passed away in February, 2017. The Jeff Sauer Award’s goal is to recognize good high school hockey players being great people.

Ehrhardt is a worthy example.

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. The other finalists for the award are Gretchen Gajewski, a senior forward who plays for the Hayward co-op; and George Karasek, a senior defenseman from Oregon

The Jeff Sauer Award is modeled after the Hockey Humanitarian Award, which is presented annually to college hockey’s finest citizen and seeks to recognize players, male or female, who contribute to local communities in a true humanitarian spirit.

After retiring from college hockey, Jeff worked extensively with disabled hockey players, He coached the U.S. sled hockey team to a gold medal at the Winter Paralympics in 2014 and in his seven years as coach, Team USA won two gold medals at the Sledge Hockey World Championships.

Additionally, Sauer was president of the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association. He helped select the last five U.S. Deaflympic Ice Hockey Teams and led the team as head coach at three Winter Deaflympics, including a gold medal at the 2007 Deaflympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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

Madison Ice Arena displays a replica of the Jeff Sauer Award in its lobby to honor Ehrhardt and all past winners. Middleton High School will also receive a plaque to display and commemorate Wyatt’s achievements.