34 | JUNE 2 • 2022
SPORTS
Z
achary Felsenfeld went to Babson
College to study business and
finance.
The West Bloomfield resident left
the private business school in Wellesley,
Massachusetts, last month with a bachelor’s
degree in finance and entrepreneurship,
a job in New York City, and a national
championship in college club hockey.
Felsenfeld was a member of the Babson
club hockey team that won the 32-team
College Hockey Federation Cup national
tournament in March in Philadelphia.
The tournament was a grind. No.
5-ranked Babson won six games on six
consecutive days, outscoring its opponents
35-14, to earn the team’s first national title.
“Grueling on the body,
” is how Felsenfeld
described the tournament.
“Plus, we had to keep up with our classes
while we were there,
” he said.
Felsenfeld, a 5-foot-10, 160-pound right
wing, had four goals and three assists in his
team’s six games at the tournament.
He certainly saved his best for last this
season. His production at the tournament
gave him a total of eight goals and seven
assists for his senior year.
“I knew the games at the tournament
were going to be my last competitive
hockey games, so I wanted to leave it all on
the ice,
” he said. “I feel I did that.
”
After winning three games in pool play
to open the tournament, Babson beat
Alabama 3-1 in the quarterfinals, South
Carolina 2-1 in overtime in the semifinals
and Binghamton (New York) 6-2 in
the championship game to complete an
undefeated season.
Felsenfeld played for the Babson club
hockey team in his final three years at the
school.
“I didn’t play hockey at Babson when I
was a freshman there because I wanted to
focus on academics,
” he said. “I didn’t even
bring my hockey gear. But I became friends
with guys on the club team.
“Hockey wasn’t the major reason why I
went to Babson, but I knew they had a club
team, and I was interested in playing for it.
”
While Babson helps with the club hockey
team’s travel costs, Felsenfeld said, the
players fund most of the expenses.
In his case, Felsenfeld said, he used
money he earned at summer jobs at Carl’s
Golfland in Bloomfield Hills and Rocket
Mortgage to pay to play.
While playing for Babson, he wore his
helmet from his days on the Bloomfield
Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood High School
hockey team.
Those who think college club hockey is
not much different than an adult recreation
league are wrong, Felsenfeld said.
“College club hockey shouldn’t be taken
lightly,
” he said. “It’s fast-paced, hard-hitting
hockey with really good players. It’s nothing
to joke about.
”
Felsenfeld played for the perennial
powerhouse Cranbrook-Kingswood hockey
team as a junior and senior.
He had 11 goals and 18 assists in the
two seasons, and he was the winner of the
team’s Hobey Baker Award for all-around
outstanding play in the 2017-18 season as a
senior, when the Cranes won the program’s
first Division 1 regional title and advanced
to the state quarterfinals.
Felsenfeld played golf for Cranbrook-
Kingswood for four years, making it to the
state tournament three times.
He’s still active in golf, playing in amateur
tournaments in Michigan.
“Being a good golfer should help me in
the business world,
” he said.
Now, about that job in New York City
that Babson helped Felsenfeld land.
Felsenfeld set himself up for the job by
being a star in the classroom at Babson,
graduating magna cum laude. He had
a final 3.71 cumulative grade-point
average and made the Dean’s List all eight
semesters he was there.
He’ll start his job at AlphaSights as an
associate on Sept. 1.
AlphaSights provides private equity and
wealth management consulting services
for individual and business clients.
Family is an important part of
Felsenfeld’s life. He credits his family’s
support for helping him achieve his career
and hockey goals.
His parents are Bob and Brenda
Felsenfeld. Bob was in Philadelphia for
the Babson club hockey team’s national
championship game.
Zachary, 22, has three older siblings:
Josh, 35, of Bethesda, Maryland; Elyssa,
33, of Chicago; and Matt, 30, of Austin,
Texas.
Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.
Zachary Felsenfeld of West Bloomfi
eld fi
nishes
his college hockey career with a fl
ourish.
Six Games, Six Days, One
National Championship
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
COLLEGE HOCKEY FEDERATION
What is Zachary Felsenfeld holding? The
College Hockey Federation Cup.