In 2010, the ISU hockey team added several new freshmen to its roster, just like it does every season. In 2010, Marcus Andary from Sault Sainte Marie, Mich., was one of those players.

On Dec. 18, 2011, Andary was killed by in a car accident on Interstate 94 in St. Paul, Minn. Andary was hit by a minivan while he tried to assist the driver of another car involved in the accident. The driver of the minivan, Eugene Farrell, 62, was arrested for DWI/criminal vehicular operation.

Before coming to Iowa State, Andary played tier III junior A hockey for the Dubuque Thunderbirds of the Central States Hockey League, which is now the North American 3 Hockey League. That is where coach Al Murdoch started recruiting him.

“The number one thing we saw in him was academics,” Murdoch said. “He was very strong academically. That’s the first thing we always look at, and he was one of our top recruits in the nation just based on academics.”

In his first season as an ISU hockey player, Andary maintained a 4.0 GPA both semesters of his freshman year while also seeing success on the ice. In 37, games he tallied four goals and 10 assists for a total of 14 points.

Andary was not playing for the Cyclones this season because he wanted to be able to focus on his schoolwork. Murdoch fully expected him to be back with the team for the spring semester.

“It’s a shock for me, my coaching staff and for the players to lose him,” Murdoch said.

This past fall, he stuck close with his teammates and even helped them with their homework from time to time, said Jake Ross, a close friend of Andary. Ross is a senior in supply chain management at Iowa State, the same subject Andary was studying.

“He was a guy that I could always call, no matter what,” Ross said. ” If I needed a ride from the airport or just wanted to go out for lunch or just hanging out on the weekends, he was always there and up for a good time. He never complained about anything and was just happy to be around.”

Ross said Andary was having trouble balancing hockey and finances as a student-athlete and even had as many as four jobs at a time to pay for both hockey and school.

When he was recruiting Andary in Dubuque, Murdoch described Andary as “more mature than most junior players.”

“He was well-liked by his teammates and respected by opponents,” Murdoch said.

In Dubuque, he tallied 42 goals and 32 assists for a total of 74 points in two seasons. During one of those seasons, he played with current ISU hockey player Derek Kohles.

“A lot of people stray away from the system, but he just kept it simple,” Kohles said. “He knew what would work against teams.”

Kohles only played one season in Dubuque and came to Iowa State a year before Andary did. Kohles said it was “awesome” to have him back in the same locker room the next year since he did not expect him to come to Iowa State.

Current ISU hockey player Jon Feavel was in the same group of freshmen with Andary in 2010 and they had been close friends since then.

“We could joke about the same things, and if there was something stupid that we both wanted to do, I could call him up or he could call me and we knew each other would be down for it,” Feavel said.

During the 2010 season, Feavel and Andary played on the same line for a while.

“He’s the guy you want to play with,” Feavel said. “He knew when to have fun with it and he knew when we needed to work on something. We could always talk about what was going on in the play and that made it so much more fulfilling.”

The Cyclones have left Andary’s locker open in the locker room with his No. 24 jersey and nameplate still hanging there. Feavel said the loss has left a void.

“Every major college memory that I have has been with him,” Feavel said. “You can see from his 4.0, all the jobs he was doing this semester and all the stuff he was involved with, he was the epitome of living [life] to his fullest.”

Feavel said that although that might sound cliche, it’s totally true with Andary.

The Cyclones will be honoring Andary and his family Saturday night at their home game against Kent State. The pucks drops at 7:30 p.m. at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.