Come next Saturday, Westfield State senior Aaron Clancy (Catholic Memorial / Qunicy, Mass.) might have a dilemma on his hands.   As a forward on the Owls' ice hockey team, a win in Tuesday's semifinal game would propel him and the Owls into the conference tournament championship game.

And as the starting catcher on the Owls' baseball team, that's also scheduled to be opening day.

For four years, Clancy hasn't had to choose, as he has found time to make an impact on both the baseball field and hockey rink, and as an honor student.

He is currently third on the hockey team in goals with nine. He also led the baseball team last year to the MASCAC championship.

Clancy's hardest part of being a two sport athlete is finding and balancing the time.

"Finding time for them all I guess, especially in the fall and around this time in the winter they're double dipping and I'm having to go from hockey rink to Woodward center," he said.

Baseball coach Nathan Bashaw praises his time management skills and his competiveness to go out and play two sports.

"Biggest thing is time management skills, just being able to do both," said Bashaw. "He is a competitor to play two sports like that, and do it at a high level. He goes out there and competes day in and day out which is great."

Hockey coach Bob Miele credits his hard work for his success.

"It's pretty demanding to go for a full year in a varsity sport," said Miele.  "Kudos to him. It's a credit to how he prepares in the summer, he works really hard to prepare for both sports."

Clancy's journey began when he was originally recruited to play.

"When I was a junior in high school, Coach Bashaw reached out to me said he was interested in me and then senior year went on I got accepted to Westfield," said Clancy.

"I had asked Coach Bashaw if it was possible for me to do both, play hockey and baseball. He pretty much told me if I could make the team I could do both if I wanted to. Then I reached out to Coach Miele, he gave me an opportunity to try out for the team, and I was lucky enough to make it," said Clancy.

Clancy has found that most of his success playing hockey and baseball comes from hard work.

"Just my work ethic I guess," he said. "I came in and I really didn't understand how serious it was, so the summer after my sophomore year I really watched what I ate and worked out."

Clancy's work has paid off as he is an honor student ready to graduate in May and has led the hockey team to the number two seed in the MASCAC tournament. He is also getting ready for baseball season as practice has begun. Clancy's love for each sport is what drives him to compete.

"I have an equal amount of fun doing both," said Clancy.

Throughout his four years Clancy has found success in both hockey and baseball.

Clancy helped lead the baseball team to the MASCAC championship in 2018. For the year, he hit .278 with 12 runs batted in. He is a mainstay behind the plate with 127 putouts and caught 10 runners stealing.

Clancy is coming into the new baseball season with a positive mindset and hoping to repeat as MASCAC champs.

"We want to win the league again and hopefully stay in top 25 nationally," said Clancy. 

"From a baseball standpoint he is a very intelligent player and been a mainstay behind the plate for us, and a very good bat that grinds throughout the season. He has had some really huge at bats for us over the years," said Bashaw.

Throughout his career Clancy has hit .276 with 66 hits and 35 runs batted in.

"Aaron's been a tremendous asset to the program for the last four years," added coach Bashaw.

Clancy has found most of his success on the ice. He is captain of the team and third on the team in goals with nine. For the year, Clancy has been clutch when it counted scoring two game winning goals. He has helped lead the Owls to a 14-8-3 record, 11-6-1 record in conference play.

"He's an athlete, and he has intangibles," said Coach Miele. "He will score a big goal when we need it, and he's doing it again this year.    He has a pretty good skill set but his competitiveness and intangibles are his biggest asset."

The hockey team has hit their stride going 6-2 in their last eight games of the season.

"We want to win the MASCAC. We put ourselves in a good position", said Aaron.

Aaron throughout his career on the ice has 33 goals, six game winning goals, a four goal game against UMD last year in which he scored the game winning goal and 62 points.

 "He came in as a true freshman at age 18 in a locker room that has a lot of guys that are 20 year old freshmen, and he has emerged as a good leader.  He's done a great job and grown into a leader," said Miele.

What Clancy has enjoyed the most at Westfield is the friends he made.

"It's the friends I made for sure. Like I said I've been very fortunate to do both, I have friends from the hockey team that are from all walks of life," said Aaron

-- Written by Nick Suglia, sports information intern

Clancy scored four goals to lead the Owls to win over UMass Dartmouth in 2018. 

Clancy drives in a run in the NCAA Regional.