In this the 44th year of the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame, Nate Guenin has set history: he's the first hockey player to be inducted. Nate has excelled at every level he's competed in, as a junior, a collegian, and as a pro.

A native of Hopewell Township, Nate was immediately drawn to hockey and played on youth-league teams at the Beaver County Ice Arena. After playing with the Pittsburgh Hornets under-18 team in 1999-2000 in the Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association, Nate spent two seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League and made the USHL All-Rookie Team in 2001.

Nate was drafted by the New York Rangers 127th overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, but he accepted a hockey scholarship to Ohio State University. An assistant captain as a sophomore and junior and the team captain as a senior, Nate helped the Buckeyes win the 2004 NCAA championship. Nate was an academic All-American in 2004 and a second-team All-American in 2005.

After completing his college career at Ohio State, Nate signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers on August 16, 2006. Nate made his professional debut in the 2006-07 season with the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers affiliate in the American Hockey League. Later that season, on January 18, 2007, Nate made his NHL debut with the Flyers.

Nate spent most of the next six years playing minor league hockey in the organizations of the Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Anaheim Ducks. Every so often, he'd get called to play a few games with the big league squad. But in 2013, Nate got his big break when he was signed by Colorado. "It's an honor. It's been a long road to get here," Nate told the Beaver County Times at the time. "The Avalanche gave me an opportunity with the organization, and I'm trying to make the most of it. Each day I try to prove that they made the right decision."

For the next two years, Nate was a fixture in the Avalanche lineup, playing in 68 regular-season games, seven playoff games in 2013-14, and 76 games in 2014-15. Nate, at 6-foot-3 and 207 pounds, played in 29 games the following year before he was released by Colorado. During his NHL career, Nate played in 205 games, scored five goals, and was especially strong on the penalty kill and ranked among NHL leaders in blocked shots.