"It's a dream come true." 

Declan Ryan, the consensus 2022 Western New York Player of the Year for boys basketball, celebrated his commitment to play Division I college basketball Wednesday before friends, family, former teammates and members of the CHS community. 

Ryan spent a post-graduate year at Worcester Academy in Massachusetts for 2022-23, during which he committed to the College of Holy Cross. 

"We wanted to bring Declan back here today," said CHS Athletic Director Jim Mauro. "He truly will go down as one of the most outstanding basketball players in Canisius history."

During Ryan's senior year of 2021-22, he was named in New York State Class A Player of the Year, the Centercourt Player of the Year, the Allen Wilson Buffalo News Player of the Year and the Monsignor Martin Athletic Association Player of the Year. Ryan led Canisius to the Class A Catholic state championship and Manhattan Cup Championship as the Crusaders finished the season on a 15-game winning streak.

"The pandemic obviously affected everybody's way of life across the globe, but I know personally for athletes in the years 2021, 2022, those young student-athletes were really impacted," Mauro said. "Declan I thought made a great choice to go and spend a year at an outstanding prep school to further his education, to work on his game, to get in better shape so he could eventually move on to the next level."

Mauro said the Covid-19 pandemic, which canceled the state championships during Ryan's sophomore and junior seasons, took away a chance for even more accomplishments for Ryan.

"Declan came up in his sophomore year after he dominated at the JV level," Mauro said of Ryan's call-up for the postseason. "We went to Hofstra played in the first-round game (of the state Catholic playoffs) against St. Anthony's and Declan came in as though he had played varsity level his whole life. He was a key guy there; we had a great team – Max Dowling, Dewayne Vass. I'll never forget, I sat next to coach Husband on the bus and said we should have played the championship the next day because everything's going to be canceled on Monday because of COVID – and it was, so we didn't get a chance.

"But I think if he had had that opportunity – you know, the ifs and buts of sports – he might have won three years in a row, Catholic state championships. He was that impressive a player."

Ryan averaged 20.5 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game as a senior and his 574 points that year is eighth-highest in school history. Based on his outstanding work in the classroom and on the court, he was named the 2021-22 Canisius Scholar Athlete of the Year. As a junior, he was fourth-team All-Western New York and first team All-Catholic after he averaged 15.7 points and eight rebounds a game.

"Declan was a dominating force throughout his senior year," said coach Kyle Husband '96. "His talent and leadership delivered one of the best runs the basketball program has ever had. Declan was unstoppable throughout his senior season, averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds a game, but his unselfishness and team-first attitude catapulted the team to a state championship."

Ryan's remarks: 

"When I started out Canisius, it was my dad's school and everything, so I was carrying on the tradition. Obviously I started with Mr. Zera (JV coach Joe Zera '01) – one of my favorite coaches I've ever had, he really pushed me. I started off the on the bench, freshman year JV – it started there. I just talked to him about stuff and where I wanted to go. We had meetings, sitting down like, what are your goals and being able to get there. At first it was varsity and he would talk to me like, "you have to do this, this and this." I took that to heart. Especially the summer going into junior year, all those summers, just working out like probably three times a day, going to the JV workouts and everything, just focusing on varsity.

"And when I got to varsity with Coach Husband, also one of my favorite coaches ever, really pushed me – two different coaching styles, but both great. At that point, instead of just trying to make varsity, it was trying to go to college. Especially with him having like the tradition of him coaching college players before, he knew how to get there and everything. That really helped.

"I told people my senior year, I wanted to be Player of the Year. People told me I was crazy, especially freshman year, a chubby kid couldn't really run up and down the floor. But obviously, working hard and having good mentors and coaches and everything led me to where I am now, playing college basketball. It's a dream come true."