Olympians Johnston, Irwin on NCAA honour list
Posted February 20, 2012 3:48 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Olympians Rebecca Johnston and Haley Irwin have been nominated for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the player of the year in NCAA Division I women’s hockey.
Johnston, from Sudbury, Ont., is a senior forward at Cornell University while Irwin is a senior forward at the University of Minnesota Duluth. They won gold for Canada at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
Jennifer Wakefield of Pickering, Ont., (Boston University) and Natalie Spooner of Toronto (Ohio State) were also on the list of 30 nominated players announced Monday by USA Hockey. Wakefield and Spooner have also played on the Canadian team.
The early list of 21 forwards, five defencemen and four goaltenders will be narrowed down to 10 on March 1. A 13-member selection committee will choose the three finalists on March 8 and the winner will be named March 17.
The other Canadian nominees include Christine Bestland of Brunkild, Man. (Mercyhurst College), Bailey Bram of Ste. Anne, Man. (Mercyhurst), Laura Fortino of Hamilton, Ont. (Cornell University), Thea Imbrogno of Toronto (Robert Morris University), Brianne Jenner of Oakville, Ont. (Cornell), Jamie Lee Rattray of Ottawa (Clarkson University), Lauriane Rougeau of Beaconsfield, Que. (Cornell), Kelly Sabatine of Hamilton, Ont. (St. Lawrence University) and Rebecca Vint of Caledon, Ont. (Robert Morris).
American forward Meghan Duggan of the University of Wisconsin took the honour last year.
The award is named after the late Patty Kazmaier, who was an all-Ivy League defenceman at Princeton University from 1981 to 1986. She died in February 1990 at age 28 following a long struggle with a rare blood disease.
