2002-03 WCHA Women's Awards Announced
March 7, 2003
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GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The winners of the 2002-03 Western Collegiate Hockey Association women's league awards were announced tonight at the annual WCHA Women's Awards Banquet at the Alerus Center.
The WCHA Player of the Year is Minnesota-Duluth junior forward Jenny Potter. The League player of the year for the 1999-00 season, she led the WCHA this season with 30 goals, 52 assists and 82 points, overall, and in Conference games with 22 goals, 43 assists and 65 points. An Edina, Minn., native, Potter was named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week four times during the current campaign. In addition to her scoring title, she led the WCHA with 52 assists, 27 power-play points, 10 power-play goals, six short-handed points and four short-handed goals, and shared the lead with 30 goals.
For the second-consecutive year, Minnesota senior defender Ronda Curtin is the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year. The Roseville, Minn., native anchors a defense that averaged 1.71 goals-against per League game and 1.88 goals-against per game, overall, to rank first and second in the WCHA, respectively. Curtin ranks fifth on her team at plus-29, while ranking fourth on her team and third among WCHA defenders with 34 points.
Anik Cote, a junior at Bemidji State who has a 3.92 grade point average working towards a bachelor's degree in biochemistry, is the WCHA Student-Athlete of the Year. Secretary of the chemistry club, the Grand Falls, N.B., native is currently involved on a research project concerned with finding a more accurate method of quantifying the amount of capsaicin in peppers. Capsaicin is the organic molecule that gives peppers their hotness. Cote also spends 15-20 hours each week working in the institution's chemistry stock room. An assistant captain, she spent time with an U-15 girls hockey team in Bemidji, Minn., and as an ambassador for women's hockey in general speaking at the community's Rotary Club.
Minnesota frosh Natalie Darwitz was selected the WCHA Rookie of the Year after leading the Gophers with 30 goals, 34 assists and 64 points. Ranked second in the League in the overall scoring race, the Eagan, Minn., native earned recognition six times as WCHA Rookie of the Week and once as WCHA Offensive Player of the Week during the season. The League's leading rookie scorer shared the Conference lead with 30 goals, ranked second with 20 power-play points, shared second with eight power-play goals and finished third with five game-winning tallies and 34 assists.
Minnesota-Duluth's Shannon Miller and Wisconsin's Mark Johnson were named WCHA Co-Coaches of the Year. Miller led her Bulldogs to their second WCHA regular-season title, finishing 21-2-1 in WCHA games and 27-3-2 overall.
Miller directed UMD to an 11-0-1 first half of the Conference season to gain control of the League race, and led her team to 10-game, nine-game and eight-game uneaten streaks during the campaign. UMD has ranked among the top three teams the entire season.
Johnson led the Badgers to a 14-6-4 Conference mark, good for third place, in his first year behind the bench. The Badgers finished 21-7-5 overall, ranking as high as fifth and no lower than ninth in the country during the year. New to the women's game, Johnson coached the UW to a school-record nine-game winning streak and a pair of school-record 10-game unbeaten streaks.
Voting for the WCHA awards was done by the conference head coaches and sports information directors. The WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Award was chosen solely by the head coaches, while the WCHA Student-Athlete of the Year was chosen by institutional representatives.
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