Wisconsin's Bauer, Minnesota Duluth's Schaublin Named 2006 Patty Kazmaier Award Finalists
March 13, 2006
Madison, Wis. -
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Two of the three finalists for the 2006 Patty Kazmaier Award hail from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). Wisconsin's Sara Bauer and Minnesota Duluth's Riitta Schaublin along with St. Lawrence's Sabrina Harbec comprise the award finalists.
Bauer, a junior forward from St. Catharines, Ontario, was named the 2006 WCHA Player of the Year and was named the 2006 WCHA Women's Playoff Championship Tournament Most Valuable Player. She has also helped the Badgers to its winningest season in school history with an overall record of 33-4-1 as well as the program's first-ever WCHA regular season and tournament titles. She currently ranks fourth in the nation with 56 points (22-34) and is third on Wisconsin's all-time chart with 144 career points (56-88). Bauer is Wisconsin's first Patty Kazmaier finalist.
Schaublin, a junior goaltender from Switzerland, is the first-ever Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award top-three finalist who hails from outside of North America. The 2006 WCHA Student-Athlete of the Year, Schaublin recorded her second-straight 20-win season while posting the nation's second-best save percentage (.941). She was also named to the All-WCHA First Team and All-Academic Team. Minnesota Duluth has had a top-three finalist in each of the last four years as Caroline Ouellette was a finalist for last year's award and Jenny Potter was a finalist in both 2003 and 2004.
The top 10 Finalists for the award included Jana Harrigan (Ohio State), Nicole Hekle (New Hampshire), Noemie Marin (Minnesota Duluth), Jessica Moffatt (St. Lawrence), Kim Pearce (Princeton), Bobbi-Jo Slusar (Wisconsin) and Karen Thatcher (Providence).
The award is named in honor of the late Patty Kazmaier, who was a four-year varsity letter-winner and All-Ivy League defenseman for Princeton University from 1981-86. An accomplished athlete who helped lead the Tigers to the Ivy League Championship in three consecutive seasons (1981-84), Patty Kazmaier-Sandt died on Feb. 15, 1990, at the age of 28 following a long struggle with a rare blood disease.
The Division I women's varsity hockey coaches nominate up to two players from their team for the award. The USA Hockey Foundation prepares the official ballot and the top 10 is tabulated, based on the coaches votes. The official ballots were tabulated by the nationally respected accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Three finalists, as well as the recipient of the 2006 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, will be chosen by a 13-member selection committee comprised of women's intercollegiate varsity ice hockey coaches, representatives of the print and broadcast media and a representative of USA Hockey, the National Governing Body for the sport of ice hockey in the United States. Candidates for the award must compete for a women's intercollegiate varsity ice hockey team at an NCAA-member institution. Other selection criteria include: outstanding individual and team skills, sportsmanship, performance in the clutch, personal character, competitiveness and a love of hockey. Consideration will also be given to academic achievement and civic involvement. The three finalists for the award will be announced March 13.
The awards dinner is scheduled for Saturday, March 25 at the Radisson University on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Individual dinner tickets are priced at $100.00 for adults and $50.00 for children under 18. Tickets, in addition to incremental levels of dinner sponsorship, may be purchased by calling The USA Hockey Foundation at (800) 566-3288, ext. 184, or visiting www.PattyKaz.com. Individual tickets and sponsorship packages are tax-deductible.
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