February 21, 2011

Meghan Duggan, Jocelyne Lamoureux and Jocelyne Larocque

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Twenty-six players are among the list of nominees for the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, presented by Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. An award of The USA Hockey Foundation, the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is annually bestowed upon the top player in NCAA Division I women's ice hockey.

Held in conjunction with the NCAA Women's Frozen Four, the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, presented by LECOM, will be given out at a brunch ceremony on March 19 at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie, Pa.

The list of 26 nominated players includes 17 forwards, five goaltenders and four defensemen hailing from 12 different schools in all four NCAA Division I women's ice hockey leagues. Mercyhurst College, host of the 2011 NCAA Women's Frozen Four, leads all schools with five nominated players.

The 34 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey head coaches will select the top-10 finalists from among the group of 26 nominees, with the announcement taking place March 3. A 13-member selection committee will choose the three finalists (announced March 10), as well as the award recipient, which will be announced live at the brunch ceremony in Erie on March 19.

Tickets to the 14th annual Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Ceremony, presented by LECOM, may be purchased by calling 719-538-1184 or by submitting a completed ticket form (located at PattyKaz.com). Individual seats are $65, while tables of 10 are available for $600.

A list of the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award nominees is below.

NOTES: All 34 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey head coaches were asked to nominate players for the award. New to the selection process in 2011 is the stipulation that a player had to be nominated by at least two coaches in order for her to make the official nomination list ... Among the 26 nominees are 10 seniors, six juniors, seven sophomores and three freshmen. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association leads all conferences with eight nominees, while College Hockey America has seven, ECAC Hockey has six and Hockey East has five. Mercyhurst College leads all schools with five nominees, while Cornell University has four; Boston University and the University of Wisconsin each have three; Boston College, the University of Minnesota Duluth and the University of North Dakota each have two; and the University of Minnesota, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Syracuse University and Yale University each have one ... Eight of the nominated players were also nominated in 2010, including last year's winner Vicki Bendus (Wasaga Beach, Ont./Mercyhurst College); top-three finalist Noora Räty (Espoo, Finland/Univ. of Minnesota); top-10 finalists Bailey Bram (Ste. Ann, Man./Mercyhurst College) and Jesse Scanzano (Montreal, Que./Mercyhurst College); and Jenni Bauer (St. Catherines, Ont./Niagara Univ.), Laura Fortino (Hamilton, Ont./Cornell Univ.), Lauriane Rougeau (Beaconsfield, Que./Cornell Univ.) and Jackee Snikeris (Downingtown, Pa./Yale Univ.) ... Meghan Agosta (Ruthven, Ont./Mercyhurst College) was a top-three finalist in 2007, 2008 and 2009 prior to taking the 2009-10 season off for the 2010 Olympics. Rebecca Johnston (Sudbury, Ont./Cornell Univ.), Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho/Univ. of Wisconsin), Monique Lamoureux-Kolls (Grand Forks, N.D./Univ. of North Dakota), Molly Schaus (Natick, Mass./Boston College) and Jenn Wakefield (Pickering, Ont./Boston Univ.) were all top-10 finalists in 2009 prior to taking the 2009-10 season off for the 2010 Olympics ... 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 … For more information and to sign up for the Kaz Connection, a free monthly e-newsletter dedicated solely to the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, please visit PattyKaz.com ... The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is supported in part by a grant from the NHL Foundation.