University of Minnesota Athletics
Raty and Schleper Earn Department Honors
4/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
The women's hockey team was well represented in the 2010 Golden Goldys, an award gala held each year to celebrate the University's athletic achievements. This year's Golden Goldys recipients were Noora Raty and Anne Schleper.
Women’s hockey’s Noora Raty earned the Female Rookie of the Year after a stellar performance between the pipes. During a span of 26 games for the Maroon and Gold, Räty was named a first-team All-American and first-team All-WCHA, the only one to be named as a freshman this season. She was a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is given to the top women’s hockey college player in the country. Hailing from Espoo, Finland, Räty was the WCHA Goaltending Champion when she held a 0.94 goals against average against her conference opponents. Of her 26 games played, she recorded seven shutouts or held her opponents to just one goal in 10 games.
Women’s hockey won its second award of the evening when Anne Schleper walked away with the Female Breakthrough Athlete. After being a second-team All-WCHA as a rookie, she was named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year. The St. Cloud, Minn., native was named a first-team All-American after not earning All-America honors last season. Schleper went from the team’s eighth-leading scorer to the team’s fourth and became the Gophers’ best defensive player. A Patty Kazmaier nominee, Schleper had 26 points as a freshman and bumped up to 32 this season.
In Raty's acceptance speech, she stated that Fins have now time for small talk so she thanked her teammates and coaches for the award. Schleper joked about when she told her dad about being nominated for the award and also thanked her teammates and coaches.
The Gophers were also up for the team of the year (volleyball won the award by going to the program's third Final Four) and Brad Frost was nominated for the Women's Team Coach of the Year (went to volleyball's Mike Hebert). Baseball had the most awards (coach of the year, rookie of the year and community service award), while women's hockey, wrestling and volleyball tied for second, each with two.
