March 15, 2012
Two Golden Gopher women's hockey players have been named to the CCM All-America team, announced today by the American Hockey Coaches Association. Minnesota's All-Americans are junior defenseman Megan Bozek (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) who earned first-team honors, and sophomore forward Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.), who was named to the second team. Both players are first-time All-Americans.
Megan Bozek has 41 points on the season, and is the second-leading scorer nationally among defensemen. She is a first-team All-WCHA honoree this season, and was a WCHA Player of the Week for her performance against North Dakota in December. Bozek has scored points in 23 games this season and leads Gopher defensemen in plus/minus rating with a +45 this season. She has scored seven power play goals and two gamewinners this season. Bozek was a nominee for the Patty Kazmaier Award this season.
Amanda Kessel is Minnesota's leading scorer with 74 points, and ranks fifth nationally in points per game. She has scored hat tricks in four games this season, and leads the team in plus/minus rating at +54. Kessel is a second-team All-WCHA award winner this season, and was named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award. Kessel was a three-time WCHA Player of the Week this season, and became the fourth player in Gopher women's hockey history to reach the 100-point milestone as a sophomore. She currently has 124 career points, making her the second-highest scoring sophomore in program history (Natalie Darwitz finished her sophomore campaign with 146 points). Kessel is the only underclassman on the CCM All-America list this season.
2011-12 CCM Hockey Women's Division I All-Americans:
First Team
Florence Schelling, Goalie, Northeastern
Megan Bozek, Defenseman, Minnesota
Laura Fortino, Defenseman, Cornell
Brianna Decker, Forward, Wisconsin
Rebecca Johnston, Forward, Cornell
Jocelyne Lamoureux, Forward, North Dakota
Second Team
Zuzanna Tomcikova, Goalie, Bemidji State
Monique Lamoureux-Kolls, Defenseman, North Dakota
Lauriane Rougeau, Defenseman, Cornell
Amanda Kessel, Forward, Minnesota
Hilary Knight, Forward, Wisconsin
Natalie Spooner, Forward, Ohio State
The Gophers will face Cornell in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals tomorrow evening at 8 p.m. Radio will be available on gophersports.com, and a video webcast will be available for free on NCAA.com. The tournament is being held at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
