Engineers Announce Year-End Awards

TROY, N.Y. - The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) women's ice hockey team recently held its season-ending banquet, where the team's 2008-09 award winners were announced.  Six honors were handed out by sixth-year head coach John Burke and his staff.

Earning the team's highest award, the Most Valuable Player, was goaltender Sonja van der Bliek.  A sophomore from Toronto, Ont., van der Bliek posted an 18-13-4 overall record with a 2.10 goals against average and a .916 save percentage in 35 games. She also had five shutouts. 

van der Bliek had a conference record of 11-8-3 and backstopped the Engineers to key victories throughout the season, including a career-high 48 save performance in a 3-2 overtime victory at Harvard in the ECAC Hockey Semi-Finals.  At year's end, she became the program's all-time single season leader in games played (35), games started (35), minutes played (2146:29), wins (18), saves (820) and shutouts (5). 

The Engineers' Most Improved Player was sophomore winger Sydney O'Keefe, who had two goals and five assists for seven points, while playing in all 37 games.  The Prior Lake, Minn., native, who had just three points in her rookie campaign, notched six of her seven points against ECAC Hockey opponents, including goals against Cornell and Colgate. She also had 24 penalty minutes. 

Senior Ashley Mayr, a goalie from Burnaby, B.C., earned the Robert Conway Scholar-Athlete Award for the second straight season.  The award is presented to the player with the highest cumulative grade point average over a minimum of three semesters. On the ice, the management major appeared in two games and posted a record of 1-1-0 before suffering a season-ending injury.  Her lone victory came in a 5-1 win over Niagara.

The recipient of the Bill Cahill Memorial Award, presented annually to a player who displays high character, ability and dedication, was senior center Jamie-Lynn Stewart.  A native of Cambridge, Ont., she finished her career with 25 goals and 39 assists for 64 points, ranking 21st in program history.  She is also second among the program's all-time leaders in games played with 129, playing in all but two games throughout her career.    

Freshman center Alisa Harrison was this year's recipient of the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award.  A native of Vienna, Va., Harrison played in all 37 games for the Engineers, leading the team in scoring with 31 points on 12 goals and a team-high 19 assists.  An ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team selection, she was among the nation's leaders in a number of categories, including 16th in points per game by a rookie (0.84).   

Also recognized was senior goalie Emily Ford, who was the recipient of the Willie Stanton Award, which is presented annually to player who demonstrates leadership, sportsmanship, hard work and a genuine love of the game.  The Plymouth, Mass., native appeared in 12 games during her career, posting a record of 5-2-0 with a 2.50 goals against average and a .848 save percentage.

Rensselaer concluded its outstanding season with a 19-14-4 overall record and an 11-8-3 ECAC Hockey mark.  The Engineers, who joined ECAC Hockey in 2006-07, finished as the conference's runner-up at the league tournament, falling to Dartmouth in the championship game.