League’s Player of the Year Awarded to Babstock

ALBANY, N.Y. -- ECAC Hockey today announced Quinnipiac University freshman forward Kelly Babstock has been named the league’s 2010-11 ECAC Hockey Women's Player of the Year.  

Recently named to the all-league first-team and league rookie of the year, Kelly Babstock from Quinnipiac has added another piece of hardware to her collection. Babstock becomes the first Quinnipiac student-athlete to earn the Player of the Year honor. Babstock enjoyed a stellar rookie campaign as she burst onto the ECAC Hockey women’s scene. She began her career in Hamden scoring at least one point in her first eight games.

The Mississauga, Ontario native scored league-highs in goals (30), assists (28), and points (58) in overall games and was tied for second in league points (30) on 22 goals and eight assists. She currently leads all NCAA Division I Women’s Ice Hockey freshman in goals, assists, points and is second in points per game (1.61). Babstock has been selected ECAC Hockey/MLX Skates Rookie of the Week five times and Player of the Week on two occasions. She has also received Quinnipiac University accolades, as she was named Quinnipiac Female Athlete of the Month for the months of November and December.

The freshman forward has also received nationwide attention for her performance throughout the season. On January 17, 2010, Babstock became just the second athlete in school history to receive mention in Sports Illustrated's Weekly publication of its "Faces In The Crowd" section.

Babstock was recently named one of the 26 nominees for the prestigious Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, presented by Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. The award is given annually to the most outstanding player in Division I Women's Ice Hockey.

She led a Bobcats offense that scored a program-high 102 goals in the regular season. The 31 power-play goals, also a program-record, helped the team accumulate a 20.8 power-play percentage, which ranks third among ECAC Hockey teams.

The other finalists for the award were Laura Fortino and Rebecca Johnston both from Cornell.

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