Vaillancourt Among Nominees for Patty Kazmaier Award

Photo by DSPics.com

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Senior forward Sarah Vaillancourt of the Harvard women’s hockey team is among 43 players nationally nominated for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, presented annually to the country’s top Division I women's player. Nominations for the honor, which is presented by the USA Hockey Foundation, were made by NCAA Division I women's ice hockey head coaches.

Vaillancourt, the 2008 recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Trophy, has accumulated 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points, placing the Crimson co-captain fifth in the nation with 1.89 points per contest. She also stands third in assists per game (1.05) and ranks 10th in goals each contest (0.84). In three games last week, Vaillancourt lit the lamp five times and collected eight assists for 13 points, including a season-best seven-point performance against Boston University in the Beanpot semifinal. For her effort, Vaillancourt was tabbed the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week Feb. 9.

A 2006 gold medalist with Team Canada, Vaillancourt is seeking to become the second player to win the Patty Kazmaier Award twice (Jennifer Botterill ’02-03 in 2001 and 2003).

The native of Sherbrooke, Que., has had a hand in 36 of the Crimson’s last 53 goals, including 13 of the last 14. She has recorded nine multiple-point games and two hat tricks this season and leads Harvard with a +13 rating and two shorthanded-tallies.

A two-time All-America selection and top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2007, Vaillancourt ranked seventh on the all-time Crimson scoring list with 221 points on 97 goals and 114 assists. She was named ECAC Hockey and Ivy League Player of the Year last season and has been tabbed All-ECAC Hockey in her first three seasons at Harvard. In 2005, Vaillancourt was honored as the ECAC Hockey and Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

Off the ice, Vaillancourt, a psychology concentrator, has been active in her hometown community. There, she has helped raise money for the CHUS hospital in Sherbrooke, Que., and was the president of honor for the sick children in the region. In addition, she speaks to Canadian elementary and high school students on following their dreams and perseverance.

The top-10 finalists of this year's Patty Kazamaier Award will be announced March 2, while the top-three selections will be released March 10. The award will be presented March 21 at a brunch ceremony at 10 a.m. the Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston during the weekend of the women's Frozen Four.

The Patty Kazmaier Memorial 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.

The Patty Kazmaier Award has been presented to the top women's college player since 1998, and the award has gone to a Harvard player six times in its first 11 years. Jennifer Botterill '02-03 earned the honor in 2001 and 2003 and remains the only two-time winner of the award. A.J. Mleczko '97-99 took home the award in 1999, and Angela Ruggiero ’02-04 was the winner in 2004. Julie Chu ’06-07 joined the group after capturing the trophy in 2007 before Vaillancourt earned the distinction last year.