NCAA Skills Challenge to Showcase Resor

Photo by Sam Rubin

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Senior defenseman Helen Resor (Greenwich, Conn.) has been selected to participate in the NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge. A 2006 Olympian for Team USA, Resor is the third Bulldog women’s hockey player to be selected to participate in the NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge.

Resor is one of six female skaters picked to represent the East in the Frozen Four Skills Challenge, which takes place Apr. 10 during the NCAA men’s ice hockey Frozen Four at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. Goaltender Alec Richards (Robbinsdale, Minn.) of the Yale men’s hockey team was also selected; BC and BU are the only other programs in the East with both a male and a female representative selected.

The Skills Challenge competition will be held in an East vs. West format with each team having six male position players, six female position players, two male goaltenders and two female goaltenders. The competitions will include puck control relay, fastest skater, hardest shot, rapid fire shooting, accuracy shooting and penalty shot. Each student-athlete will participate in a minimum of one event and specific event assignments will be determined once all participants arrive in Washington, D.C. The Skills Challenge participants will also take part in a youth clinic to be held on Saturday morning and an autograph session prior to the men’s championship game on Saturday night.

Resor is the third Yale women’s hockey player selected in the event’s four-year history. Goaltender Sarah Love ’06 participated in the inaugural skills competition, won by the East. Forward Sheila Zingler ‘07 was a part of the event in 2007.

Resor, who was among the nominees for the Kazmaier Award as the top women’s college hockey player in the country, tied for second in ECAC Hockey in scoring in conference games among defensemen (7-9-16 in 22 games). Overall this season, she led Yale in assists with 14 and was third in points with 21. She is currently sixth nationally in scoring by a defenseman (7-14-21 in 28 games).

Resor’s 48 career assists place her tied for ninth on Yale’s all-time list in that category, and she is also tied for 12th in career points (75) and tied for 20th in career goals (27). She made history as the first Yale women’s hockey player selected to the U.S. Olympic Team roster when she was picked for the 2006 Torino Games. In addition to her bronze medal at the Olympics, she also won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2005 IIHF Women’s World Championship and won silver medals at the Four Nations Cup three times (2005-2007) and at the 2007 IIHF Women’s World Championship. Prior to Yale, she played for Noble and Greenough and Assabet Valley.

The events on “Friday Night at the Frozen Four” will start with the presentation of the Hockey Humanitarian Award at 6:30 p.m., with Yale senior forward Crysti Howser (Wilmette, Ill.) among 10 finalists for that award. The night will also include the presentation of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award to the top men’s college hockey player at 7:00 p.m. and the Frozen Four Skills Challenge at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets for “Friday Night at the Frozen Four” are $10 and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com or by phone at (202) 397-SEAT. Tickets are also on sale at all Ticketmaster locations and the Verizon Center box office. For a complete schedule of events, including times, refer to the fan guide or www.gwsportsalliance.com/frozenfour/index.html.