Senior forward Annie Pankowski was named one of three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award for the best player in Division 1 women’s college hockey Thursday.
Pankowski is the sixth Badger to be named a top three finalist for this award, with Ann-Renee Desbiens the most recent finalist and winner in 2017.
The winner will be announced at a brunch ceremony in Hamden, Connecticut, on Saturday, March 23, in between the semi-finals and finals of the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four weekend.
This is the second time the Laguna Hills, California native has been announced a finalist for a prestigious hockey award this year, with the first for the 2019 Hockey Humanitarian Award. Wisconsin’s co-captain was also named to the first-team All-WCHA for the third time in her career on Thursday and joins Brianna Decker, Jessie Vetter and Hilary Knight in doing so. Pankowski leads the Badgers this season with 37 points off of 17 goals and 20 assists.
Junior defender Mekenzie Steffen and redshirt junior goalkeeper Kristen Campbell also earned first-team honors. Second in the league’s scoring for defenders, Steffen has seven goals and 17 assists, which make up her 24 points. This is Campbell’s second consecutive first-team honors. The Brandon, Manitoba leads the WCHA with 18 wins, 1.08 goals against average and six shutouts. She has 524 saves under her belt, with a .932 save percentage and also leads the NCAA in wins and goals against average.
The accolades didn’t stop there for the Badgers. Redshirt senior defenseman Maddie Rolfes, junior forward Abby Roque and freshman forward Sophie Shirley were named to second-team All-WCHA.
No. 2 Wisconsin will open the WCHA playoffs against St. Cloud State at LaBahn Arena this weekend. The puck is set to drop on Friday at 4 p.m. and again on Saturday at 3 p.m. with a third game possible on Sunday.
