Five Ivies Nominated for 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award

Complete USA Hockey Release & List of Nominees

Portions Courtesy of Cornell Athletic Communications & USAHockey.com

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The nominees for the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award presented by Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine were announced on Monday by USA Hockey and five Ivy League student-athletes made the list of 26 nominees, including Cornell’s Laura Fortino, Brianne Jenner, Rebecca Johnston and Lauriane Rougeau as well as Yale’s Jackee Snikeris. The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is annually bestowed upon the top player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey.

The list includes 17 forwards, five goaltenders and four defensemen, with 12 different schools represented among the nominees. Mercyhurst leads all schools with five players nominated, with Cornell’s quartet the second-highest tally. Wisconsin and Boston University have three players each, while Boston College, Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota each have two players.

The field of nominees was compiled by the 34 coaches in NCAA Division I hockey. A player had to be nominated by more than one coach to be named to the list.

The NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey coaches will cull the list down to a group of 10 finalists, which will be announced on March 3. From there, a 13-member selection committee will choose three finalists, who will be announced on March 10, with the winner being named in Erie, Pa., on March 19.

The 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.