Women's Hockey Roundup: Sophie Jaques, NCAA, PHF and U Sports

Women’s hockey playoffs are in high gear. The PHF semifinals are underway, including the elimination of the regular-season champion Boston Pride. The NCAA and U Sports crowned their national champions, and Sophie Jaques grabbed a historic Patty Kazmaier Award as well.

Here’s a look at a significant weekend in women’s hockey.

Sophie Jaques Becomes First Black Winner of the Patty Kazmaier

Ohio State defender Sophie Jaques, 22, is the first Black winner of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the top women’s hockey player in the NCAA.

“I am truly honored and humbled to be the recipient of the Patty Kazmaier award,” Jaques said in the official NCAA release. “I am grateful to be the recipient of an award named after an incredible athlete, scholar and human being in Patty Kazmaier.”

Named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) player of the year after scoring 24 goals and 48 points in 41 games, Jaques was the top-scoring defender in the NCAA this season and leaves the WCHA as the conference’s all-time leading goal-scorer from the blueline.

Jaques, a Toronto product, joins a growing cohort of Black women making waves in elite hockey, a list that also includes Sarah Nurse, Saroya Tinker, and the now-retired Blake Bolden, who serves as a scout for the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.

“The game is growing as it pertains to its color,” Bolden said to NHL.com. Sophie is a part of history not only for the 'Patty Kaz' but as a Black woman breaking down barriers.”

Last season, Jaques had 59 points in 38 games leading Ohio State to a national championship and was a top-three finalist for the 2022 Patty Kazmaier award, which was eventually won by USA national team member Taylor Heise. This year, Northeastern’s Alina Mueller and Colgate’s Danielle Serdachny were the other two finalists.

Correction: Sophie Jaques' name was incorrectly spelled but has since been fixed. We apologize for the error.

Wisconsin Wins NCAA National Championship

While Jaques was able to win the Patty Kazmaier Award, her Ohio State Buckeyes fell short of their goal to repeat as NCAA national champions. Kirsten Simms scored the national championship-winning goal for the Wisconsin Badgers just beyond the midway point of the opening period in the final. After that, Wisconsin held off the Ohio State Buckeyes for the 1-0 win.

Cami Kronish stopped all 31 shots she faced for Wisconsin, who collected their seventh national title in program history.

Wisconsin’s roster features several members of the Canadian and USA U-18 and senior national team members, including Caroline Harvey, Lacey Eden, Britta Curl, Jesse Compher, Simms, and Laila Edwards.

Mount Royal Wins U Sports Title in Dramatic Fashion

The Mount Royal University Cougars defeated Concordia University 4-3 to capture their first Canada’s U Sports national title. It was a dramatic comeback win, with Breanne Trotter scoring the tying goal for Mount Royal with less than two seconds remaining in the game to send it to overtime.

In overtime, joining the rush, Norway’s Emma Bergesen scored the championship goal for the eighth-seed Cougars.

"I have no words to describe this, it’s one of the best feelings in the world," said Mount Royal netminder Kaitlyn Ross. "We deserve this, we've worked so hard for this all year and it’s so nice that all of our hard work paid off."

PHF’s Back-to-Back Champions Eliminated

The opening round of the PHF playoffs didn’t go as expected for the Boston Pride, the league’s regular season champions and back-to-back Isobel Cup winners. The fourth-place Minnesota Whitecaps made sure of that, sweeping the Pride in their best-of-three series.

In the opening game of the series, Jonna Albers scored a hat trick in leading Minnesota to a 5-2 win over the Pride. Albers added a goal and an assist in Game 2, a 4-1 series-clinching decision. While Albers provided the offense, Amanda Leveille was spectacular in net for the Whitecaps, posting a .963 save percentage across the series.

The Whitecaps’ opponents in the 2023 Isobel Cup will be decided tonight in Game 3 of the Toronto Six versus Connecticut Whale series. The Whale took Game 1 5-2, before the second-seed Six held on to a 3-2 overtime win on a goal by Emma Woods to even the series.

The Isobel Cup final will be played March 26 in Arizona.