DANBURY, CONN. — After an impressive season, Quinnipiac’s Kahlen Lamarche and Princeton’s Issy Wunder have been named top-10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award as announced by the USA Hockey Foundation.
Wunder is tied for third in the country with 27 goals and added 16 assists for a 43-point season. The junior averaged 1.34 points per game and .84 goals per game. Wunder leads Princeton in goals and points and is second for +/- with +27. Wunder scored the overtime game-winner against the Brown Bears, helping secure the Tigers’ first-ever ECAC Hockey regular-season championship. She was named ECAC Forward of the Month twice and Forward of the Week for the first week of January, and was a part of the All-ECAC First Team.
Junior forward Kahlen Lamarche was instrumental for the Quinnipiac Bobcats, leading both her team, the league, and the nation in goals (42) as well as leading the Bobcats in points (60). Lamarche was named the HCA Co-Forward of the Month for September/October as well as named ECAC forward of the month twice and forward of the week twice. Lamarche’s 42 overall goals broke Quinnipiac’s single-season scoring record, surpassing former record-holder Kelly Babstock, whose mark had stood for 15 years. She also went on to break Quinnipiac's single-season points record with 60, surpassing the previous record held by Kelly Babstock (59) that stood for 15 years.
The award is named in honor of the late Patty Kazmaier, who was a four-year varsity letter-winner and All-Ivy League defenseman at 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 Feb. 15, 1990, at the age of 28 following a long struggle with a rare blood disease.
The award is presented annually to the top player in NCAA Division I Women’s Ice Hockey. The winner will be revealed on March 21 at Penn State University as a part of the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four.
Kazmaier earned honorable mention All-Ivy League honors as a freshman and was named second-team All-Ivy in both her sophomore and junior seasons. Following a leave of absence from Princeton in 1984-85, Kazmaier was named first-team All-Ivy and first-team All-ECAC as a senior in 1985-86. She was also honored as the Ivy League Most Valuable Player. Kazmaier graduated from Princeton in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in religion.