The ECAC held their annual banquet this past Friday where four Cornellians were honored. Sophomore captain Kristin O'Neill was honored for the second year in a row as she was placed on the ECAC Hockey First Team. Sophomore Jamie Bourbonnais earned a spot on the ECAC Second Team as she was honored for the second straight year as well. Senior captain Sarah Knee garnered Third Team honors in her swan song. And freshman sensation Maddie Mills was honored by making the ECAC All-Rookie team.
O'Neill flourishes in first year as captain.
After being placed on the All Rookie Team last year, O'Neill followed up with a stellar sophomore season tallying 19 goals and 21 assists. Just like the Ivy League awards for the men, only league games are calculated for awards. That worked out favorable for O'Neill who placed in the top five of many statistical categories in the ECAC.
O'Neill moving up ice against Harvard
It's no secret that O'Neill has a thing for scoring short-handed goals. That was no different this season as she scored three this year in league play, and four on the season which is tied for the national league, her five game-winning goals also tied for the league lead. O'Neill also so herself in the top five for goals, powerplay goals, and points.
These statistics were good enough for O'Neill to be named a finalist for forward of the year in the league, an honor which she would lose to Loren Gabel of Clarkson.
Clarkson steals the show
While there were many teams honored by the ECAC, it was clear that Clarkson was top dog. The Golden Knights swept all major awards on Friday including coach of the year, forward of the year, defenseman of the year, rookie of the year, and goaltender of the year.
A year after winning the National Championship, Clarkson followed up by sweeping through the ECAC playoffs without dropping a game.
The defending National Champions saw five players making an All-League team, including three on the First Team. Elizabeth Giguere saw her name on the list twice as she made both First Team and All-Rookie team while also taking home rookie of the year honors.
Senior goaltender Shea Tiley was the pinnacle of consistency this season, hence the goalie of the year honors. Tiley was third in the nation in both save percentage and Goals Against Average while posting a 17-3-1 record in the regular season. Her regular season momentum continued through into the playoffs, as she only let in four goals in as many games to lead Clarkson to another ECAC title.