Hockey East announced Wednesday the 2022-23 all-rookie team and five other season-long awards as voted by the women’s league’s 10 head coaches.
The 2022-23 Pro Ambitions All-Rookie Team consists of seven players and includes defenders Casey Borgiel (Holy Cross) and Brooke Disher (Boston University) and forwards Lara Beecher (Vermont), Reichen Kirchmair (Providence), Lily Shannon (Northeastern), Lilli Welcke (Maine) and Luisa Welcke (Maine).
Also recognized for their efforts in the 2022-23 campaign and named defender of the year are Northeastern senior Megan Carter and Vermont’s Sini Karjalainen. It marks the second straight year that a Husky and Catamount share the award after Skylar Fontaine and Maude Poulin-Labelle did so in 2021-22.
Providence graduate student Sara Hjalmarsson has been honored as the best defensive forward during the regular season. She is the first Friar to win the award since its inception in 2009-10.
New Hampshire senior forward Annie Berry was awarded the conference’s sportsmanship award. Berry has played 123 games in a Wildcat sweater and taken just 36 penalty minutes in conference play.
Two statistical awards were also formally announced as Northeastern’s Alina Mueller was crowned the league’s top scorer (15 goals, 25 assists, 40 points) for the third time (2019-20, 2020-21). Mueller ends her Hockey East career as the league’s all-time leading point-getter, amassing 175 points on 68 goals and 108 assists in 111 league games.
Boston College netminder Abigail Levy earned the three stars award, accumulating the highest total of points from first-, second-, and third-star accolades during Hockey East league games over the course of the regular season.
The 2023 Hockey East women’s tournament begins tonight with the opening round at Boston University and New Hampshire at 7 p.m. All games will be streamed live on ESPN+ and the title game will air nationally on ESPNU.
Hockey East will announce the 2022-23 all-star teams on Friday at 10 a.m. ahead of the quarterfinals on Saturday. The league will then announce finalists for the player, rookie, and coach of the year awards on Monday at 10 a.m. The winners of those awards will then be revealed prior to the semifinals on March 1.
