DULUTH, Minn. — Ohio State senior defenseman Sophie Jaques has been chosen as the 2023 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner.
The honors were presented Saturday afternoon at Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minn. as part of the women’s Frozen Four weekend hosted by the University of Minnesota Duluth. The ceremony aired live on NHL Network. The award, which is in its 26th year, is presented annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women’s hockey by the USA Hockey Foundation.
Jaques is the first winner from Ohio State University. She’s also the second-ever defender to be awarded the prize despite being named for a defensive player.
Sophie Jaques is your 2023 #PattyKaz
Winner #WFrozenFour pic.twitter.com/B4azgdjq9t— Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) March 18, 2023
An award of The USA Hockey Foundation, the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is annually presented to the top player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey. Selection criteria includes outstanding individual and team skills, sportsmanship, performance in the clutch, personal character, competitiveness and a love of hockey. Consideration is also given to academic achievement and civic involvement.
Jaques was selected from a group of three finalists that included fifth year forward Alina Müller (Northeastern) and senior forward Danielle Serdachny (Colgate).
An absolute force on every inch of the ice with the defending national champions, Jaques was a top-three finalist last season and followed up that performance with an even better year.
It was her second consecutive season recording 40+ points, making her just the fifth true defender in NCAA history to record back-to-back 40+ point seasons. She leads blueliners nationally in goals and points this season and ranks in the top-20 in points among all players. She’s Ohio State’s program record holder for career points by a defender (156) and also holds the WCHA record for career points and goals by a true defenseman. She ranks third among the league’s all-time true defensemen in career assists.
Jaques has 48 points on 24 assists and a team-high 24 goals. She has blocked 55 shots, and has helped the team hold opponents to just 1.75 goals and 20.75 shots per game. She leads blueliners nationally in points and goals for the second consecutive season. She also leads Ohio State’s nation-leading power play with nine power play goals on the year, which is tied for best in the country, while her 217 shots on goal and 5.71 shots on goal per game led the WCHA.
Coach Nadine Muzerall referenced Jaques’ calm demeanor and strong two-way play when saying that it was about time a defender won the award again. The only other blueline winner was Angela Ruggiero in 2004.
“We always talk about how defense wins championships and how we want to promote diversity in terms of saying goalies and forwards matter, but so do defenders, and I think we shouldn’t be comparing Sophie in terms of points to forwards because that’s not her main job. She plays two roles,” said Muzerall.
“She doesn’t get rattled, and she stays calm and composed under pressure, whether it’s the first game of September or a national championship.”
According to Muzerall, when push comes to shove and the game is on the line, Jaques is the player you trust to be on the ice.
In a speech where her voice shook and emotions began to gather as her teammates and their families whooped and cheered for her, Jaques thanked the coaching staff and the skaters who share the ice with her.
“I wouldn’t have done it without improving with [my coaches] every day in practice over my four years here and great teammates that have allowed me to grow and push me to be better every single day and definitely this would not have been possible without every single one of them,” said Jaques after the ceremony.
This was the first time the Patty Kazmaier ceremony was free and open to the public and the room used was packed to capacity. It was a big step forward from previous in-person celebrations of the event and a massive improvement over the streamed Zoom presentations of the past two years.
“I’m so grateful to have all the teammates here and everyone here and I couldn’t have imagined it another way and I’m just so happy that this is how it turned out.”
Ohio State went from the festivities to preparation for Sunday’s National Championship game where they will look to become back-to-back title holders. They face WCHA conference-mate Wisconsin live on ESPNU. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT.
