The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey program had some of the best talent on the ice and behind the bench in the league and nation this season, and on Thursday, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association made that sentiment official.

The second-ranked Bulldogs dominated the WCHA individual awards, as senior forward Lara Stalder was named the WCHA Player of the Year and WCHA Student Athlete of the Year, senior defenseman Sidney Morin was selected Defensive Player of the Year, and second-year UMD head coach Maura Crowell was named the WCHA's Coach of the Year.  The Bulldogs also had one 2016-17 All-WCHA First Team selection in Stalder, two All-WCHA Second Team honorees -- Morin and senior forward Ashleigh Brykaliuk, two All-WCHA Third Team members -- senior forward Katherine McGovern and sophomore goaltender Maddie Rooney, and a WCHA All-Rookie Team selection -- freshman forward Sydney Brodt.  
Stalder becomes only the third WCHA Player of Year in program history, breaking an over 13-year drought for the heralded program.  UMD's leading scorer with 53 points (22g, 31a) in 32 games, the Luzern, Switzerland native also ranks second in the WCHA in scoring and goals and third in assists.  In the NCAA, Stalder is second in points per game (1.66), third in goals per game and fourth in assists per game, as well as tied for first with seven game-winning goals.  The WHCA National Division I Player of the Month for January, Stalder was also the WCHA's Player of the Month for January, and pocketed a league-high five WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors this season.  A Patty Kazmaier Top-3 Finalist, Stalder, currently in the midst of a 27 point, 13-game scoring streak, had 16 multiple point games for the Bulldogs, including seven outings with three or more points.  In 12 games against top-10 opponents, Stalder had seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points.  Stalder follows in the footsteps of former Bulldog and three-time All-American Jenny Potter, who claimed the award in both 2002-03 and 1999-00 and stands as the only other player in program history to win it.

Already a 2016-17 WCHA Scholar Athlete for a second time, Stalder also becomes the first Bulldog since Jocelyne Larocque in 2010-11 to earn the WCHA's Student-Athlete of the Year honor.  Stalder, a Retail Marketing Analytics major, has a cumulative GPA of 3.719 over her four-year career.

In addition, Stalder is now UMD's 21st All-WCHA First Team selection, and first since Larocque in 2010-11.

Morin, a product of Minnetonka, Minn., is the highest-scoring WCHA blueliner with 23 points on seven goals and 16 assists.  Nationally, Morin ranks 10th in overall points by a defenseman and sixth in points per game average with a 0.68.  Morin is now in a tie for seventh among UMD scoring defensemen all-time with 69 points and ranks sixth in Bulldog history with 51 career assists from the back.  UMD's all-time record holder for consecutive-games played (144), Morin was also named a 2016-17 WCHA Scholar Athlete.  Morin joins Larocque as the only defenseman in Bulldog program history to land the award.  A two-time All-American, Larocque won the award in 2010-11.

The pair of Morin and Brykaliuk become the 22nd and 23rd All-WCHA Second Team members for the UMD program.

Crowell, in just her second season at the helm of the Bulldogs, has turned UMD around from a 15-21-1 record in 2015-16 to a stunning 24-5-5 and third place finish in the WCHA in 2016-17.  With a 4-1 record in the WCHA postseason in just five career games, Crowell has steered the Bulldogs to a No. 2 national ranking after guiding UMD to a 6-4-4 record against top-10 teams.  In fact, under Crowell this season, the Bulldogs are 3-3-1 against teams ranked in the top-two.  Off the ice, UMD netted a program-record 10 WCHA Scholar Athletes in 2016-17, as well as a program-high 16 WCHA All-Academic Team members this season.

Conference member team head coaches, assistant coaches and team captains vote for the WCHA individual award winners. The WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Award was chosen by the head coaches, while the WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year was selected by the institutional faculty representatives.

Brykaliuk picks up her second All-WCHA Second Team honor after earning the award last season.  Hailing from Brandon, Manitoba, Brykaliuk, has now had back-to-back 40-plus point seasons.  With 44 points so far on 17 goals and 27 assists, she ranks 15th in the NCAA with a 1.29 points per game average and 13th with a 0.79 assist per game average.  Bryakliuk sits sixth in the WCHA in points, fifth in assists and seventh in goals.  The WCHA Offensive Player of the Week for Oct. 5, Brykaliuk recorded the second-longest scoring streak in UMD history -- a 19-game, 26 point run that lasted from Oct. 29 through Feb. 11 this season.

UMD's first-ever Arizona native, McGovern lands on the All-WCHA Third Team after demolishing her previous offensive output of her past three season combined.  With 34 points on 17 goals and 17 assists, the senior forward has averaged 1.00 ppg this season, adding the second-most game-winning goals for UMD with four.  McGovern owns the eighth most points in the WCHA, as well as the seventh most goals and ranks 12th in assists.  Already a 2016-17 WCHA Scholar Athlete, she also earned 2016-17 WCHA All-Academic Team honors for a second-consecutive season.

All-WCHA Third Team selection Rooney earned a bevy of league honors over the regular season, including the WCHA Defensive Player of the Month for November, in addition to three WCHA Defensive Player of the Week honors.  An Andover, Minn. product, Rooney has played the second-most minutes in the nation so far this season, currently registering 2039:41 minutes between the pipes.  Rooney ranks fifth in the NCAA and third in the WCHA with a .940 saves percentage, and the 873 saves she has posted this season ranks as the fourth-most in a single season by a Bulldog netminder.  With the sixth best winning percentage in the nation and second in the WCHA, Rooney has a .779 percentage and a record of 24-5-5.  Rooney also sits seventh in the NCAA and third in the WCHA with six shutouts, as well as second in the lead with a goals against average of 1.65.

Brodt follows in the footsteps of her current teammates Rooney and Stalder, who all previously earned WCHA All-Rookie Team accolades as freshmen.  Brodt, currently the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Month for February, has scored eight goals and added 13 assists for 21 points in 32 games.  The forward from North Oaks, Minn. ranks 14th among all NCAA rookies and third in the WCHA in points, and added a game-winning goal against St. Cloud State on Feb. 17.


UMD also had a program record-setting 16 student athletes named to the 2016-17 WCHA All-Academic Team.  Those Bulldog award winners, who must have a 3.0 GPA or higher on a scale of 4.0 for the previous two semesters and have completed one year of residency at their present institution prior to the current academic year, include Lynn Astrup (Warroad, Minn.), Shelby Brossart (Grand Forks, N. D.), Brykaliuk (Brandon, Manitoba) Catherine Daoust (Ille Bizard, Quebec), Reagan Haley (Red Wing, Minn.), Jessica Healey (Edmonton, Alberta), Linnea Hedin (Huddinge, Sweden), Maria Lindh (Stockholm, Sweden), Michelle Lowenhielm (Sollentuna, Sweden), McGovern (Scottsdale, Ariz.),  Morin (Minnetonka, Minn.), Morgan Morse (Lakeville, Minn.), Katerina Mrázová (Prague, Czech Republic),  Rooney (Andover, Minn.),  Stalder (Luzern, Switzerland) and Emma Yanko (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan).