Clara Van Wieren, along with first-year head coach Laura Schuler, have been named finalists for two different Western Collegiate Hockey Association yearly awards.

Schuler was named a finalist for WCHA Coach of the Year after her first season as a bench boss in the league, while graduate forward Clara Van Wieren, already the reigning WCHA Outstanding Student Athlete of the Year, was once again named a finalist for the award. 
 

Schuler has helped the Bulldogs to a 21-13-2 overall record and a program-most six players were named to All-WCHA Teams on Monday. In her first season at the helm of UMD, the Bulldogs had 11 WCHA Player of the Week honors, six WCHA Player of the Month nods, and a National Goalie of the Year semifinalist in Eve Gascon.   

Van Wieren returns as a finalist for the WCHA's Outstanding Student Athlete of the Year award after pocketing just one season ago. Currently one of six finalists for the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, the native of Okemos, Mich. and 2024-25 Hockey Humanitarian nominee, is a a team captain. Van Wieren has a 4.00 GPA and is currently pursuing a Professional Studies master degree after she earned a Bachelor of Arts in both Political Science and Philosophy last May as a University Honors Program honoree. UMD's second leading scorer with a career-best 37 points on 18 goals and 21 assists, Van Wieren was named the All-WCHA Third Team Monday for her on the ice efforts already this season. 

The graduate forward is a leader both on and off the ice, and is the definition of a well-rounded student athlete who also entirely embodies being a devoted member of the community and the value of serving others. With an eye on her masters degree and a full Division I women's hockey schedule, including a grueling fall semester of travel, Van Wieren has still made it a priority to give back to the community by using her leadership positions as both the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and the co-president of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. Both organizations, with the leadership  of Van Wieren, embarked on ambitious sets of initiatives and brought them to reality over the past year.

Van Wieren will look to make it three WCHA Outstanding Student Athlete honors in a row Thursday night – Emma Soder won the honor a season before Van Wieren (in 2022-23. UMD owns the most winners of the award in league history with eight – Van Wieren will attempt to pull that number to nine and become the first back-to-back winner since Riita Schaublin did it in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

WCHA award winners will be announced tomorrow night live at the WCHA's Final Faceoff banquet.