The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team landed two of the biggest Western Collegiate Hockey Association year end honors Wednesday night, announced by the league at the WCHA Final Faceoff banquet.

Junior goaltender Ève Gascon was named the WCHA Goaltender of the Year for a second-consecutive season and UMD's fourth honor of the kind in six seasons, while senior forward Mary Kate O'Brien was selected the WCHA's Outstanding Student Athlete of the Year – the fourth-straight year a Bulldog has pocketed the honor.

Gascon, who was the 2024-25 WCHA Goaltender of the Year, and was last week named to the All-WCHA First Team, was six-times named the WCHA's Goaltender of the Week this season. The Mascouche, Quebec native was the 2025-26 WCHA Statistical Goaltending Champion after posting a league-high .943 saves percentage in league games and led the conference with 10 shutouts – the second most in all of the NCAA – and seven in WCHA play.  Gascon – named the WCHA's Goaltender of the Month for February Monday after having a monster month, owned a 1.79 goals against average over all her 34 games started, and she played the most minutes in the league (2,013:44) and posted the second most saves (957). Gascon also averaged 29.7 saves per game this season and is currently a semifinalist for the HCA National Goaltender of the Year for a second-straight season.

Gascon is the first Bulldog goaltender to win the honor in back-to-back seasons. Former All-American and two-time WCHA Goaltender of the Year Emma Soderberg won the honor twice – in 2021 and and 2023, but missed out over her 2022 Olympic season. With the honor, Gascon becomes just the third league goaltender to earn the accolade twice in its since its inception in 2017-18. UMD also now has a league-most four honorees.

O'Brien is a three-time AHCA Division I All-American Scholar, and was a 2024-25 and 2023-24 CSC Academic All-District selection. The Wilbraham, Mass. product is a four-time WCHA Scholar Athlete and a four-time All-WCHA Academic Team member. The Bulldogs' team captain completed her undergraduate degree last May with a 3.9 GPA and is currently a graduate student pursuing her MBA in Business Administration with a 3.69. O'Brien has played in 161 games for UMD – tying her for the ninth most in program history – and has played in 154 consecutive games the sixth-longest streak in program history. This season, O'Brien has 17 points in 37 games, including 14 assists, one power play goal and one game-winning goal.

O'Brien is the 10th UMD student athlete to earn the esteemed honor and becomes the fourth Bulldog in a row to collect the award – Clara Van Wieren was a back-to-back winner in 2024 and 2025, and prior to that yet, Emma Soderberg earned the honor in 2023. UMD as a program has the most WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year Selections in league history.

UMD's WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year Selections --

2004-05 Caroline Ouellette, F, Sr.

2005-06 Riitta Schaublin, G, Jr.

2006-07 Riitta Schaublin, G, Sr.

2010-11 Jocelyne Larocque, D, Sr. 

2016-17 Lara Stalder, F, Sr.

2017-18 Catherine Daoust, D, Sr. 

2022-23 Emma Soderberg, S G, Sr.

2023-23 Clara Van Wieren, F, Sr.

2024-25 Clara Van Wieren, F, Gr.

2025-26 Mary Kate O'Brien, F, R-Sr.

UMD's WCHA Goaltender of the Year Selections –

2020-21 Emma Soderberg, G, Jr.

2022-23 Emma Soderberg, G, Gr.

2024-25 Ève Gascon, G, So.

2025-26 Ève Gascon, G, Jr.