Boston College Athletics
Is Carpenter the Eagles' First Kaz Winner?
March 18, 2015 | Women's Hockey
MINNEAPOLIS - The Boston College women's hockey team arrived in Minneapolis this morning to start preparations for this weekend's NCAA Frozen Four. The second-seeded Eagles will face third-seeded Harvard on Friday at 9 p.m. ET (live stream: ncaa.com), after host - and top-seeded - Minnesota faces the fourth seed, Wisconsin. The winners will meet Sunday at 4 p.m. ET for the national championship.
But no matter what the outcome on Friday night, the Eagles already have plans on Saturday morning.
Junior Alex Carpenter is one of the Top 3 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is presented annually by USA Hockey to the top player in women's college hockey. She joins Minnesota junior forward Hannah Brandt (32 goals, 38 assists, 70 points) and Boston University senior forward Marie-Philip Poulin (27 goals, 27 assists, 54 points) among the exclusive Top 3. The winner will be announced at a special ceremony on Saturday morning.
On the ice, Carpenter has a made a compelling case for the award.
She's led the nation in scoring wire to wire with 81 points on 37 goals and 44 assists, figures that also lead the nation in each category. Through 36 games, she averages 2.25 points per game and has accumulated 10 points more than the nation's second-leading scorer, teammate Haley Skarupa (31-40-71). Her nine game-winning goals also lead the nation.
Her Boston College team was the country's number-one ranked team for much of the season, and has so far posted a program-best 34-2-2 record headed into the Frozen Four. Add to that the team's 28-game unbeaten run to start the season and its 25-game winning streak that held until early February. Oh, and let's not forget that BC led the nation in scoring offense (5.11 goals per game) and the team's scoring margin of 3.92 goals per game is higher than all but one other team's scoring offense.
She's the U.S. National Team's alternate captain and scored the second-most goals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Not that those should matter in Patty Kazmaier voting, but still.
Off the ice, however, you would never know that Carpenter is considered one of this country's top women's hockey players. She doesn't brag about her prowess, her skill or her success. Nope. Carpenter is all about the Eagles and team success.
Earlier this week, she was asked about Saturday morning's award ceremony and the potential of becoming Boston College's first-ever Patty Kazmaier Award winner.
"It is definitely exciting and quite an honor to be up for (the Patty Kazmaier) Award," Carpenter admitted. "But at the same time, nobody starts the season wanting to win the Patty Kazmaier. It all just comes along. A lot of credit to my teammates who have done everything this season to help me. But I'm more focused on my team as a whole and winning a national championship."
What Carpenter is unwilling to do, her teammates and coaches are more than willing to make up for.
"She's been phenomenal this season for us, and she's done everything we've asked her to and she's a leader on and off the ice for us," BC head coach Katie King Crowley said. "When she's on the ice in practice and she's working harder than everybody else, everyone tries to work that hard. It's not a fluke that she's as good as she is. She works at it and she works hard at it.
"For her to be in the Top 3 for the Patty Kazmaier Award is well-deserved. I'm extremely proud of her as her coach to be in that situation. I hope she wins it. I think she's earned that, and that she certainly - to me - has been the best player in the country this year," Crowley added.
Carpenter is now a two-time Hockey East player of the year, winning as a sophomore in 2013 before taking the 2013-14 school year off to train and play in the Olympics. As a sophomore, she scored 70 points on 32 goals and 28 assists. She repeated as player of the year this year - and powered the Eagles' record-breaking runs - after the year away with the national team.
"Alex came back (from the Olympics) on a mission, and not for herself, but for her team. But that's been the biggest thing for her," Crowley said. "She loves BC, she loves being here and playing for BC. She wants BC to win. Even when you ask her, she shies away from the individual awards and wants to focus on the team winning and the team being successful and trying to win that national championship."
Carpenter has the chance for both this weekend - an individual award AND a national championship. Boston College fans are hoping she goes 2-for-2.
