ECAC Hockey announced Friday night the recipients of the league’s annual postseason awards at its banquet held as part of the 2017 ECAC Women’s Hockey Championship weekend held at the CAMP Atrium on the campus of Clarkson University.
Clarkson senior Cayley Mercer took home both the Best Forward and the league’s Player of the Year award.
Mercer is a dynamic player who leads the nation in goals with 25 and is second in points with 55 through 36 games. She earned the ECAC Hockey scoring title with 42 points on 20 goals and 22 assists through 22 league games. Mercer tallied at least one point in 29 games and posted 18 multiple-point outings. She was the league-leader in power-play points (12) and goals (6) and tied for third in conference assists (22). Mercer tied for second in game-winning goals (5) and was third for in shorthanded tallies (2).
Clarkson’s second all-time leading scorer, Mercer has amassed 77 goals and 94 assists for 171 career points through 155 games. She is 10 points shy of tying 2014 Patty Kazmaier Award winner Jamie Lee Rattray as the Golden Knights’ all-time leading scorer.
Rookie netminder Steph Neatby was named the league’s Goaltender of the Year. She currently sporting an 11-4-1 overall record and started Princeton on its 11-game unbeaten streak in late November.
She ranks second nationally in GAA (1.38) and save percentage at .953. Three of her four shutouts came in conference play this season. Logging nearly 700 minutes in league games, she only surrendered a total of 13 goals and showcased a league-best .958 save percentage.
Cornell’s head coach Doug Derraugh was voted the league’s Coach of the Year after guiding the Big Red to a 13-4-5 record, third-best in the conference. He has spent 12 seasons at his alma mater. Derraugh guided the Big Red to their 10th straight ECAC Hockey postseason appearance, seeking their fifth tournament title in program history this weekend. Possessing a balanced overall attack, the Big Red would win 19 overall games recording a 11-3-4 record in the 2017 calendar year, vaulting them into the national rankings for the last two months of the season. As a team, Cornell hit the 550 win-mark on Jan. 20 against Clarkson (221 of which have come under Derraugh).
Freshman forward Carly Bullock was selected ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Year by leading all league rookies in goals with 18 and ranked second in conference games with 22 points. She finished tops among all freshmen recording four power-play goals and five game-winning goals in 22 league games during the 2016-17 campaign. Bullock also recorded two hat tricks during conference play during the month of January. The Tigers are 10-3-0 in overall contests when Bullock scores a goal, as she currently boasts a plus/minus rating of plus-23.
The coaches voted Clarkson’s Savannah Harmon as the top defender. She was tied atop ECAC Hockey scoring defenders with 22 points (five goals and 17 assists) in league action, and tied for first in Division I in overall points with 30 (eight goals, 22 assists) through 34 games. The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award nominee recorded the best plus/minus in league play among conference defenders (plus-26). She ranked tied for sixth in the conference with assists (17) and tied for third in league with power-play points (10).
The junior co-captain led the Golden Knights to their second ECAC Hockey regular-season title in the last four season and anchored a solid defense which ranked third in the conference allowing only 1.45 goals per game. She recorded at least one point in 15 of 22 league games, including five multiple-point outings in conference action.
Cornell goaltender Paula Voorheis was named the Mandi Schwartz Student-Athlete of the Year. Boasting a 3.83 GPA, Voorheis is majoring in Biology and Society with a minor in Nutrition and Health.
She played a major role for the Big Red exemplifying leadership on the ice, recording a 1.81 GAA and a .933 save percentage, while earning a record of 9-6-3 in conference action.
Not only an asset in the locker room, but also to the larger community, Voorheis helps out with such projects as Do It for Daron and Bridges to the Community. She recently interned at the Royal Victoria Health Center where she helped run the logistics for charitable activities of the foundation in Toronto. She has also been a part of a multi-year project doing research focusing on various graphic warning labels on cigarette packages inflating beliefs and attitudes about the harms of smoking among youth and adult smokers. She has been spent identifying possible sites for recruitment and documenting this process.
The conference also announced three All-ECAC Teams and one All-Rookie Team.
First Team All-ECAC
| Player's Name | Position | School |
|---|---|---|
| Kennedy Marchment | F | St. Lawrence |
| Cayley Mercer | F | Clarkson |
| Brooke Webster | F | St. Lawrence |
| Savannah Harmon | D | Clarkson |
| Micah Hart | D | Cornell |
| Steph Neatby | G | Princeton |
Second Team All-ECAC
| Player's Name | Position | School |
|---|---|---|
| Genevieve Bannon | F | Clarkson |
| Karlie Lund | F | Princeton |
| Hannah Miller | F | St. Lawrence |
| Kelsey Koelzer | D | Princeton |
| Kirsten Padalis | D | St. Lawrence |
| Grace Harrison | G | St. Lawrence |
Third Team All-ECAC
| Player's Name | Position | School |
|---|---|---|
| Hannah Bunton | F | Cornell |
| Jessie Eldridge | F | Colgate |
| Phoebe Staenz | F | Yale |
| Taryn Baumgardt | D | Quinnipiac |
| Ella Shelton | D | Clarkson |
| Shea Tiley | G | Clarkson |
ECAC All-Rookie Team
| Player's Name | Position | School |
|---|---|---|
| Carly Bullock | F | Princeton |
| Kristin O'Neill | F | Cornell |
| Michaela Pejzlova | F | Clarkson |
| Jaime Bourbonnais | D | Cornell |
| Ella Shelton | D | Clarkson |
| Steph Neatby | G | Princeton |
