Hockey East has announced that Northeastern graduate forward Alina Mueller has been awarded the 2023 Cammi Granato Award as conference player of the year.
It is the third time Mueller has been so honored, tying Kelli Stack’s record during her tenure with Boston College.
Alongside Mueller, Northeastern’s Dave Flint is coach of the year for the fifth time in his career, and Vermont forward Lara Beecher has been honored as rookie of the year.
Mueller rewrote the record books during 2022-23, leading the league with 40 points on 15 goals and 25 assists in 27 conference games to become Hockey East’s all-time leading scorer at 176 points and all-time assists leader with 108. Her 25 helpers tied for eighth-most in a single season in Hockey East history. No player scored more game-winning goals in Hockey East play than Mueller’s six, helping Northeastern to its fifth regular season crown. Overall, Mueller’s 55 points and nine game-winning goals are the most of any league player. She finished with a plus-43 on-ice rating and won 55.7 percent of her faceoffs.
Last week, Mueller was named as the lone unanimous selection to the All-Hockey East First Team and as the runner-up for the three stars award. In the Hockey East quarterfinals, she became the all-time career tournament points leader (30) with a three-goal, two-assist performance. Mueller is tied with Kendall Coyne for Northeastern’s career points record, sitting at 249 overall points. She was also named Hockey East player of the week four times in 2022-23 and Hockey East player of the month for February.
Beecher tied for the lead among all Hockey East rookies with 18 points in league play, leading the way with eight goals and 0.67 points per game. Three of her tallies came on the power play while she posted a plus-18 on-ice rating. Her 44 shots were the eighth most by a first-year player.
Overall, Beecher compiled 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in 34 outings. She earned rookie of the month status in January when she scored four goals and two assists to solidify the Catamounts’ top-15 ranking in the country and second place position in Hockey East. She also picked up rookie of the week accolades on Oct. 17 after a goal and two assists for her first career multi-point game in the Catamounts’ 6-1 win over then-No. 14 UConn.
Flint has led the Huskies to a 31-2-1 overall record and a 24-2-1 mark in Hockey East play to capture their fifth straight regular-season crown. Under Flint, the Huskies played staunch defense, allowing just 23 goals in 27 games (0.85 goals per game) while scoring 100 (3.70.) His team’s power play converted at a league-best 22.3 percent success rate while stifling opponents’ opportunities 91.5 percent of the time, second-best in Hockey East.
