There’s not much more to be said about Ohio State graduate student defender Sophie Jaques. We named her our Player of the Year last year and I was (a loud) part of the committee that (finally) selected her as the winner of the Patty Kazmaier Award this season – the first-ever from Ohio State.
There simply is no other player like her. She’s a tenacious, persistent and imposing defensive threat who claims space in front of her own net to keep opponents out, is active on the boards fighting for and winning pucks and becomes a key part of the Buckeyes’ defense the second they gain possession. Outstanding defenders don’t have to be offensively gifted, but when they are as good as Jaques is on both ends of the ice, they stand out in a class of their own.
After a breakout season where she still somehow managed to be under the radar and find open space on the ice, she came back and proved nothing about it was a fluke. In a season that featured what was likely the deepest pool of talent DI women’s hockey has ever seen where Jaques was the key player on the defending national champions, she and her teammates received the very best effort from their opponents and she was arguably even better.
The focus is often on her offensive prowess, but none of that would be relevant if she wasn’t also a shut-down defender. Strong and sure on her skates, she rarely loses a fight for the puck and opponents do not take the puck back from her once she has take possession. She is massively strong and has harnessed that power to body opponents off the puck and claim space on the ice without being reckless. This season, she put focus on the Buckeyes’ transition game, turning solid defense quickly into offensive chances.
No matter the game or opponent, practice or title game, she exudes a calm intensity that was as reassuring to teammates as it was unsettling to opponents.
She had more assists a year ago, but scored more goals this season, putting up a fully balanced 24 goals (best on her team) and 24 assists for 48 points. She led her team with 55 blocks. She also leads Ohio State’s nation-leading power play with nine power play goals on the year, which is tied for best in the country, while her 217 shots on goal and 5.71 shots on goal per game led the WCHA.
Nationally, she was a top-20 scorer overall and led all defenders in points and goals. She’s Ohio State’s program record holder for career points by a defender (156) and also holds the WCHA record for career points and goals by a true defender.
There will always be top tier forwards – the best teams have more than one or two of them. But players with Jaques’ combination of solid, calm defense, strong and quick skating, vision and ability to thread passes and one of the strongest shots in the country are rare. She essentially fulfilled the role of two different skaters for the Buckeyes. Quarterback don’t usually go out and play safety when the ball changes hands and that’s essentially what Jaques did – captained a top-two offense while marshalling a top-six defense. She’s a generational, program-changing talent that will leave a gaping hole now that she’s moving on.
Jaques set a new standard for what a defender can be by making a huge offensive impact for her team without giving up an inch on defense.
For all those reasons and more, we congratulate Ohio State defender Sophie Jaques on being named our 2022-2023 USCHO Player of the Year.
