Hockey East announced Wednesday that Providence junior forward Reichen Kirchmair has been awarded the 2025 Cammi Granato Award as Hockey East player of the year as voted by the league’s head coaches.
Alongside Kirchmair, UConn head coach Chris MacKenzie was named Hockey East coach of the year by his peers for the second consecutive season and is the only Husky bench boss to be so honored.
UConn forward Claire Murdoch was unanimously selected Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Year.
Kirchmair becomes just the second Friar to win the Cammi Granato Award, named after the legendary Providence pioneer, and the first to do so outright after Karen Thatcher shared the award with New Hampshire’s Stephanie Jones in 2004-05. Kirchmair led Hockey East in goals (15) and points (30), the first Providence player to win the scoring crown since 2002-03, the league’s inaugural season. Her plus-17 rating was second-best among all league skaters in 27 games, while her three game-winning goals were third-most in conference play.
In 35 overall games, no league player had more than Kirchmair’s 19 goals and 37 points while four of her tallies stood as the game-winning strike, second-most of any skater in Hockey East. Her plus-20 rating was the best in the conference and the junior compiled all those statistics while taking just two penalties. She was the lone unanimous selection to the all-Hockey East first team
Murdoch was unanimously voted rookie of the year after leading all Hockey East first-years in goals (12), points (24), shots (91), game-winning goals (3), and power-play goals (3). Her plus-20 rating was the best of any league skater and her 12 assists were second-most among rookies. Among all league players, she was fifth in goals, points, and shots on net in 27 league contests. Overall, Murdoch has posted 13 goals and 29 points, both seventh in Hockey East while her 102 shots on net is tied for eighth and her plus-19 rating is good for second. Murdoch has not taken a single penalty in 35 games played.
MacKenzie repeats as Hockey East coach of the year after leading the Huskies to their second-consecutive Hockey East regular-season crown. Posting a 19-6-2 record in league play, he tied the program record for wins in Hockey East play (2023-24) and claimed the regular-season title in dramatic fashion, sweeping Boston University in the final weekend to surpass the Terriers by one point in the final standings. MacKenzie’s Huskies allowed the fewest goals in Hockey East play for the second year in a row, just 38 in 27 games played, while 57 in 34 games is sixth in the NCAA.
UConn’s team save percentage of .936 is the sixth-best in the country. In Hockey East play, MacKenzie’s squad led several categories, including goals against average (1.40), save percentage (.944), shots on net (840), power-play opportunities allowed (59), face-offs won (762), and face-off winning percentage (56.7%).
