Women’s Hockey Commissioners’ Association
For immediate release:
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Contact: Joe Bertagna (781-245-2122)
Minnesota’s Potomak Is Chosen
Women’s National Rookie of the Year
In a vote of assistant coaches at the nation’s 36 NCAA
Division I ice hockey programs, University of Minnesota
freshman forward Sarah Potomak has been named the
2015-2016 National Rookie of the Year in women’s ice
hockey. Potomak, a native of Aldergrove, British Columbia, is just the third recipient of this award which was
established in 2014 by the Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association.
Potomak had a productive year for a Gopher team that
brings a 33-4-1 record into Friday’s National Collegiate
Championship semifinal game against the University of
Wisconsin in Durham, NH. Minnesota is seeded #3 in this
year’s NCAA event and advanced with a 6-2 quarterfinal
round win over Princeton last week.
Potomak is fourth in team
scoring with 13 goals and 38
assists for 51 points overall.
Her 38 assists are tops on the
team and fourth best in the
nation. She had a season-high
seven-point game (2-5-7) on
November 27 in a win at Minnesota State.
The ballot for this award is made up of the conference Rookie of the Year selections. Each program playing NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey receives a ballot,
with assistant coaches at each school submitting one ballot per school. Each school
was asked to vote for three players in order (first, second, third). The runner-up for
this year’s award was Boston College’s freshman forward Makenna Newkirk.
The Women’s National Rookie of the Year was established in 2014 by the Women’s Hockey Commissioners
Association. The 2014 winner was Dani Cameranesi of Minnesota and last year’s recipient was Annie Pankowski of Wisconsin. A similar award, the Tim Taylor National Rookie of the Year Award, is presented by the
men’s commissioners.
Bob DeGregorio, College Hockey America • Steve Hagwell, ECAC
Joe Bertagna, Hockey East • Bill Robertson, WCHA