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Minnesota Women’s Hockey: Sydney Baldwin named a Top-10 Finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award

Baldwin joins a long list of Gopher players to be named a finalist

By Andy York
Sydney Baldwin is one of ten finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award
gophersports.com

Minnesota Golden Gophers senior co-captain defender Sydney Baldwin was named one of ten finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award given yearly to the best player in women’s college hockey. Baldwin is one of just three defense finalists, and one of just two finalists from the WCHA.

Baldwin who is from Minnetonka is having her best year as a Gopher. She has career highs in points with 29, goals with 12, and assists with 17. Her points and goal totals lead the WCHA for a defender. Additionally, her 88 blocked shots on the year lad the WCHA.She also ranks fourth in the nation in scoring for a defender with 0.88 points per game. She is the outright favorite to be named the WCHA Defensive Player of the year next week when the conference awards are announced.

Baldwin has been named the WCHA defensive Player of the Month three times this season (October, November, January) and is currently tied for seventh among all-time Gopher defense with 24 career goals.

The other nine finalists for the award include Victoria Bach (Boston University), Kristen Campbell (Wisconsin), Loren Gabel (Clarkson), Savannah Harmon (Clarkson), Brittany Howard (Robert Morris), Caitrin Lonergan (Boston College), Toni Ann Miano (Boston College), Shea Tiley (Clarkson) and Daryl Watts (Boston College) Watts and Bach are the two favorites for the award as they have traded off the national scoring lead all season.

The ten finalists were selected by the NCAA Division I head coaches. The field of ten will be cut to three by a 13-person selection committee made up of NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey coaches, representatives of print and broadcast media, an at-large member and representative of USA Hockey. The three finalists will be named on March 1st. The award will be handed out on Saturday March 17th at a brunch ceremony held at McNamera Alumni center in association with the 2018 Frozen Four that weekend at Ridder Arena.

Congrats to Sydney and the rest of the Gophers as they host St. Cloud State in the first round of the WCHA Tournament this weekend at Ridder Arena.

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