Ohio State’s Emma Maltais Named Patty Kazmaier Top 10 Finalist For Player Of The Year

Emma Maltais, a junior forward on the Ohio State women’s ice hockey team, received the sixth Patty Kazmaier Top 10 Finalist honor in program history.

Graphic courtesy of Ohio State athletics.

An award of the USA Hockey Foundation, the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award was established in 1998 and is presented annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey. The selection criteria includes outstanding individual and team skills, sportsmanship, performance in the clutch, personal character, competitiveness and a love of hockey. The winner of the award will be announced on March 21 in conjunction with the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four in Boston, Mass.

Maltais ranks eighth in the nation in points per game with 1.62 and fourth in assists per game with 1.09. The Burlington, Ontario native leads the Buckeyes with 55 points on 18 goals and a team-high 37 assists. Of her goals, Maltais has scored two power-play goals, one short-handed goal, one game-tying goal and three game-winning goals. 

Maltais is the only player on Ohio State to complete a hat-trick this season. In a 5-2 victory over St. Cloud State on Oct. 4, Maltais scored four goals to tie a single-game record, previously set in 2010.

Maltais has been a clutch force for Ohio State all season, highlighted by timely goals and standout performances against elite competition. She scored a goal and dished out an assist in the Buckeyes’ 4-3 win over No. 2 Minnesota. She then posted a team-high three points on two goals and one assist to defeat Colgate 6-2 and went on to score the game-tying goal the following day to force overtime. 

Maltais led Ohio State over then-No. 3 Cornell, 3-1, scoring two goals including the game-winning goal to hand Cornell its only loss of the season. In a 5-2 win over No. 7 Princeton, Maltais dished out four assists, sparking a six-game point streak, where she tallied two goals and 13 assists. She has posted three, four-point games on the season, and leads the team in points (55), assists (37) and shots (161).

The 55 points scored this season by Maltais marks a program record, breaking Jana Harrigan’s previous mark of 54 points in 2004-05. With 138 career points, Maltais sits fifth in program history and needs just 33 points to break Laura McIntosh’s record (2009-12). Maltais’ 89 career assists rank third in Ohio State history. 

Maltais was the WCHA Forward of the Week after the first week of conference play for posting four goals and two assists in a team-high six-point effort on the weekend against St. Cloud State. 

She was named the conference’s forward of the week for the second time as well as the NCAA Second Star of the Week for her seven-point weekend against Minnesota State. She notched three assists and scored a power play goal in the first game and posted another two assists as well as a short-handed goal in game two. 

Maltais was then named the WCHA Forward of the Month for posting a team-high 14 points in the month of January and guiding the Scarlet and Gray to a 6-1-0 record.

During her illustrious three-year career, Maltais has been a WCHA Rookie of the Year, a WCHA All-Rookie team member, a three-time WCHA Rookie of the Week and Rookie of the Month, a two-time First Team All-WCHA honoree, a four-time WCHA Forward of the Week, and a two-time WCHA Forward of the Month.

For four free issues of the weekly print edition of Buckeye Sports Bulletin, no card required, sign up at the link here: http://www.buckeyesports.com/subscribe-4issue-trial/

[divider line_type=”Full Width Line” line_thickness=”2″ divider_color=”default”][nectar_btn size=”jumbo” button_style=”regular” button_color_2=”Accent-Color” icon_family=”none” url=”http://www.buckeyesports.com/boards/” text=”Join The Conversation”]