PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Women's Hockey East Association announced tonight that Boston College senior defenseman Megan Keller (Farmington Hill, Mich.) has been awarded the 2019 Cammi Granato Award as the Women's Hockey East Player of the Year for the second time in her career (2016-17). The award was presented as part of the 17th Annual Women's Hockey East championship awards banquet at the Providence Marriott Downtown Hotel.
BONUS VIDEO: 2018-19 WHEA Highlights | Player of the Year Finalists | Rookie of the Year Finalists | Coach of the Year Finalists
Alongside Keller, Northeastern picked up a pair of awards as freshman Alina Mueller (Winterthur, Switzerland) and Head Coach Dave Flint were named the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Year and Hockey East Coach of the Year, respectively, for a season in which they aided the Huskies in claiming their second-ever Hockey East regular season crown.
Keller returned to the Boston College lineup this season after taking a year off to help the U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team win a gold medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang, South Korea. This year, Keller set the Hockey East single-season points record for a defender with 37 points in conference play, as well as the Hockey East single-season goals record for a defenseman with 16. Keller now simultaneously holds the conference career and single-season points (111 career, 37 season), goals (31 career, 16 season), and single-season assists (24) records by a defender and is second all-time in career assists with 80. The Farmington Hills, Michigan native was named the Hockey East Player of the Month for January and has also earned two Player of the Week awards and a Defensive Player of the Week award. Her 16-21-37 scoring line in Hockey East play was good for a tie for third overall while her plus-36 rating was tied for second. On February 28, Keller was named a Top Three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award.
Mueller has appeared in each game the Huskies have played this season, compiling 19 goals, 29 assists, and 48 points overall. She has factored in on seven game-winning goals, scoring five and setting up two others. In league play, she led all Hockey East freshmen in nearly every offensive category, racking up 17 goals, 23 assists, 40 points, two power-play goals, 10 power-play assists, one short-handed goal, four game-winning goals, a plus-25 rating, 103 shots on goal and a .566 faceoff percentage. Her 10 power-play assists and 12 power-play points in conference action were the most of any player. Mueller was named Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week four times, Hockey East Player of the Week twice, and Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month for both October and January. During the year, she strung together a 22-game point streak, potting 14 goals and adding 21 assists for 35 points from Oct. 6 - Jan. 19.
Coach Flint has led the Northeastern Huskies to a 25-5-5 overall record and a 21-3-3 mark in Women's Hockey East regular season play, claiming the regular season crown for just the second time in program history. Flint guided his team to an average of 3.63 goals per game in conference play, the highest of any program in 2018-19. His Huskies also allowed a scant 1.85 goals per league game, ranking first out of all 10 schools. Flint also coached the Northeastern power play to a third-best 19.6% success rate, converting on 20 of the 102 opportunities they had in 27 league games, while his squad's penalty kill successfully denied 89 of the 99 attempts against them. The 89.9% success rate proved to be the second-best in league play.
The 17th annual Women's Hockey East Tournament championship wil l take place this weekend, Saturday, March 9, and Sunday, March 10, at Providence College's Schneider Aren a. No. 1 Northeastern will square off with No. 4 Providence Saturday at 1:35 p.m., while No. 2 Boston College an d No. 3 Boston University take the ice at 4:35 p.m. The winners advance to Sunday's championship tilt at 1:30 p.m. Fans can purchase adult tickets online at Friars.com/tickets or by calling 401-865-4672.
