As the Western Collegiate Hockey Association closes out its 25th season of women's hockey competition with the upcoming Kwik Trip Final Faceoff and NCAA tournaments, the conference has announced its three finalists for four of the WCHA's individual awards on Monday, Mar. 4.

The three finalists for these awards will be a preview for the WCHA's upcoming announcement on Wednesday, March 6 for the league's 2023-24 WCHA Forward of the Year, Defender of the Year, Goaltender of the Year and Rookie of the Year as presented by Sterling Trophy.
 

The three finalists for the WCHA Forward of the Year include graduate student Hannah Bilka from Ohio State along with senior Casey O’Brien and sophomore Kirsten Simms from Wisconsin. 

The 2023-24 scoring leader, Simms scored 47 points (22g/25a) in 26 WCHA games played this season and currently leads the nation in scoring with 67 points (29g/38a) for the #2 ranked Badgers.  O’Brien ranked second in the WCHA for scoring with 46 points (15g/31a) and leads all NCAA players this season with 43 assists and is second in the country with 62 points  this winter.  An offensive force for #1 ranked Ohio State, the 2023-24 Julianne Bye Cup champion, Bilka had 15 goals and 21 assists in league play this winter and has an overall total of 42 points (18g/234) this year.
 

The three finalists for the WCHA Defender of the Year include Wisconsin sophomore Caroline Harvey, Ohio State graduate student Cayla Barnes and Minnesota sophomore Nelli Laitinen.

Harvey ranked third in the league among blueliners with 22 points and led WCHA defenders with 18 assists in 21 league games played.  In overall games played this season, Harvey has scored 33 points (5g/28a) and 36 blocks in just 27 games played.  Barnes led all WCHA defenders in scoring this season with 24 points (9g/15a) in league play.  In 32 overall games played, Barnes has posted 31 points (11g/20a) and 49 blocks for OSU.  Laitinen had six goals, 11 assists and 51 blocked shots in WCHA play this winter and she scored six goals, 15 assists and 56 blocked shots in overall play for the #5 ranked Gophers this season.
 

The three finalists for this year's WCHA Goaltender of the Year are St. Cloud State senior Sanni Ahola, Minnesota Duluth sophomore Hailey MacLeod and Ohio State senior Raygan Kirk.  Ahola had five shutouts this season along with a .935 save rate and a 1.72 GAA for the #11 ranked Huskies.  Ahola had 416 saves this season and played in 953:27 minutes while allowing just 29 goals in 17 overall games played.  The current NCAA leader in save percentage at .960 in 2023-24, MacLeod owns an 11-4-2 overall record that includes six shutouts, 433 saves and a 1.06 GAA. 

In WCHA games, MacLeod had a league leading .956 save rate.  Her conference only numbers also include a 1.25 GAA and an 8-3-1 record.  A six-time WCHA Goaltender of the Week award recipient, Kirk also earned WCHA Goaltender of the Month twice this year along with HCA National Goalie of the Year honors in January.  Kirk led the league with a 1.02 goals against average and a 14-1-0 record. Overall, Kirk had six shutouts and leads NCAA goalies with a 0.96 GAA rate in 2023-24.
 

This year's three finalists for the WCHA Rookie of the Year are Minnesota Duluth goalie Éve Gascon, Wisconsin defender Ava Murphy and Ohio State forward Joy Dunne.   A two-time WCHA Rookie of the Week and the league's Rookie of the Month in November 2023, Dunne had 16 goals and 14 assists in league play.  Gascon earned three WCHA Rookie of the Week awards and one WCHA Goaltender of the Week award this season for the #8 ranked Bulldogs.  In overall games played, Gascon has six shutouts with a .951 save rate and a 1.52 GAA.  In WCHA games this season, Gascon ranked second in the league with a .948 save rate and led the WCHA with 493 saves while posting a 1.69 GAA.  Muprhy had one goal, five assists and 18 blocks in 26 WCHA games played this season and she currently has two goals, nine assists and 20 blocked shots in overall games played for the Badgers.

WCHA fans should plan now to attend the upcoming 2024 Kwik Trip WCHA Final Faceoff, which wil be held at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis on March 8-9.  The tournament will open on Friday, March 8 with semifinal games between Ohio State vs. Minnesota Duluth at 1:00 p.m. and Wisconsin vs. MInnesota at 4:30 p.m.  The tournament championship game will then be played on Saturday, March 9 at 2:00 p.m.

To order tickets online or for more information, please visit www.wcha.com/finalfaceoff