Cornell's Daniel Wins 2024 Kazmaier Award

Izzy Daniel (Cornell) was honored last week as the 2024 winner of the Patty Kazmaier Award, which is bequeathed annually on the top player in NCAA Division I women's hockey. A native of Minneapolis, Daniels is the 27th winner of the award, the third one to hail from Minnesota, and the first Ivy League recipient since Sarah Vaillancourt (Harvard) in 2008.

A 5-foot-5 forward, Daniel led the Big Red in scoring this season with career highs of 21 goals and 38 assists for 59 points in 34 games overall, which placed her sixth among the top scorers in the nation. She began the 2023-24 campaign on a 14-game point-scoring streak, and ultimately posted 20 multiple-point outings on the year. 

Daniel also helped Cornell to a 25-8-1 overall record (17-5-0 ECAC Hockey), the Ivy League championship, and an NCAA tournament berth. Cornell's captain this season, she was also named Ivy League Player of the Year, and was a unanimous All-Ivy First Team selection. In four years in Ithaca, Daniel recorded 51-107—158 points in 125 appearances, and also tallied 11 power-play goals and four shorthanded goals in her collegiate career.

The award is named for former Princeton University hockey standout Patty Kazmaier, who passed away in 1990 at the age of 28 from a rare blood disorder.

2024 NCAA Women's D-I Championship Underway

The 2024 NCAA Division I women's hockey championship is underway. The field of 11 teams has been reduced to eight schools following three games on Thursday, including a pair of shutouts.

Sixth-seeded Cornell routed No. 11 Stonehill, 7-1, in Hamilton, N.Y., as Izzy Daniel scored one goal for the Big Red and set up three others. No. 7 St. Lawrence blanked No. 10 Penn State, 1-0, in Madison, Wis., as Kristina Bahl scored the only goal of the game in overtime, and Emma-Sofie Nordström stopped all 36 shots she faced for the Saints. Lastly, No. 8 Minnesota-Duluth outlasted No. 9 UConn, 1-0, in Columbus, Ohio, as Mannon McMahon connected in OT and Ève Gascon turned away 33 shots for the Bulldogs.

The tournament continues on Saturday as Cornell takes on No. 3 Colgate, St. Lawrence faces No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 4 Clarkson faces off with No. 5 Minnesota, and UMD squares off with top-seeded Ohio State. The four winners will advance to the 2024 NCAA Frozen Four in Durham, N.H. on March 22, with the national title game slated for March 24. Wisconsin is the defending national champion, having bested 2023 NCAA champion OSU last year in Duluth.

ADDENDUM: The 2024 Frozen Four is set. Ohio State will take on Clarkson in the early game on March 22 at 4 p.m. ET, while Wisconsin will face Colgate at 7:30 p.m. ET. Both contests will be televised live on ESPN+. The national final will be held two days later, at 4 p.m. ET, and will be shown live on ESPNU.