Full Release

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – Senior forward Kendall Coyne was named the Cammi Granato Award winner for the Warrior Hockey East Player of the Year, headlining five Northeastern women's hockey honorees at the annual Hockey East postseason awards banquet on Friday night. 

Coyne was also named a unanimous First-Team WHEA All-Star, while freshman goaltender Brittany Bugalski, senior defenseman Jordan Krause and sophomore forward Denisa Krizova each earned Second-Team All-Star laurels. In addition, junior defenseman Heather Mottau was named an Honorable Mention All-Star, while Bugalski and head coach Dave Flint were honored as runner-ups for the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Year and WHEA Coach of the Year awards, respectively. 

Northeastern's first-ever, four-time First-Team WHEA All-Star, Coyne is the third different Husky to win Hockey East Player of the Year honors, joining Chanda Gunn (2004) and two-time winner Florence Schelling (2010/2012). The national leader in goals (49), points (82), goals-per-game (1.40), points-per-game (2.34) and the co-leader in shorthanded goals (5), Coyne re-wrote the WHEA and Northeastern program record books with an historic campaign in 2015-16. The Palos Heights, Illinois, native scored 30 goals and posted 55 points in league play (both conference records) to finish the regular season as WHEA's all-time leading scorer with 91 goals and 167 points in conference games. Coyne also surpassed Hilary Witt's program records for most career goals (140) and most career points (247) in a Northeastern uniform en route to earning three WHEA Player of the Month distinctions and seven WHEA Player of the Week honors during the year. On Thursday, Coyne was named a top-three finalist for the prestigious Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given annually to the top player in Division I women's ice hockey.

Bugalski was the only freshman to be honored as a WHEA All-Star. The Boynton Beach, Florida, native has been outstanding in her first season on Huntington Avenue with a 2.08 goals against average and a 20-6-1 overall record. Bugalski is the first rookie goaltender in program history to win 20 or more games in a season, and is only the seventh netminder overall in the NU record books to win 20 or more games in a season. Bugalski was even more impressive in WHEA play, posting a 1.54 GAA, a .934 save percentage, and a 15-3-0 record in league games en route to earning two Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week nods, one Defensive Player of the Week honor, and one Goaltender of the Month (January) distinction. On Wednesday, Bugalski and fellow freshman Maddie Hartman were also named to the WHEA All-Rookie Team, marking the third straight year that NU has placed at least one player on the All-Rookie squad.

Krause took home Second-Team All-Star laurels following a breakout regular season that saw the Kelowna, British Columbia, native ascend to the ranks of the elite among NCAA defensemen. Krause ranks third in WHEA and sixth in the nation in defenseman scoring with 29 points in 34 games, while also posting 46 blocked shots and a plus-36 rating. Krause was named the WHEA Defensive Player of the Week on three occasions in 2015-16 and was honored as the runner-up for the Best Defenseman in Hockey East on Wednesday. 

The highest-scoring sophomore in the nation, Krizova also earned Second-Team All-Star status after elevating her game to a new level in 2015-16. The Horni Cerekev, Czech Republic, native has 20 goals and 37 assists so far this season, and ranks sixth in the nation in scoring and third in the NCAA in assists. Krizova's 37 assists are good for the third-highest single-season total in program history, trailing only Fiona Rice's 42 assists in 1988-89 and Tina Cardinale's 41 assists in 1987-88. In less than two full collegiate seasons, Krizova already ranks 22nd in program history in career assists with 59. 

Mottau was included on the WHEA postseason honor roll for the third straight season after taking home First-Team All-Star laurels in 2013-14 and Honorable Mention accolades in 2014-15. One of the top skaters in Hockey East, the Milton, Massachusetts, native has tallied 22 points on four goals and 18 assists so far this season, including a three-assist effort in game two of the WHEA quarterfinals on Feb. 27.

Acknowledged as the runner-up for Coach of the Year in Hockey East, Flint has led Northeastern to its winningest season in program history in 2015-16. Flint's Huskies (28-7-1) broke the single-season program record for wins in a year with their 28th victory on Feb. 27 in a 6-2 triumph over Providence. The win also secured NU's largest season-to-season improvement in program history with 14 more wins in 2015-16 than in 2014-15 (14-17-5). The previous program record for the biggest season-to-season turnaround was held by the 1996-97 squad, which won 13 more games than the previous year. Northeastern's 14-win improvement this season ranks as the second-largest in the NCAA behind Colgate, which has won 15 more games than a season ago.

The Huskies will take on rival Boston University in the WHEA semifinals on Saturday at Merrimack's Lawler Rink at 4:30 p.m.