COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— Graduate student Alina Mueller, graduate student Maureen Murphy and senior Gwyneth Philips of the No. 5 Northeastern women's hockey team have been named Top-10 Finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award – presented annually to the top player in Division I women's ice hockey – as announced Thursday by USA Hockey.
 
This marks the third straight season that Northeastern has had three Top-10 Finalists for the award and the fifth year in a row the Huskies have had at least one Top-10 Finalist.
 
Mueller is now a five-time Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Top-10 Finalist. The three-time Hockey East Player of the Year, Mueller was the lone unanimous Hockey East First Team All-Star selection and earned the league's Scoring Champion honors after posting 40 points in 28 league games. Mueller has 56 points on the season, tallying 25 goals and 31 assists, for the fourth-best mark in the country. Her nine game-winning goals are tied for the NCAA-lead, along with her plus-43 rating. Additionally, Northeastern is 28-0-0 this season when Mueller records a point.
 
The Winterthur, Switzerland native ended her regular season career as the all-time career Hockey East points record holder with 175 points. This season alone, Mueller has reached the 200-point milestone, set a new Hockey East tournament career scoring mark with 30 points and set a new program record with 250 career points.
 
For the first time in her career, Murphy has been named a Top-10 Finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award. Murphy is tied for eighth nationally with 50 points this season, posting 19 goals and 31 assists, with her 31 assists marking a career-high. Murphy is averaging 1.67 points per game and 1.07 assists per game this season, both tied for the third-best mark nationally.
 
The Buffalo, New York native earned 2023 Beanpot MVP honors after posting three goals and one assist over two games in the tournament. Additionally, she scored the game-winner against Boston College to deliver Northeastern its 18th Beanpot title. The Second Team Hockey East All-Star, tallied 36 points in league play, the third-best mark in the conference, in just 22 games played after missing five games while making her senior national team debut with Team USA.
 
A Top-Three Finalist for the Goalie of the Year Award, Philips is a Top-10 Finalist for the Patty Kazmaier for the first time in her career. Philips was named the Hockey East Goaltender of the Year and a First Team Hockey East All-Star after becoming the all-time career leader in goals against average (0.79) and save percentage (.960) in league play at the end of the regular season.
 
The Athens, Ohio native leads the nation with 32 wins, a .80 goals against average and a .960 save percentage, and is second in the NCAA with 10 shutouts. She set new single-season program records with 2093 minutes played this season and 32 wins, while her 10 shutouts are tied for second-best mark in team history.
 
Mueller, Murphy and Philips are a part of a group of 12 Northeastern players that have been named Patty Kazmaier Top-10 Finalists in the past. The group includes Aerin Frankel (2020, 2021, 2022), Skylar Fontaine (2021, 2022), Alina Mueller (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023),  Kendall Coyne (2013, 2015, 2016), Florence Schelling (2012), Chanda Gunn (2002, 2003, 2004), Brooke Whitney (2002), Erika Silva (2001), Stephanie Acres (1998) and Hilary Witt (1998, 1999, 2000).
 
Frankel (2021), Coyne (2016) and Whitney (2002) are the only players in program history to win the prestigious award.
 
Over the next week, three of the Top-10 Patty Kazmaier candidates will be identified as finalists by a selection committee comprised of NCAA Division I women's hockey head coaches, media members and representatives from USA Hockey.
 
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