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'Cats Sweep Hockey East Weekly Awards (Dec. 28)
12/28/2020 10:58:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
WAKEFIELD, Mass. – The University of New Hampshire women's hockey team swept the Hockey East weekly awards announced Monday. Freshman forward Nicole Kelly (Brantford, Ontario) was honored as Player of the Week, classmate Chavonne Truter (Uxbridge, Ontario) was named Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week and redshirt junior Ava Boutilier (Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) was selected Defensive Player of the Week.
The trio led UNH to a 6-2 league victory against College of the Holy Cross at the Whittemore Center on Dec. 23, which was the team's only game last week.
NICOLE KELLY
Kelly scored her first career goal at 4:40 of the third period to give the Wildcats a 5-0 lead and struck again exactly three minutes later to extend the advantage to six goals. She finished the game with four shots, not including one that rang off the right post in the second stanza. Kelly also had a +2 plus/minus rating.
This is the second league weekly award for Kelly, who was previously tabbed Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week on Dec. 7.
CHAVONNE TRUTER
Truter, another forward, scored a career-high two goals on three shots to record her first career multiple-point game. She also won a team-high 12 faceoffs, blocked two shots and had a +1 rating.
Truter scored her first career goal when she gave UNH a 1-0 lead at 2:35 of the second period, and it ignited a three-goal outburst in 5 minutes, 39 seconds. She struck again with 3:10 remaining in the middle stanza to extend New Hampshire's advantage to 4-0.
AVA BOUTILIER
Boutilier recorded her 2,000th career save with the ninth of her 11 saves vs. Holy Cross. She ranks fourth on the program's career leaderboard with 2,002 saves. Boutlier made five stops in the third period and kept the Crusaders scoreless on five power plays in the game.
Boutilier's shutout streak ended at 122 minutes, 55 seconds when Holy Cross scored with 1:50 remaining in regulation.
This is the eighth career Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week award for Boutilier, who received that accolade four times last season and three times in the 2017-18 season.
UNH (3-6-0 overall, 3-6-0 HE) returns to action Dec. 30 at Holy Cross in a game that was originally scheduled for Nov. 27.
