Kessel Close to All-Time Scoring List

Golden Gophers junior forward Amanda Kessel may just finish her career with the University of Minnesota Women’s Hockey team as the program’s all-time leading scorer. Before she can earn that prestigious title, she must first make her way on to the Top 10 list.

What you should understand about this, is that she is riding an express elevator to the top floor and doesn’t look to be stopping on a lower level.

Through 8 games of her junior season for the Maroon and Gold she leads the nation in scoring with 25 points. Combine those with the 130 points that she racked up as an underclassmen and she is just 3 points away from being tied for 10th Place on the team’s all-time scoring list with Emily West at 158.

A feat that could come as early as this weekend when Minnesota goes on the road to play two with North Dakota. Kessel is averaging 3.12 points per game and some basic math would suggest that by the end of the game on Saturday afternoon, she should be tied with her teammate from last season.

That conventional wisdom may have to be squashed for this weekend as North Dakota is tied for 4th in the nation in Team Defense, allowing just 1.67 goals per game. In addition, Kessel has not had that much career success against UND. She has only accumulated 12 points in 10 career games, which is down from her 1.85 pts/gm career average.

When Kessel does get there, she will be joining a list that includes Olympians Krissy Wendell, Gigi Marvin, Kelly Stephens, and Natalie Darwitz.

Darwitz is the queen of the Top 1o. The now head coach for the Lakeville South girl’s hockey team put up 246 points in 99 career games to finish her three year career in 1st Place. She also won back-to-back National Championship in 2003-2004 & 2004-2005.

That 158th point for Emily West may also mean something to Minnesota fans as her last collegiate point with the program before graduation came on a penalty shot in last year’s National Championship game versus Wisconsin. The penalty shot goal for West was the game winner for Minnesota, giving them their 4th National Championship and the 1st for Amanda Kessel.

This amazing scoring run for Kessel and the rest of the Golden Gophers may eventually slow down this season, but at the rate that she is going we could see the first Minnesota Women’s Hockey player break the 300 point plateau.

With that much scoring up top, it is not inconceivable for Minnesota to challenge for back-to-back-to-back national titles and for Amanda Kessel to finish ahead of Natalie Darwitz in points and rings.