Kessel named U.S. Women’s Hockey POY

Rising senior Amanda Kessel was named the recipient of the 2013 Bob Allen Women’s Player of the Year — an annual award given to an outstanding American-born women’s hockey player.

Kessel is the third Gopher to receive the award, following Natalie Darwitz in 2005 and Krissy Wendell in 2001. In addition to this award, Kessel also took home the 2013 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award by leading the country in scoring with 101 points and becoming only the fourth player in NCAA history to reach triple digits in one season.

Kessel’s resume for the 2012-13 season alone should be broken down into multiple pages, but we’ll let USA Hockey sum it up in their awards announcement that was released on Wednesday,

"It is hard to imagine a more successful season than Amanda Kessel enjoyed in 2012-13 as she won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, helped her University of Minnesota team to an undefeated season capped by winning the NCAA championship, and earned a gold medal as a member of Team USA at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship."

And it goes on…

"Kessel, a First-Team All-America selection, was also named WCHA Player of the Year and was selected to the All-WCHA First Team and WCHA All-Academic Team. At the IIHF Women’s World Championship, she scored the game-winning goal in the gold-medal game to help Team USA secure its fourth gold medal in the last five world championships. She was named U.S. Player of the Game and earned recognition as one of the top three players of the tournament for Team USA."

Kessel will be honored on June 5 at the annual Night of Tribute Awards Dinner in Colorado Spring, Colo.

Kessel is the younger sister of former Gopher Phil Kessel, who was drafted fifth overall by the Boston Bruins in 2006. Phil is currently on the roster of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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