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BOSTON -- Junior defenders Cori Bassett and
Kathryn Farni were named team captains for the 2009-10 season at
the annual women's hockey banquet, held Saturday at the Harvard
Club of Boston.
Senior Sarah Vaillancourt was honored as the team Most Valuable
Player, while senior Jenny Brine was selected as the Dooley Award
recipient. Sophomores Kylie Stephens and Ashley Wheeler
shared the Joe Bertagna '73 Award, given to Harvard's most improved
player. The annual banquet was also a chance to honor Harvard
seniors Brine, Vaillancourt, Kirsten Kester, Brittany Martin, Nora
Sluzas, Kati Vaughn and Sarah Wilson.
Bassett, a native of Anchorage, Alaska, appeared in 27 games at the
blue line last season and ranked fifth in ECAC Hockey among
defensemen with 12 points. Overall, Bassett tallied a six
goals and handed out eight assists for 14 points and had a +12
rating. Bassett and Farni were key members of the nation's
fifth-best scoring defense, which surrendered only 1.69 goals per
game. On Nov. 1 at Princeton, Bassett netted two goals and
added two assists for a career-best four-point effort in a 6-4
Crimson victory.
Farni, who boasted a +11 rating, played in all 32 contests and
scored five goals, including two on the power play and one
shorthanded tally. Farni, who hails from Minnetonka, Minn.,
tallied the game winner on a short-handed chance in Harvard's 1-0
win at Yale Jan. 10, and added another game-winning goal against
Cornell in Game 1 of the ECAC Hockey quarterfinal round.
Farni also earned her third straight selection to the ECAC Hockey
All-Academic Team.
Katey Stone, the Landry Family Head Coach for Harvard Women's Ice
Hockey, opened the awards portion of the banquet by handing out the
Joe Bertagna Award, given to the member or members of the varsity
hockey team who have shown the most improvement over the course of
the season. The award is named in honor of Joe Bertagna '73,
who coached the Crimson for two seasons, including the program's
inaugural season of 1978-79. Stephens, a goaltender from
Cary, N.C., who stopped all seven shots she faced this season,
remains a perfect 14-for-14 in save opportunities in her Crimson
career. Wheeler, a native of Concord, Mass., played in 15
games at defense and sported a +6 rating. She earned an
assist and was +3 in Harvard's 4-0 victory over St. Lawrence Feb.
20, which propelled the Crimson to first place in the ECAC Hockey
standings.
Next, Vaillancourt was honored as the most valuable member of
the Harvard hockey team, determined not by ability alone, but by
the qualities of sportsmanship, leadership and team
cooperation. Vaillancourt led Harvard with 25 goals and 27
assists for 52 points in only 27 games. The product of
Sherbrooke, Que., was named the Ivy League, ECAC Hockey and New
England Division I Women's Hockey Player of the Year for the second
straight season. She ranked fourth in the nation with 1.93
points per game and was tied for fifth with 1.00 assists per
contest. Vaillancourt, a top 3 finalist for the Patty
Kazmaier Award, presented to the nation's best player, was an
All-America first-team selection for the second consecutive year
and concluded her career ranked seventh in Harvard history with 237
points (106-131).
Finally, Stone presented Brine with the Dooley Award, presented to
the member of the Harvard women's hockey team who best combines the
qualities of sportsmanship, enthusiasm and devotion to her team and
to the game of ice hockey. John Dooley coached the Harvard
women's ice hockey team from 1981 through 1994 and accumulated a
career record of 162-115-11.
Brine, an Academic All-Ivy League and Academic All-ECAC Hockey
choice, was named to the All-Ivy second team and the All-ECAC
Hockey third team. She was second on the Crimson with 16 goals, 15
assists and 31 points and was sixth in ECAC Hockey with 23 points
in conference games. Brine finished her career ranked 10th in
program history with 144 points on 77 goals and 67 assists and was
semifinalist for the John Wooden Citizenship Cup.
The Crimson successfully defended its ECAC Hockey regular-season
and Ivy League titles in 2008-09 and finished with a 19-10-3
overall record.
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