Broomfield native Cote wins second straight CCC Player of Year honor, also nominated for Laura Hurd Award

For the second time in as many years, Shana Cote of the Suffolk women’s hockey team has been announced as a finalist for the American Hockey Coaches Association 2023 Laura Hurd Award, given annually to the best NCAA Division III women’s hockey player in the country.

Sponsored by the AHCA, the Hurd Award honors the memory of former Elmire College standout Laura Hurd. A 2005 graduate of Elmira, and a four-time All-American, Hurd died in an automobile accident shortly after graduation. She was the recipient of the AHCA Player of the Year Award in 2005.

Suffolk’s captain found her way on the Laura Hurd Award ballot for the second consecutive campaign after repeating as the Commonwealth Coast Conference Player of the Year. That recognition came on a regularseason in which the Rams’ top-line center provided 26 points on a stat line of 13 goals and 13 assists. Three of her goals lifted the Rams to victory, while four came on the power play, with both numbers leading the CCC in the regular season.

Cote, a Broomfield native, was a critical ingredient to Suffolk’s firstever CCC regular-season title and was instrumental to the team’s postseason CCC championship, dishing out an assist in the semifinal and title tilt to help the Rams punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

In addition to be one of the biggest scoring threats in New England, Cote has proven to be a faceoff specialist with 378 wins in the circle to lead the nation.

Cote will go down in the Rams’ record book as the leader in every offensive category behind 123 careers points on 59 goals and 64 assists. She is one of three Suffolk players to play in all 115 games in program’s five-year history and this season she became the first-ever Rams skater to produce 100-plus points in a Suffolk sweater.

A year ago, Cote became the first Ram, male or female, to collect AllAmerican status from the AHCA, receiving a spot on the 2022 second team. Regionally, Cote was recognized as a New England Writers Association Division II-III All-Star as a senior. Cote owns a pair of first-team All-CCC distinctions to go along with a pair of third-team selections from the New England Hockey Conference. Her standout career started as a freshman with NEHC Rookie of the Year and NEHC All-Rookie Team honors.

With her spot on the Hurd Award list for the second straight season, Cote is the only skater under the CCC umbrella to be nominated for consideration for the highest NCAA D-III women’s hockey award.

Shana Cote has been an offensve catalyst for the Suffolk women’s team in her time wearing a Rams uniform. Photo/Suffolk Athletics

WCRHL championships big on intrigue with nationals approaching

Championship tournaments are always exciting and this year’s Western Collegiate Roller Hockey League (WCRHL) finals were especially so.

The 10-team event, held March 4 at Corona Inline, determined championships in four divisions: Division I, Division II, Division III and Division AA. Intrigue was definitely apparent as the best-of-three Division I championship series went the full distance and the top regular-season finisher in both Division II and Division III were unable to repeat in the championship playoffs.

Harguindeguy tabbed MIAC Rookie of the Year: The MIAC has announced that Concordia’s Joe Harguindeguy is the MIAC Rookie of the Year for the 2022-23 season. The first-year forward had 15 points in as many games for the Cobbers and registered four multiple-point games in his debut season. In California, the La Habra native played for the Anaheim Jr. Ducks. Photo/Concordia Athletics

“It was a great weekend with some really tight games,” WCRHL league director Brennan Edwards said. “The final regular-season event two weeks prior still had a lot of games being played across divisions, which meant a lot of high scoring games. At the conference championships, the games were much closer, great games actually.”

The other two divisions didn’t disappoint in excitement level with CSU-Fullerton upending regularseason leader University of Arizona for the Division II title and UC Santa Barbara, the regular-season secondplace finisher, claiming the Division III crown over Cal Poly Pomona, the regular season third-place finisher. The format was streamlined to fit into one day of non-stop, end-to-end action.

Two teams competed in both Division I and the AA-Division, with championships in both divisions determined by a best-of-three series. Division II and Division III both included three teams, with a preliminary round-robin determining the two finalists.

As an encore, 11 WCRHL teams received bids to the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships April 19-23 in Irvine.

-- Phillip Brents