Women’s Ice Hockey’s Prentiss, Kniss Nab NEWHA Awards, Seven Total Honored by League
WINTHROP, Mass. (February 19, 2020) – Senior defenseman Bridgette Prentiss (Buffalo, N.Y.) and freshman forward Becca Kniss (Eden Prairie, Minn.) of the Franklin Pierce University women’s ice hockey team both hauled in major year-end awards from the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance on Wednesday, to highlight four All-NEWHA selections and seven total honorees in the league’s year-end awards. Prentiss was selected as the NEWHA Defender of the Year, while Kniss earned Rookie of the Year accolades.
In addition to the major awards, Prentiss and junior forward Haley Parker (Londonderry, N.H.) landed on the All-NEWHA First Team, while sophomore goaltender Emme Ostrander (Westborough, Mass.) and junior forward Nicole Amato (Billerica, Mass.) were named to the Second Team. Kniss and freshman defenseman Stefanie Caban (Fitchburg, Mass.) were tabbed for the league’s All-Rookie Team, while senior goaltender Jessica Strack (Reading, Mass.) earned a spot on the All-Sportswomanship Team.
It marked the third and fourth major conference-level awards in the history of the program. Nicole Amato was selected as NEWHA Co-Rookie of the Year in 2017-18, while Shannon O’Neil ’17 earned Goaltender of the Year honors in the New England Hockey Conference as a senior in 2016-17.
It is the third All-NEWHA selection for Prentiss to cap her career, as she repeated her First Team honors from a year ago. Parker earned her second straight First Team selection as well, and her second career All-NEWHA accolade. Meanwhile, Amato is on the Second Team for the third straight season, in addition to All-Rookie Team honors as a freshman. Ostrander earns her first All-NEWHA selection after taking a spot on the All-Rookie Team a year ago, while Caban, Kniss and Strack all picked up their first career postseason honors.
Prentiss is the league’s leading scorer on both an overall and per-game basis, as she heads into the NEWHA Tournament with 44 points (19-25-44) over 30 games (1.47 points per game). Her 25 assists also lead the league as well, as do her 13 power-play goals and 29 power-play points (13-16-29). The 19 goals ranks second in the league, as Prentiss trails only the NEWHA Player of the Year, Sacred Heart senior forward Jayne Lewis. She has 15 more points than the NEWHA’s next-highest scoring defenseman. On the national level, Prentiss is ranked 10th in the country in points per game and tied for first in power-play goals with Robert Morris junior defenseman Emily Curlett. She leads the nation’s defensemen in points per game.
Meanwhile, Kniss has been the standard-bearer for the league’s freshmen all year long. As Prentiss does overall, Kniss leads the league’s rookies in scoring, both on an overall and a per-game basis, as she has collected 33 points (13-20-33) over 31 games (1.06 points per game). Overall, her 33 points rank fourth in the NEWHA, while she is tied for second in assists and ranked 10th in goals scored. Nationally, she ranks second among the country’s freshmen in points per game, trailing only Boston College’s Hannah Bilka (1.13).
Parker gives Franklin Pierce the NEWHA’s one-two scoring punch, as she ranks second in the league in points (17-20-37) and points per game (1.19), trailing only Prentiss in both categories. Her 17 goals are tied for third in the league, while the 20 assists are tied for second. Parker also has 11 points on the power play (3-8-11), which is tied for fifth in the league. On the national level, she just sneaks into the top 20 in points per game, as she is tied for 20th.
Among goaltenders who played at least one-third of their team’s minutes, Ostrander leads the NEWHA in both goals-against average (2.02) and save percentage (.929) in a season where she has stopped 650 of the 700 shots sent her way. Nationally, she is 14th in the country in goals-against average and 15th in save percentage. Ostrander missed out on NEWHA Goaltender of the Year honors in favor of Saint Michael’s senior Vika Simons, who has posted a save percentage just six points behind Ostrander (.923), despite facing 1082 shots, which equates to a workload more than 1.5 times that of Ostrander’s, behind a Saint Michael’s defense which is surrendering more than 40 shots per game.
Amato checks in at tied for eighth in the NEWHA in scoring, with 26 points on 14 goals and 12 assists. The 14 goals are good enough to tie for seventh in the league and her 0.84 points per game is tied for eighth.
Caban is narrowly outside the top 10 in league scoring, as she is tied for 11th with 24 points (4-20-24), though her 20 assists are tied with Parker and Kniss for second in the league, as the Ravens boast the top five, as well as seven of the top eight, assist-getters in the NEWHA. Caban’s 17 power-play points (4-13-17) rank second in the league, while she is third in the NEWHA in defenseman scoring and fifth in freshman scoring. Nationally, she is 15th in the country in points per game by a defenseman (0.83) and ninth in the same category among freshmen.
Strack has logged 343:31 in the crease in her senior season, or just under 20% of the team’s minutes. She has made 74 saves against 88 shots to post a 2.45 goals-against average and an .841 save percentage with one shutout.
The Ravens (21-10-0) have already established a new program record for wins in a season and head into the semifinal round of the NEWHA Tournament as the second seed. They will take on third seed and host Saint Anselm at 4 p.m. Saturday at Sullivan Arena in Manchester, N.H.
For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (https://www.fpuravens.com). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics’ official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce ice hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics’ brand new online store (https://www.shopfpuravens.com).