Women’s hockey: Colgate’s Jessie Eldridge Wins National Player of the Month Award

 WAKEFIELD, Mass. — Colgate University forward Jessie Eldridge (Barrie, Ont.) has been named the Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association (WHCA) Player of the Month for the month of February.

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Eldridge receives the honor after pacing the nation in scoring during the month, recording 17 points on seven goals and 10 assists. She had at least one point in all eight of the team’s games, helping the Raiders to a 7-0-1 mark in February. 
 
She carries a plus-31 rating on the year, which was helped along by a plus-13 rating in February. Her six multi-point games were highlighted by a four-point (2g, 2a) performance against Union on February 22. One of those goals came shorthanded, where she ranks second in the nation with four shorthanded tallies this season.

?taps to Jessie Eldridge, who was named the ECAC Player of the Month for February‼️ #WePlayFree #GoGate

READ ? https://t.co/wQ7Y6LRDMn pic.twitter.com/hVs9GoAFJf

— Colgate Women’s Hockey (@ColgateWIH) March 5, 2019

 
The senior, who broke Colgate’s career points record earlier in the year, has recorded 54 points (30g, 24a) to this point in the season. 
 
Princeton University’s Maggie Connors (St. John’s, N.L.) earns WHCA Rookie of the Month honors after averaging nearly two points per game during February. 

Maggie Connors has been chosen as the Hockey Commissioner’s Association National Rookie of the Month! pic.twitter.com/3qkGwfy5lm

— Princeton Hockey (@PWIH) March 6, 2019

 The forward scored 10 goals this month, pacing the nation’s rookies and pushing her season total to 26, also tops in the country. She was especially dynamic on special teams, as five of her 10 goals came with the man advantage.
 
Connors had five multi-point outings in Princeton’s eight games, helping the Tigers go 4-1-0 in games in which she recorded a point. Her best game of the month came on February 8 at Brown, when she became the first Princeton player in over 12 years to record five points in a game, scoring four goals and dishing out an assist inn an 8-2 win.

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Ohio State’s Andrea Braendli (Zurich, Switzerland) has been named the WHCA Goaltender of the Month after notching a 2-0-2 record for the month, including two shutouts. The freshman led the nation with a .979 save percentage for the month, stopping 142 of the 145 shots she faced.
 
The rookie’s 0.72 goals-against-average led the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, and finished second in the NCAA, during a month where she did not suffer a loss. Braendli notched a pair of shutouts against St. Cloud State to open the month before backstopping the Buckeyes in two ties at then No. 1 Wisconsin where she tallied 92 saves for the series, earning her NCAA No. 1 Star of the Week and WCHA Goaltender of the Week honors.

ICYMI: Andrea Braendli notched a 28-save shutout as the Buckeyes punched their ticket to the @WCHA_WHockey Final Faceoff! https://t.co/L7mv1Bfj6Y

— Ohio State Women’s Hockey (@OhioStateWHKY) March 3, 2019

Braendli holds a .939 save percentage for the season, good for first in the WCHA. The 16 wins she’s tallied for the Buckeyes this season is the fourth-highest total for any OSU goaltender in a single season, while her six shutouts are tied for the third-highest season total in team history.