BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott women's ice hockey student-athletes Kellie Popkin (Walpole, Mass.) and Michaela O'Brien (Pembroke, Mass.) have earned Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) weekly awards, as announced by the league office earlier today. Popkin was named the CCC Player of the Week, while O'Brien received CCC Goaltender of the Week accolades.
Last week in the CCC Championship game (3/5), Popkin scored the game-winning goal for Endicott against the University of New England (UNE) to help the Gulls clinch the inaugural CCC Women's Ice Hockey Tournament Championship.
Popkin's goal came in the waning minutes of the second period as her team picked up the 2-1 win over the No. 4 seeded Nor'easters. Popkin was also on the ice for much of the offensive output during Endicott's semifinal game against Curry and finished the tournament with a plus-4 rating.
This is Popkin's first career CCC Player of the Week award.
Meanwhile, O'Brien surrendered just a single goal during Endicott's CCC Tournament Championship run. She opened the tournament by shutting out No. 7 seed Curry in the semifinals. She then made 21 saves in a 2-1 win over No. 4 seed UNE to clinch the conference title.
O'Brien finished the tournament with a .967 save percentage and a 0.50 goals-against average.
This is O'Brien's fifth career Goaltender of the Week award.
WHAT'S NEXT
No. 8 nationally ranked Endicott (19-4-1) will take on No. 1 Middlebury College (24-0-0) in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals on Saturday at 3 PM, on the road.
The winner between No. 8 Endicott and No. 1 Middlebury will play the winner of No. 3 Elmira and No. 6 Nazareth on Friday, March 18 in the NCAA Tournament Semifinals at place and time to be determined later.
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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)
