Penalty Box Post
Monday, July 5th
Seven GWH players named Big Ten Distinguished Scholars
New school record set with 180 student-athletes honored by conference
Seven members of the Gopher Women's Hockey team were named Big Ten Distinguished Scholars this past Thursday, July 1, among a new U. of M. school record 180 student-athletes recognized by the conference for the 2020-2021 academic year.
We send our congratulations to Emily Brown, Olivia King, Emily Oden, Gracie Ostertag, Catie Skaja, Taylor Wente, and Madeline Wethington on earning this recognition. We give an extra shout-out to Wente and Wethington (pictured) for maintaining perfect 4.0 grade point averages for the year!
Distinguished Scholar Award recipients must have earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition in the previous academic year, must have been enrolled full time at the institution for the entire previous academic year (two semesters or three quarters) and earned a minimum GPA of 3.70 or better during the previous academic year, excluding any summer grades.
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Brausen joins Johnson's coaching staff at St. Thomas
Accompanying the official entry of the St. Thomas Tommies into the Western Collegiate Hockey Association on Thursday, July 1, UST head coach Joel Johnson named his two new full-time assistant coaches, one of whom is GWH alumna and (now former) Minnesota assistant Bethany Brausen.
Brausen was on Brad Frost's coaching staff the past four seasons as the team posted a 94-31-8 (.737) record over that span. As a player from 2010 through 2014, she helped the Gophers post a 139-17-5 (.879) record with national championships in 2012 & 2013, playing in all 161 games while recording 51 points on 16 goals and 35 assists.
We thank Bethany for her service to the Gophers as both a player and coach, and wish her the best of luck in this new opportunity!
Marty Sertich was named as Johnson's other assistant. Sertich was on the Tommies' coaching staff for their final two seasons as a Division III program, joining them in the 2018-2019. He also currently runs Tradition Hockey, a youth training program based in Roseville.
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Wente selected by Whitecaps in 3rd round of 2021 NWHL Draft
Prior to earning another academic award (as documented above), 2020-2021 senior Taylor Wente became the latest Gopher Women's Hockey player selected in the National Women's Hockey League draft, being picked 18th overall by the Minnesota Whitecaps in the 3rd round last Tuesday (June 29).
Wente finished her collegiate career with 73 points on 29 goals and 44 assists in 127 games.
Congratulations and good luck, Taylor!!
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PPC Board of Directors meeting – Wednesday, July 14, at 7 p.m.
Meeting to be held online via Zoom
Here's an additional reminder that the next meeting of the Power Play Club's Board of Directors is scheduled for Wednesday, July 14 at 7:00 p.m. Fundraising for the 2021-2022 Gopher Women's Hockey season is expected to be a focus of the meeting. Board meetings are open to all PPC members (2020-2021 membership applies for the current off-season). This meeting will be held online via Zoom; if you are interested in attending, please contact PPC president Bill Johnson at president@powerplayclub.org.
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Follow the Gopher women's hockey team and all Univ. of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics at www.gophersports.com. You can also find the Gopher women's hockey team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GopherWomensHockey and on Twitter at twitter.com/GopherWHockey.