Women's Ice Hockey

MIAC announces 2025-26 Women's Hockey awards

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) announced its award honorees for the 2025-26 Women's Hockey season on Monday.
 
For the second year in a row, Gustavus forward Lily Mortenson was selected by MIAC head coaches as the Offensive Player of the Year, while Augsburg defender Nora Stepan was voted Defensive Player of the Year. Hamline forward Nina Thorson was named the Women's Hockey Rookie of the Year, and St. Scholastica goaltender Makenzie Cole was honored with the Sheila Brown Award for outstanding citizenship in MIAC women's hockey. MIAC coaches also recognized Augsburg head coach Elizabeth Bauer with MIAC Women's Hockey Coach of the Year honors.
 
Mortenson (Sr. / Champlin, Minn. / Benilde-St. Margaret's) was named MIAC Women's Hockey Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season after leading the conference with 21 points, four power-play goals, and a face-off win percentage of .640 in league play. Mortenson is one of eight Gusties all-time to receive MIAC Player of the Year honors in women's hockey.
 
Stepan (Sr. / Apple Valley, Minn. / Eastview) was named MIAC Women's Hockey Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Stepan finished the conference schedule with a +19 against MIAC opponents, scoring a league-high 13 goals on offense while helping the Auggies to a league-low 30 goals allowed on the year. A former MIAC Rookie of the Year recipient, Stepan is the fourth different Auggie to receive one of the primary MIAC Player of the Year awards in women's hockey.
 
Thorson (Fy. / Duluth, Minn. / Duluth Marshall) was selected as the MIAC Women's Hockey Rookie of the Year after leading all first-year players with 19 points, 11 goals, and four game-winners in her debut season. She is the first Piper in program history to be named MIAC Women's Hockey Rookie of the Year since the award was established in 2022-23.
 
Cole (Sr. / Cohasset, Minn. / Grand Rapids) was selected as the Sheila Brown Award recipient. The honor is given to a senior MIAC women's ice hockey student-athlete who has made a long-term contribution to their team's success, has excelled competitively, and has displayed good leadership and citizenship.
 
"Makenzie has been the heartbeat of our program for four years," St. Scholastica head coach Sydney Brodt said. "She is a tremendous person, a fierce competitor, and a humble leader who deserves recognition for all of the values represented by the Sheila Brown Award."
 
The Saints' all-time saves leader with 2,316 stops to her name, Cole minded the net for 73 games in her four seasons at St. Scholastica. As a senior, she became just the ninth goaltender in MIAC women's hockey history to eclipse 2,000 career saves, and finished fifth on the all-time conference leaderboard. Cited as the "first player on the ice and the last player off" within the Saints' program, Cole's passion for the sport has led her to volunteer her time and talents to help the next generation of women's hockey players as well, providing coaching and goaltender tutelage for a host of girls' youth and high school programs in the Duluth, Superior, and Grand Rapids communities. Off the ice, Cole is studying health information management with aspirations to pursue a career in radiology.
 
The Sheila Brown Award is named in memory of Sheila Brown, the longtime St. Catherine athletic director who was an ardent advocate of women in athletics and played a critical role in bringing women's hockey to the MIAC as a varsity sport in the late 1990s. Cole is the Saints' first-ever Sheila Brown Award recipient.
 
Bauer (second season) was voted MIAC Women's Hockey Coach of the Year after leading the Auggies to their second consecutive regular-season conference title. Augsburg went 15-2-1 in regular-season conference games and is now 31-4-1 in MIAC play under Bauer. The reigning AHCA National Coach of the Year, this is Bauer's first MIAC Coach of the Year honor. She is the first Augsburg coach to be voted MIAC Women's Hockey Coach of the Year since Jill Pohtilla won the award in 2000.
 
In addition to individual awards, MIAC coaches also selected 20 players as All-Conference, with eleven more receiving honorable mention distinction. All awards were nominated by and voted on by the ten MIAC head women's hockey coaches, and only statistics from regular-season MIAC contests were considered for conference honors; any nominated player not selected as All-Conference but still receiving votes from at least three coaches was named honorable mention.
 
Augsburg defender Nora Stepan and St. Olaf forward Solvei Berg-Messerole became the 26th and 27th women's hockey players in MIAC history to receive four straight All-Conference selections, while Saint Mary's junior defender Celia Midtbo picked up her third All-MIAC nod in as many seasons. Ten of the 20 All-MIAC honorees this year were first-time selections.
 
The MIAC also announced the annual All-Playoff Team for women's hockey, which recognized the top eight performers from the conference tournament, as selected by playoff-participant head coaches.

| 2025-26 MIAC Women's Hockey Awards |