CONNECTICUT—Wikwemikong athlete Kelly Babstock has been recognized again for her tremendous hockey talent, being recently named Quinnipiac University’s Female Athlete of the Year, where Ms. Babstock is a senior and plays for the Quinnipiac Bobcats.
“Selected upon by administrators of the Quinnipiac Department of Athletics and Recreation, the Athlete of the Year award recognizes two student-athletes, one male and one female, who had outstanding seasons with their respective programs,” said a press release on the university’s website. “Only athletes who are voted as their team’s Most Valuable Player are eligible for the award.”
“Senior Kelly Babstock and junior Borja Angoitia were named the Female and Male Athletes of the Year on Sunday (May 4) evening, as the Quinnipiac University Department of Athletics and Recreation hosted its annual awards banquet at the TD Bank Sports Centre in Hamden,” the release continued.
“A unanimous selection for the award, women’s ice hockey senior Kelly Babstock was named Quinnipiac’s 2014 Female Athlete of the Year,” the release notes. “She finished the season with the 8th-most points of any player in the nation and fourth-most of anyone in the ECAC Hockey. Her +32 plus/minus rating this season tied for the best mark of her career while she finished as just one of seven players in the nation to be ranked in the Top 10 points per game, Top 20 goals per game and Top 10 assists per game. She led the team with 13 multi-point games, all of which ended in victories for the Bobcats. Babstock was the first player in program history to earn CCM/AHCA All-America honours, while being named to the ECAC Hockey First Team and to the New England Division I All-Star team.”
The highest scoring player the program has ever seen, Ms. Babstock finished her four-year career at Quinnipiac with 203 points (95 goals, 108 assists). Already the only 100-point scorer in Quinnipiac’s women’s hockey history, Ms. Babstock closed out her career as the program’s record-holder in every offensive single-game and career scoring record. She is also just the third player in Quinnipiac ice hockey history (male or female) to reach 200 career points, finishing behind Chris Cerrella ‘01 (205 points) with the second most career points scored at Quinnipiac.
Ms. Babstock grew up in Mississauga, but her family is from Wikwemikong, where she returns to visit her family’s cottage every summer.
The rising hockey star got her start skating on her dad’s homemade rinks and looking up to both her dad, a past junior and major hockey player, and brother who plays lacrosse for the Calgary Roughnecks.
Ms. Babstock, a 5’5” forward, previously told The Expositor that she wants to play for the CWHL (Canadian Women’s Hockey League) when she finished school. Though she could not be reached as of press time Monday for comment, The Expositor is confident that Ms. Babstock’s talent will take her just about anywhere she would like to go.
