Senior Standouts from the Class of 2020

With pretty much every graduation officially wrapped up now, it’s time to say a final goodbye and salute to some standout members of the Class of 2020 in NCAA Division I women’s hockey. All of these players made significant contributions to their teams, both in terms of individual production and raising the bar a bit higher when it came to winning.

Sammy Davis, Forward, Boston University

Davis finishes her career alongside some pretty special company in the BU record books. She is sixth all-time in scoring for the Terriers with 142 points and fifth all-time in goals with 66. She scored one of the most memorable goals in program history, tallying the overtime winner against Harvard in the 2019 Beanpot championship game to give BU its first title in 38 years. Davis served as a captain for the Terriers for three seasons and was a Hockey East First Team All-Star in 2018-19.

Michaela Pejzlová, Forward, Clarkson

A top-line center for the Golden Knights, Pejzlová quietly pieced together one of the best, most consistent careers of any player that’s passed through Clarkson. She finishes fifth all-time for the program in scoring with 166 points in 148 career games. She was dominant in the faceoff circle and was an integral part of one of the most dynamic lines we’ve ever seen at the college level.

Ella Shelton, Defender, Clarkson

Shelton had a career-best year in a season where Clarkson was shorthanded for much of the way. Her offensive contributions speak for themselves; she is just the third Clarkson defender to reach 100 points, totaling 108 points (26 goals, 82 assists) in her career. She was a stalwart on the blue line for the Golden Knights in 2019-20 and was named a Second Team All-American for her efforts.

Jaime Bourbonnais, Defender, Cornell

After a productive career from the blue line, Bourbonnais ranks 10th for Cornell in the NCAA era with 110 career points and seventh with 86 career assists. Always a strong two-way presence on the blue line, she had a stellar senior season in particular. She was tied for first on her team in scoring and was named the ECAC’s Best Defenseman, a Second Team All-American, and a Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Top-10 Finalist.

Kristin O’Neill, Forward, Cornell

O’Neill is one of the most dominant forwards and most prolific goal-scorers to play for Cornell. She ends her career ranked in the top five in scoring for the Big Red in the NCAA era with 145 career points. She’s third all-time in goals with 81 and 10th in assists with 64. O’Neill owns Cornell’s NCAA-era record for game-winning goals with 21 and shorthanded goals with 10. She also finishes her career ranked third all-time for the Big Red with 546 shots on goal and ninth all-time with 21 game-winners.

Micah Zandee-Hart, Defender, Cornell

Zandee-Hart has served as a team captain since her sophomore year, and she’s certainly been a leader on Cornell’s blue line throughout that span. She spent the 2017-18 season centralized with Hockey Canada, then returned to help the Big Red make two consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament. She finishes ninth all-time for Cornell in the NCAA era with 70 career assists and was an All-ECAC First Team selection in 2016-17.

Bourbonnais, O’Neill, and Zandee-Hart made up a large chunk of one of the best classes to pass through Cornell. They helped the program achieve several firsts, particularly this past season, when they went undefeated in ECAC regular-season play. This was the first time they ended the season ranked No. 1, a bittersweet reminder of how much potential Cornell had and what exactly was on the line for these seniors when the NCAA Tournament was canceled.

Bridgette Prentiss, Defender, Franklin Pierce

Prentiss leaves the Ravens as one of the top scorers all-time, regardless of position, ranking sixth in Franklin Pierce history with 97 points. This past season, she led her entire team in scoring as a blue liner with a career-high 45 points; that mark was good enough to pace all defenders nationally. Prentiss owns the single-season record with 26 assists and the single-season points record, behind the 45 she posted this year.

Carly Jackson, Goaltender, Maine

Jackson graduates as Maine’s all-time leader in basically every goaltending statistical category. She sits atop the program in career wins with 45, saves with 3,029, save percentage with a .923 mark, shutouts with 12, and goals-against average with a 2.15 mark. Her 57 saves helped the Black Bears to a double-OT win over BU in the Hockey East quarterfinals this year, which sparked a 2-0 series victory and earned them a place in the tournament semifinals.

Tereza Vanišová, Forward, Maine

Vanišová is Maine’s all-time leading scorer with 129 career points in 129 games and the all-time assists leader with 66. She ranks second all-time for the program in goals with 63. She is one of the most dominant scorers and purely talented players the Black Bears have produced, and she’s helped Maine achieve marked success over the course of her four years. Behind Vanišová’s breakout sophomore season, the team recorded its highest win total in program history with 19. She also helped the Black Bears reach the Hockey East Tournament semifinals for the very first time, once in 2018 and again this past season.

Mikyla Grant-Mentis, Forward, Merrimack

Grant-Mentis has helped raise the bar for Merrimack’s program, which is still in its infancy compared to many other teams around the country. She leaves campus as the Warriors’ all-time leader in points with 117, and in assists with 61. She also ranks second in the program’s history books with 56 career goals. Throughout her career, Grant-Mentis asserted herself as a dominant force at both ends of the ice, consistently ranking among Hockey East’s best defensive forwards while leading her team in scoring. As a senior, she was named a Hockey East Second Team All-Star.

Maddie Rooney, Goaltender, Minnesota Duluth

Rooney closes out her career as Minnesota Duluth’s all-time leader in saves with 3,449, minutes with 7,277:49, and games with 122. Her best individual season came as a sophomore, when she finished second all-time for the Bulldogs with 1,013 saves in a single season. Her .942 save percentage was the fourth highest all-time for UMD in a single year, too. That season, she was named the WCHA Final Faceoff’s Most Outstanding Player with a tournament-record 112 saves. A year later, she was named the U.S. Secretary of Defense backstopped Team USA to its first Olympic gold medal in 20 years.

Jincy Dunne, Defender, Ohio State

Every player on this list has done incredibly special things for their respective programs. When it comes to Dunne, though, it’s hard to argue that any other player in program history has topped what she’s been able to contribute to this point, when you think about both individual and team success. She is the first Buckeye player to be named an All-American three times and to be named to the First Team twice.

Dunne served as a captain since her redshirt freshman year and helped guide Ohio State to many program firsts, including a Frozen Four appearance and a WCHA Final Faceoff championship. She was twice named to the All-WCHA First Team, collecting Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2019 and 2020. She leaves the Buckeyes tied for third in career points by a defender with 99. She also ranks fifth among all players with 82 career assists.

Carly Bullock, Forward, Princeton

Bullock has been one of the country’s best goal-scorers for the bulk of her career, and she’ll close out her Tigers tenure as one of the best to ever do it for Princeton. Her 95 career goals rank fifth all-time for the program, and that’s the highest total any Princeton player has amassed in the past 25 years. She’s also one of just five players in program history to score 30 goals in a season, which she did as a senior.

Claire Thompson, Defender, Princeton

Thompson ranks sixth all-time for the Tigers in scoring by a defender with 87 points, off of 31 goals and 56 assists. She had a breakout season as a junior, when she established herself as a two-way force from the blue line and was named a First Team All-ECAC honoree.

Both Bullock and Thompson have been integral to Princeton’s rise over the past couple of years, helping the Tigers usher in an unprecedented era of success. Thanks to their contributions, Princeton set a new all-time high in wins in each of the past two seasons and captured its first-ever ECAC Tournament championship in March.

Jaycee Gebhard, Forward, Robert Morris

Gebhard is one of the most special players not only in Robert Morris history, but in College Hockey America history as well. She’s led the conference in scoring for the past two seasons. Over that span, she set a new record for single-season points and assists at RMU, then proceeded to break her own records again (they now stand at 63 points and 43 assists). Gebhard is the Colonials’ all-time leading scorer with 198, putting her ahead of some great company in Robert Morris history.

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Jaycee Gebhard signs with Brynäs

Lindsay Eastwood, Defender, Syracuse

Eastwood’s career was almost over before it started with the Orange, but she’s come incredibly far since then. She leaves Syracuse as the program’s all-time leader in goals by a defender with 23, and second all-time in points by a defender with 75. This past season, she earned the CHA’s Best Defenseman award and tied for first on her team in scoring. Her contributions to the program are not just defined by individual success; last season, Eastwood led Syracuse to its first-ever CHA Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. A three-year captain for the Orange, she was named the recipient of the school’s prestigious Doris R. Soladay Award this past spring and the winner of the Syracuse 8 Courage Award in 2018.

Ève-Audrey Picard, Forward, Vermont

Picard ends her career just six points off the Catamounts’ all-time scoring record, with 98 points. She’s tied for fifth with 43 career goals and ranks second with 55 career assists. Her freshman season was her most productive; no other rookie in Vermont history has scored more than her 31 points that year. Since then, she’s established herself as a go-to player for the Catamounts in all situations while becoming one of the most productive players to ever suit up for UVM. This past season, Picard was a runner-up for Hockey East’s Best Defensive Forward award.

Kristen Campbell, Goaltender, Wisconsin

Despite playing only three years with the Badgers, Campbell is one of just four goaltenders to reach the 90-win mark for the program. She also ranks fourth in school history with 6,520:27 minutes played, 27 career shutouts, and a career 1.34 GAA. She ranks sixth all-time with a .930 save percentage and fifth with 1,913 career saves. Last season, she became the first goaltender to ever shut out the entirety of the NCAA Tournament en route to winning a national championship and taking home Most Outstanding Player honors.

This is my bias speaking, but Campbell the person is infinitely more interesting and awesome than Campbell the goaltender—and she is a really, really, really good goaltender. You can see why in this letter she wrote to Badger fans to say goodbye.