Wisconsin's Casey O'Brien wins the 2025 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award

Fifth-year forward and team captain Casey O'Brien of Wisconsin took home the prestigious Patty Kazmaier Award this afternoon as part of the NCAA Women's Frozen Four festivities in Minneapolis.

O'Brien is the sixth Badger in program history and the 10th player from the WCHA to win the honor, which is presented annually by the USA Hockey Foundation to the top player in NCAA Division I women's hockey, as decided by a vote.

The Milton, Mass. native had a dominant season, recording 88 points in 40 games (26 goals, 62 assists). She leads the nation with a 2.20 points per game average, and has set a new career points record for Wisconsin in the WCHA playoffs (263, surpassing Hilary Knight). She helped the Badgers to a 37-1-2 record, a WCHA regular season title, the WCHA Final Faceoff Championship, and added a goal and two assists on Friday to fuel Wisconsin past Minnesota for a spot in the National Championship on Sunday.

In addition to the Patty Kaz, O'Brien was named WCHA Player of the Year, Forward of the Year, and she earned Division I All-America honors.

O'Brien has broken Wisconsin's single-season assist record in back-to-back years, and she also has won 62 percent of her faceoffs this season. She still has only taken one penalty the entire season.

O'Brien and the Wisconsin Badgers will play in Sunday's National Championship game against Ohio State at 4 PM EDT on ESPNU.