Canadians Paton, Bendus named finalists for women's U.S. college hockey honour

Vicki Bendus is following the footsteps of Canadian Olympic star Meghan Agosta in U.S. collegiate hockey.

The 20-year-old from Wasaga Beach, Ont., is one of two Canadian finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Award, which goes to the top female hockey player in the NCAA.

Kelly Paton of Woodstock, Ont., a senior at New Hampshire and Minnesota goaltender Noora Raty of Finland are the other two. The winner will be named March 20 in Minneapolis.

Bendus is just the second player from Mercyhurst to make the Kazmaier final three. Agosta, who scored a record nine goals for Canada and was named MVP en route to gold at the Olympics last month in Vancouver, was the first and she did it three years running from 2007 to 2009.

Agosta spent this winter with Canada's national team and will return to Mercyhurst for her senior year. She has yet to win the award, so Bendus could be the first for the Lakers.

"It would mean a lot for me," Bendus said Tuesday from Erie, Pa. "It would mean a lot for me to win it for the school as well because sometimes our school doesn't receive enough respect from other teams because we're so small."

In Agosta's absence, Bendus blossomed. She tied for the NCAA lead in points (62) and short-handed goals (5). Bendus compiled 27 goals and 35 assists in 34 games en route to winning the College Hockey America Player of the Year award.

"Meghan is such an amazing player that you want her on the ice in all situations because more often than not, she's going to score you that big goal," Bendus said. "Maybe without her here, it maybe gave other players like me a chance to get on the ice a bit more often in different situations."

The Lakers (29-2-3) topped the U.S. women's college hockey poll for the 21st straight week Tuesday. Mercyhurst is the No. 1 seed heading into their Frozen Four quarter-final Saturday at home against Boston College.

A win there and Mercyhurst advances to the Frozen Four beginning March 19 in Minneapolis.

Agosta captained the Lakers to their first Frozen Four appearance last year, where Mercyhurst lost in the final to Wisconsin. Bendus hopes the Lakers can get one step further this time around.

"We were excited to make history in that aspect and get there for the first time, but at the same time we were going there and wanted to win everything and just ended up falling short," Bendus said.

She's acquainted with fellow nominee Patton as they played minor hockey against each other and were linemates on Ontario's under-18 team.

"She's a great player, really skilled and sees the ice really well. A great playmaker," Bendus said. "I'm similar to Kelly in that I see myself more as a playmaker, but I like playing well defensively and killing penalties as well."

Paton had 19 goals and 32 assists in 32 games for the Wildcats. She ranked fourth in the NCAA in assists per game (1.00), fifth in points per game (1.59) and was tied for sixth in points with 51.

Raty was in goal for both Finland's Olympic team and the University of Minnesota this season. She posted a 17-3-4 record for the Golden Gophers, carrying a 1.24 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage.

Bendus has also played for Canada's under-22 team in the last two MLP Cups in Germany. Her national team aspirations depend on whether she gets into medical school after her senior year and how many national-team veterans retire.

"I think at some point I may have to choose between hockey and school," she said. "I'm not quite ready to make that decision yet."

The Patty Kazmaier Award is named for the former Princeton defenceman, who died of a blood disease in 1990. She was just 28. The award winner is chosen by a 13-member selection committee that includes coaches, media and a representative of USA Hockey.

Previous Canadian winners include Winnipeg's Jennifer Botterill (Harvard, 2001, 2003), Sara Bauer of St. Catharines, Ont., (Wisconsin, 2006) and Sarah Vaillancourt of Sherbrooke, Que., (Harvard, 2008). Botterill is the only player to have won the award twice in its 13-year history.

Wisconsin goaltender Jessie Vetter won the Kazmaier last year, beating out Vaillancourt and Agosta.

A number of Canadian and American players took a year off from college hockey in 2009-10 to prepare with their respective national teams for the 2010 Olympics.