Wisconsin’s Casey O’Brien is the 2025 Patty Kazmaier Award winner as the NCAA’s best women’s hockey player. O’Brien set a single season scoring record for the University of Wisconsin Badgers leading the NCAA in points.
O’Brien recorded her 88th point of the season in Wisconsin’s Frozen Four semi-final win. It gave O’Brien Wisconsin’s single season record passing Meghan Duggan’s 87 point season recorded in 2010-11. O’Brien also became the new all-time Wisconsin women’s hockey scoring leader this season passing Hilary Knight.
This season, O’Brien also captured the WCHA Player of the Year and WCHA Forward of the Year awards. Earlier in the evening she was named an NCAA First Team All-American. A pair of Wisconsin teammates – Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards – rounded out the top three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier this season.
O’Brien Joins Elite Group
The last 11 Patty Kazmaier Award winners are currently playing in the PWHL. It’s a cohort Casey O’Brien will soon join as she’s considered a top prospect for the 2025 PWHL Draft.
Among the former Patty Kazmaier Award winners in the PWHL are Taylor Heise, Sophie Jaques, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Aerin Frankel, Ann-Renee Desbiens, Daryl Watts, and Alex Carpenter.
O’Brien was also a top three finalist for the award last season when Izzy Daniel of Cornell won the honour.
