BOSTON – Suffolk women's hockey saw three student-athletes receive All-Star status from the New England Hockey Writers Association as Shana Cote, Madison Duff and Leslie Steiner all garnered the distinction.
The threesome of Rams, along with their fellow honorees, across all three divisions will be honored for their efforts in the 2022-23 season at an award reception Wednesday, April 19 at the Prince Restaurant in Saugus, Massachusetts. The event will include not only the New England Writers' honorees, but will also serve to present the recipients of the Walter Brown Award and Joe Concannon Award, given by the Gridiron Club of Boston, to the top American-born hockey players in New England. In addition, the Eastern Massachusetts Ice Hockey Officials will present the J. Thom Lawler Award.
Suffolk garnered three All-Star accolades for the second time in as many years to tie a program record, which was set by Maddy Burton, Cote and Duff, a year ago. Overall, four Rams have combined for six All-Star honors from the organization in the blue-and-gold's five-year history.
Suffolk is one of eight programs to see a student-athletes receive the distinction and one of three teams to have three players recognized alongside Amherst (3) and Norwich (3). The Rams received the most regional recognition in comparison to their Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) counterparts on the list for the second straight season as Western New England (two) and Endicott (one) were featured on the list as well.
Cote, the back-to-back CCC Player of the Year, led the CCC with 26 points behind 13 goals and 13 assists. She paced the league on the power play with four power play markers and potted three game-winners. The forward from Broomfield, Colorado, was a face off specialist as well with 378 victories at the dot, the best in NCAA Division III this season en route to her second All-Star award.
Duff, who was the defenseman to earn an All-Star accolade a year ago, received her second such honor in as many seasons on top of becoming the University's first-ever defenseman to be named a CCM Hockey/AHCA All-American. She topped the Rams' defense, which allowed just 1.54 goals per game, good for 14th-best in the nation. Despite being station at the blue-line, the senior captain from Novi, Michigan, was one of the top scoring threats with 21 points on six goals and 15 assists.
Steiner, a defenseman from Janesville, Wisconsin, secured her first All-Star nod after producing 11 points behind six goals and five handouts. As a sophomore, she is the youngest Ram to receive an All-Star honor from the regional organization.