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Soo's Roque Named Nation's Top Hockey Player
 This story was written by University of Wisconsin Athletics MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin women's hockey senior Abby Roque of Sault Ste. Marie joined hockey royalty on Wednesday afternoon as the forward became the fifth Badger to be named the Bob Allen Women's Player of the Year, given to the top American-born women's player by USA Hockey. Roque joins the likes of Brianna Decker (2015 & 2017), Hilary Knight (2014), Meghan Duggan (2011) and Jessie Vetter (2009) as past winners of the award. The Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, native is the second collegian in the last three years to receive the award, joining UMD's Maddie Rooney, who received the award in 2018. "Winning this award is truly an honor," Roque said. "There have been so many amazing players who have won this award, and even being considered in their category is so special to me." The 2020 WCHA Player of the Year, Roque enjoyed a sensational senior campaign for UW, as she scored a career-high 26 goals to go along with a career-best 58 points. Her 32 assists this year tied her season-best mark set last year and her goal, assist and point totals all ranked in the top 10 in the country and in the top five in the WCHA. Roque was stellar in the faceoff circle for the Badgers, winning 65.6 percent of her draws, good for second in the nation, while her 523 faceoff wins led the NCAA. She was on the ice for an NCAA-best 63 even-strength goals scored and her plus/minus rating of +36 was tied for 11th in the nation. She also had five game-winning goals this year, tied for ninth in the country, while she had the game-winning assist in four contests. In addition, Roque, a first-team All-American, had 18 power-play points as she led UW to an NCAA-best power-play percentage of 35.2, which also happens to be a program record. The senior center led Wisconsin to its eighth WCHA regular-season title and to the No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament before the season was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Roque made her senior team debut with USA Hockey in December when she scored a pair of goals during Team USA's Rivalry Series against Hockey Canada. Roque ends her Badger career in the top-10 in points (170, 9th), assists (114, 7th), plus/minus (+136, 7th), power-play goals (21, 7th) and game-winning goals (15, 8th). |
