2018 Minnesota Ms. Hockey Semifinalists Named

Let’s Play Hockey magazine announced on Thursday their list of 10 semifinalists for the Minnesota Ms. Hockey, given annually to the state’s top female senior hockey player.

Here are the nominees:

Madison Bizal, Defense, Elk River(Ohio State)

Abigail Boreen, Forward, Hill-Murray(Minnesota)

Claire Butorac, Forward, Andover(Minnesota State)

Lolita Fidler, Forward, Edina(Harvard)

Taylor Heise, Forward, Red Wing(Minnesota)

Crystalyn Hengler, Defense, Eden Prairie(Minnesota)

Gabbie Hughes, Forward, Centennial(Minnesota Duluth)

Anneke Linser, Forward, Centennial(Minnesota Duluth)

Emily Oden, Forward, Edina(Minnesota)

Catie Skaja, Forward, New Prague(Minnesota)

A very solid list. I only hit 6 of 10 on my preseason list, but it’s hard to argue with any choices here. There’s 15-20 players that could have made this list with no objections.

Five players from this list will be chosen as finalists on February 15th, with the winner being named February 25th, following the state tournament.

Red Wing’s Taylor Heise remains the heavy favorite to win the award, though a sensational season from Centennial’s Gabbie Hughes has made the race much closer than most would have expected coming into the year. There’s a fairly significant gap between those two and the other eight, with any of the eight having a legitimate possibility of making it as a finalist for the award.