Cayla Barnes (left) was selected to the AHCA All-American second team on Saturday. Joy Dunne (right) was named HCA Rookie of the Year on Thursday. Credit: Aiden Ridgway and Caleb Blake | Lantern Photographers
Two Buckeyes earned national awards during the team’s visit to Durham, New Hampshire for the Frozen Four.
Graduate defenseman Cayla Barnes was named to the American Hockey Coaches Association’s All-American second team on Saturday after freshman forward Joy Dunne was tabbed Rookie of the Year by the Hockey Commissioners Association on Thursday.
“She’s very composed and very smart,” head coach Nadine Muzerall said about Barnes. “You need that as your backbone to your team. She plays big, even though she’s small. I think she could have easily been a top 10 [Patty Kazmaier Award] finalist, but you can control what you can control.”
Barnes leads the country in plus-minus with a +70 mark on the season. She also leads Ohio State defenseman in points with 35, including an assist in Friday’s 4-1 Frozen Four semifinal win over Clarkson.
This is Barnes’ second All-American honor, as she was named to the second team in 2021. She is the ninth Buckeye to earn All-American status.
Two days earlier, Dunne was named the CHA’s Julie Chu Rookie of the Year for her 41-point season, which leads all freshmen nationally.
Dunne is the first Buckeye to win the Rookie of the Year award—which was established in 2014— and won Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s Rookie of the Year earlier this season.
Dunne leads Ohio State in goals this season, including a third-period goal in the semifinal win against Clarkson to give the Buckeyes a 3-1 lead.
“She has a high hockey IQ, a very unselfish hockey player, but she plays very physical,” Muzerall said about Dunne. “I haven’t seen many women shoot the puck the way she does not just in terms of power, but in terms of accuracy and purpose. She is one of the most coachable kids that I’ve coached.”
