The accolades and records for graduate forward Abbey Murphy keep coming. The month of January alone saw her etch her name in the record book as one of the greatest hockey players to ever come through the program.
Yet, for a player with such a loaded resume, there is still some recognition she has yet to see.
This week, Murphy was named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Forward of the Month, sharing the conference spotlight with freshman center Bella Fanale, who earned Rookie of the Month honors. It is the second time Murphy has received the monthly award this season, and she has also won five weekly conference awards throughout that time frame.
As she prepares to skate in her second Olympic Games this week, her latest recognition should bring to light the contrast between her offensive production and how she has been awarded both nationally and by the conference over the course of her career. The sport’s highest individual honors have often passed her by despite consistently finishing as a top-five scorer.
In January, she proved she should not be overlooked, even if she is missing a month of the season. She started the month by tying Minnesota’s single-game point record with a seven-point game against Sacred Heart University.
Across eight games, she totaled 27 points, scoring in all games she played and recording three hat tricks. Against Bemidji State University, she set a personal record for four goals in a game. That followed a week where Murphy went viral on social media for an assist, gaining over 1.5 million views on X.
Over the course of the month, she climbed the program’s all-time points list, now sitting in second place with 256. If it was not enough, in her final game before leaving for the Olympics, Murphy tied the all-time program goal-scoring record with her 139th career goal.
All of this happened in a season where Murphy has been splitting her time with Team USA hockey, with her focus on the Olympics. The Gophers will be without her likely until the conference tournament begins, missing weeks of play. That is why head coach Brad Frost thought it would be difficult for her to match the goal-scoring record.
“At the beginning of the year, I didn’t think it was necessarily going to be possible for her. I think her career high was 33. That was playing the full season,” Frost said. “Knowing that she was going to be missing a month, I thought that was going to be really hard to do.”
She made it look easy, too, scoring 36 goals in 26 games, leading the nation in points with 61.
“She’s just been on an incredible tear here all year, but in particular the second half,” Frost said.
It will be her third year in a row scoring more than 60 points and the fourth scoring 50. It is also her third year in a row as a top-three goal scorer. Yet, her resume when it comes to national awards does not reflect that. She has yet to be a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, only finishing in the top ten once. She has never been selected to the All-WCHA First team, a reality that Frost acknowledged directly.
“She’s yet to be a first team All-WCHA player and yet to be a top 3 Patty Kazmaier finalist when she’s been worthy,” Frost said.
That is something hard to ignore as her collegiate career winds down. She has had the monthly awards, viral moments and program records, but not the national honors that typically come with it. One factor that frequently counts against her in those awards conversations is one of the things making her so dynamic: her physicality.
Her play style has brought her some scrutiny, especially when penalty minutes are concerned.
Murphy recorded 118 penalty minutes during the 2023-2024 season, a number that often followed her in evaluations, even when she ranks among the top in most offensive statistics.
Her penalty minutes have dipped this season. She still leads the nation in penalties taken with 23, but it is the lowest her penalty minutes have been in the last four years. It is unclear how much it will be considered when it comes to end of year voting.
There is also the question of how the Patty Kazmaier award will be handled this year, with so many of the country’s top players missing time for the Olympics. How that will affect voting is yet to be seen, but Frost remains hopeful voters will still see Murphy’s undeniable impact.
“I would hope that anybody with eyes understands that Murph is one of, if not, the best player in the country whether she’s here this month or not,” Frost said. “We just believe that she’s having an incredibly special year up to this point. She’s going to continue that on in the Olympics and once she gets back.”
