Wisconsin women's hockey captain, goalie earn monthly honors

In February, Wisconsin Badgers women's hockey played the majority of its games without five Olympians, won a WCHA regular season championship, and clinched a spot in the WCHA Final Faceoff. After those eventful four weeks, a duo of key contributors earned awards from the conference.

UW opened February with a home series with the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes. The Badgers dropped that series opener, but rebounded to win the finale of the two game set. That victory began Wisconsin's five-game winning-streak to close the regular season, and helped to clinch its 11th conference regular-season title in program history—tied with the Minnesota Golden Gophers for the most in the WCHA.

Before its Olympians returned to help win its opening games of the WCHA Tournament, it was UW's secondary contributors that shined throughout the month.

Lacey Eden, Rhyah Stewart capture WCHA monthly awards

February Phenoms ❤️

Congrats to Lacey Eden and Rhyah Stewart for winning WCHA Forward and Rookie of the Month! pic.twitter.com/C8LlZbkgDH
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerWHockey) March 2, 2026

No one was more instrumental in helping her team capture a WCHA title than Lacey Eden. With seven goals and ten assists, the fifth-year led the nation in individual scoring last month with 17 total points. For her efforts, Eden earned WCHA Forward of the Month honors for just the first time in her career.

En route to the award, the Badgers captain became just the fourth player in program history to score 100 or more goals in their career (Hilary Knight, Brianna Decker, Meghan Duggan). The Maryland native is the conference's season-long scoring champion with 21 goals and 32 assists for a total of 53 points in WCHA regular-season play.

Alongside Eden, goaltender Rhyah Stewart claimed monthly WCHA honors. After starting all of UW's six regular-season games in February, Stewart collected the WCHA Rookie of the Month award.

Perhaps no Badger women's hockey player had bigger shoes to fill than Stewart with UW's Olympians out of the lineup. As starting goaltender and reigning national goaltender of the year Ava McNaughton was helping Team USA win a gold medal in Milan, Stewart became UW's go-to netminder. Despite previously having only one start under her belt, the Antigonish, Nova Scotia native backstopped Wisconsin to a championship.

In February, Stewart posted a .923 save percentage, helped UW to a win over the Buckeyes (who boast the third-most prolific offense nationally), and held opponents to two or fewer goals in five of six starts.

Wisconsin women's hockey continues postseason play this Thursday, March 5th, with a matchup against the Minnesota State Mavericks in the WCHA Final Faceoff semifinals.