Conway closes career with Hurd
Methuen native, Norwich star led way for Cadets this season
A hockey season that ended far too early to suit Norwich University star Amanda Conway continues to offer subsequent and welldeserved luster for the Methuen native, who was named winner of the prestigious 2020 Laura Hurd Award, emblematic of the top Division 3 women’s hockey player in the country on Wednesday.
Coincidentally, Conway is the first Hurd winner from a New England school since Norwich’s Julie Fortier in 2012. Among the other six finalists were Endicott’s Jade Meier, Middlebury’s Madie Leidt, and Elmira’s Emma Crocker of Abington.
It has been a magical onice year for Conway, despite the season being curtailed suddenly due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Conway led the country in scoring with 32 goals, 27 assists and 59 points. The 23-year-old psychology major now owns an NCAA team title from her sophomore season, a national scoring crown as a senior, and now the 2020 Laura Hurd Award. Priceless.
“Super excited. I found out on Monday when my coach called me but I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone,”said Conway, who didn’t even mention the news to her parents until the announcement. “My mom (Maureen) cried and my dad (Brian) was excited. I think it is pretty exciting but I’m more excited for my teammates. I know that they’d be superproud and I know I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Asked if she could find any room on the family mantle place for the newest piece of hardware and Conway answered, “Definitely. I might have to move some stuff around.”
This season, Conway led a high-scoring triumvirate that included senior Sophie McGovern (19-25-44), and freshman Julia Masotta (1122-33) of Tewksbury.
“It was like a dream. We really played well together, especially in the second half of the year. They’re two of my very best friends,”
Masotta said. “I played three years at (Boston) Shamrocks and one year at Tewksbury/ Methuen, the same team that (Amanda) Conway played for and we live really close by. She is someone that I looked up to for a long time. I don’t think it (Hurd Award) could have gone to a more deserving person. She’s like that in every aspect. She is so deserving. Lights out in every way.”
Conway, who scored the unassisted game-winner to beat Amherst, 3-1, and push the Cadets into the NCAA Quarterfinals before this year’s tournament fell victim to the coronavirus, said can’t erase the feeling of the unexpected early end to the season.
“We all felt the season ended to soon. There was this feeling of, ‘what if ’. So, I guess it’s a little bittersweet,” Conway said.
The award has been around since 2000 when it was known as the Division 3 Women’s Player of the Year Award. In 2007, it was renamed the Laura Hurd Award in memory of the
Elmira College skater, who was tragically killed in a 2006 automobile accident, one year after the forward won the national award. Hurd, a four-time All-American, remains the Div. 3 career scoring leader with 237 points.
The 5-foot-4 Conway enjoyed phenomenal success throughout her career, notching 116 goals and adding 72 assists for 188 points in 111 games. The career points are co-No. 4 all-time in NCAA Div. 3 alongside former Plattsburgh State skater Kayla Meneghin. The points also make Conway the all-time Norwich leader, surpassing many of the program standards originally established by Fortier.
Conway ranks third alltime in NCAA goals, just four behind Hurd and Elizabeth Gibson of Plattsburgh, both of whom closed their careers in 2005. Conway was a New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) Rookie of the Year and NEHC Tournament Most Valuable Performer as a freshman. She became a Hurd nominee as a sophomore after helping Norwich (27-1-3) win the NCAA title. Last season, Conway was a First Team All-American and the New England Hockey Writers’ Player of the Year after posting an NCAA-best 1.07 goals-per-game.
Norwich coach Sophie Leclerc said Conway raised the bar for women’s hockey at the northern New England university.
“She’s an absolute treat to coach. I know people say that a lot about their players but it rings true in this case. She is an incredible person on the ice and off the ice. She’s a fantastic teammate. She puts everyone else before herself. When we called her up to tell her she was humble and just wanted to thank her teammates. It kind of shows the type of teammate that she is,” Leclerc said. “There aren’t too many around like her. She is a natural goal-scorer. She has a nose for the puck. She just has it. She’s incredible.”
Leclerc, who completed her first season at the helm of alma mater with a 23-4-2 record, has the unique distinction of playing with the program’s other Hurd Award winner, Fortier, and coached the present owner of the trophy.
“I did. She was my roommate. I’m going to her wedding this summer,” Leclerc said of Fortier. “They’re so different and yet they are the same. They appreciate the award but I’m sure that it will probably sit on a shelf and they’d rather spend time talking about how much they enjoyed playing here for four years, their teammates, and the great environment we have.
Can having a Hurd Award winner help out going foward?
“Totally. It’s a tradition we have up here and the kind of place it is. We’re just checking off the boxes. It’s the entire community and the people and when Amanda is done here she will leave a mark at Norwich for years to come,” said Leclerc. “I hope so. We’re looking for players who are looking for a place they can call home. People want to be at this place.”