The American Hockey Coaches Association released its NCAA Division III Women's All-American Teams Thursday night and a pair of Lake Forest College seniors made the list. Olivia Spellmire was named to the West's First Team while teammate Kayla Griffith was a Second Team selection. The announcement was made during the student-athlete banquet at the NCAA Division III Women's Ice Hockey Championship in Northfield, Vermont.
It was the third career All-American honor for Griffith and the second for Spellmire. Both players were honored in 2016, Griffith on the first team and Spellmire the second, and Griffith was a second team honoree last year.
Spellmire, a forward led the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association and ranks among the national leaders with 23 goals and a school record 28 assists this season. She had at least one goal or assist in 24 of the Foresters' 29 games and three or more points nine times. Ten of her 51 points on the year came during the team's four NCHA Slaats Cup Playoff games and she was named the event's Most Valuable Player. In addition, Spellmire was named all-conference for the third straight season as well as the NCHA Player of the Year. On Tuesday she added 2018 Laura Hurd Award (NCAA Division III Player of the Year) finalist to her list of accomplishments.
Griffith finished the season with 25 points on nine goals and 16 assists and ranks seventh in the nation in points per game by a defenseman. She recorded at least one point in 17 of 29 games and her 20 points in 18 league games were just one shy of the league leader at her position. Last month Griffith became just the second player in team history to be named All-NCHA all four years and she is now the second to earn All-American honors as many as three times.
Spellmire and Griffith helped lead Lake Forest to a 20-9-0 overall record and a 15-3-0 mark in NCHA play. The Foresters also advanced to the championship game of the NCHA Slaats Cup Playoffs for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
