MINNEAPOLIS – Wisconsin women's hockey captain Casey O'Brien added another honor to her impressive resume as the senior was named the recipient of the 2025 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award on Saturday. 

O'Brien became the sixth Badger to win the award, joining the likes of Sara Bauer (2006), Jessie Vetter (2009), Meghan Duggan (2011), Brianna Decker (2012) and Ann-Renee Desbiens (2017). UW's six honorees are the most of any program in the country as Harvard has had five individuals who have won the honor six times. 

"It's a surreal feeling," O'Brien said. "It's one of those things you dream of as a little kid but you're not sure it's ever going to happen but this year with the amazing team that we had it could've been any of us. It's so special but the focus is definitely on tomorrow."

This year marked only the second time in the 28 years of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, the highest individual honor in women's college hockey, that the top-three finalists were from the same school. Juniors Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards joined O'Brien as top-three finalists. 

"All three of us wanted one of the other two top-3 finalists to win, it was this cool thing where anyone was going to be happy regardless of who it was. When we were sitting up there we were whispering, laughing joking, the vibes were so light, we didn't care who it was, we were just happy the trophy was coming back to Wisconsin"

A native of Milton, Massachusetts, O'Brien leads the country in points with 88 and assists with 62. The 2025 WCHA Player of the Year became only the fourth player in NCAA history to record 60 assists in a single season and the first to do so in almost 20 years. 

O'Brien broke the UW record on Friday night for most points in a season with her 88th point of the year, surpassing Meghan Duggan's previous record of 87 points set in 2010-11. O'Brien's 88 points are the seventh-most scored in a single season in NCAA history. 

The forward was one of the most consistent players in the country as she had a point in 38 of UW's 40 games this season and had 26 multi-point outings.

A two-time first-team All-American, O'Brien sports a +66 rating, which ranks third in the country behind teammates Caroline Harvey and Vivian Jungels. 

O'Brien has rewritten the UW career records as well as she broke the school mark for career points with 274 points, which rank eighth in NCAA history. Her 177 assists are also a school-best mark.

O'Brien also has given back to the Madison community, volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House and taking part in many Badgers Give Back events. She was named a WCHA Scholar-Athlete this season along with taking home WCHA All-Academic team accolades. 

O'Brien and the No. 1 Badgers take on Ohio State on Sunday in the NCAA championship game at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. Puck drop is at 3 p.m. and fans can watch it live on ESPNU.