BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Ann-Renee Desbiens didn't win the most prestigious individual prize in women's college hockey on Saturday.
Wisconsin's peerless junior goaltender, author of most dominant season in NCAA history, wore a smile as Northeastern winger Kendall Coyne was named the 19th recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Award.
As such we were deprived of hearing Desbiens' engaging acceptance speech, which would have fit the moment perfectly.
She planned to give thanks to her teammates, coaches and support staffers in English, making them roar in laughter along the way.
She planned to affectionately address her parents — Raynald and Claire speak French and almost no English — in their shared language of Quebec.
Most notably she planned to single out eight young fans — six girls and two boys — who routinely accompanied their parents to UW games at LaBahn Arena.
Earlier in the ceremony, keynote speaker Angela Ruggiero, a pioneering U.S. Olympian and Hockey Hall of Famer, implored the players in the audience "to make the sport better for the next generation" and to "find your voice."
Desbiens has been doing that and more since she arrived on campus in 2013.
She arrived from La Malbaie, Quebec, with a limited grasp of the English language and willed herself to be a better communicator.
She balanced that against the demands of her athletic commitments and academic pursuits to produce some amazing feats.
Desbien set a NCAA record with 21 shutouts this season, rattling off nine in a row at one point, which is another national standard.
The Badgers won both the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season and playoff titles. Desbien was named the Player of the Year for the former and Most Outstanding Player in the latter.
At the same time, Desbiens was accepted in an Integrated Masters of Accounting program where the competition for limited spots is fierce. The average grade-point average for those who get in is 3.6, which rivals UW Medical School candidates.
You could say Desbiens is brilliant on and off the ice.
The season didn't end the way Desbiens or the Badgers hoped. She allowed a goal on the first shot and the last shot of the night on the way to a 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals on Friday night.
Twelve hours after that bummer, Desbiens learned that she wouldn't join the four other Patty Kazmaier winners from Wisconsin: center Sara Bauer in 2006, goaltender Jessie Vetter in '09, winger Meghan Duggan in '11 and center Brianna Decker in 2012.
Coyne, known for her blazing speed, led the nation with 50 goals and 84 points. The other finalist was Boston College center Alex Carpenter, the 2015 Kazmaier recipient who led the Eagles to the national title game with a 40-0 record.
The Kazmaier Award emphasizes "outstanding individual and team skills, sportsmanship, performance in the clutch, personal character, competitiveness and a love of hockey." Consideration is also given to academic achievement and civic involvement.
How about just being a good, selfless person?
It was the middle of last August when Desbiens learned that an international student-athlete would soon be arriving on campus. She volunteered to help and Andy Van Vliet, a men's basketball recruit from Antwerp, Belgium, is forever grateful she did.
"When I first got here I didn't know anything at all about college or Madison," Van Vliet said. "I didn't know where to go at all."
Desbiens enlisted the help of teammate and roommate Rachel Jones, a senior from Berlin, and helped Van Vliet acquire a cell phone and buys necessities for his dorm room. That meant trips to Target and Bed Bath & Beyond in Jones' car.
The kindness didn't stop there. Desbiens prepared multiple breakfasts and dinners for Van Vliet and, along with Jones, showed him around town.
"That's the kind of person she is," Van Vliet said. "She really cares a lot about other people."
Desbiens harkened back to her indoctrination to Madison and UW, saying she got help handling necessities from Laura Packer, the mother of former Badgers winger Madison Packer.
The example helped inspire Desbiens to reach out to Van Vliet.
"It's a way to give back," she said.
And leave an impression.
"She's a really kind person and a really good friend," Van Vliet said.
Things that are more valuable and enduring than any award.
