Three Earn AHA Postseason Honors
2/26/2025 2:01:00 PM | Ice Hockey
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – As the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) postseason continues on, three Syracuse University women's ice hockey players earned All-AHA honors. The league office announced its award winners Wednesday afternoon.
Graduate students Bryn Saarela, a forward, and goaltender Allie Kelley earned All-AHA Second Team plaudits while freshman defender Jessica Cheung was named to the AHA All-Rookie Team.
Saarela, a graduate transfer from Holy Cross, is third in the AHA in total goals, scoring 17 across her 35 games played. She is also ranked third in the league with a 0.49 goals per game average. Entering the semifinal round this weekend, Saarela is eighth in the AHA in points with 29 total and an equal rank in points per game, averaging 0.83 per game. The Denver, Colorado native scored three game winning goals so far this year, ranking 10th in the AHA. Saarela has six power play goals to her credit, tied for the second-most in the AHA. She is one of three players in the entire AHA with at least five power play goals and two or more short-handed goals as well. Additionally, she is one of six players in the AHA with a hat trick this season.
The NCAA and Syracuse University women's ice hockey all-time saves leader, Kelley carries a 2.62 goals against average into the semifinals, the second-best among AHA goalies with at least 30 games played this season. Kelley is the only AHA goalie with at least 1,000 saves, stopping 1,115 so far with a league-best 32.79 saves per game average. The New Berne, New Yorker has a .928 save percentage, again the second-best among the conference goalies with at least 30 games played. Kelley has logged four shutouts to date as well.
A defenseman from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Cheung made an immediate impact on the Syracuse blue line, blocking 72 shots this year, the sixth-most in the AHA and one of just eight players with at least 70 blocked shots. Offensively, Cheung has contributed 10 points, including a goals and nine assists. Her first career goal came on the power play in the 2024-25 season opener against Stonehill, the third goal of the season for Syracuse. Cheung had a pair of multi-assist games in her rookie year, including most recently at Mercyhurst (Feb. 15), which Syracuse takes on this weekend in Erie. Cheung has a point in five of the last six games for the Orange, who sport a 5-1 record over that span.
The third-seeded Orange hit the road this weekend for a best-of-three series at Mercyhurst, the AHA Tournament's number two seed. Game time on Friday is set for 3 p.m. in Erie, Pennsylvania, with Saturday slated for a 2 p.m. start. Sunday's if-necessary game three is set for a 2 p.m. start as well. All three games will be carried on FloHockey.
Syracuse split its regular season series finale at Mercyhurst, dropping the first game 5-3 before bouncing back in the Saturday title with a 4-2 win.
Graduate students Bryn Saarela, a forward, and goaltender Allie Kelley earned All-AHA Second Team plaudits while freshman defender Jessica Cheung was named to the AHA All-Rookie Team.
Saarela, a graduate transfer from Holy Cross, is third in the AHA in total goals, scoring 17 across her 35 games played. She is also ranked third in the league with a 0.49 goals per game average. Entering the semifinal round this weekend, Saarela is eighth in the AHA in points with 29 total and an equal rank in points per game, averaging 0.83 per game. The Denver, Colorado native scored three game winning goals so far this year, ranking 10th in the AHA. Saarela has six power play goals to her credit, tied for the second-most in the AHA. She is one of three players in the entire AHA with at least five power play goals and two or more short-handed goals as well. Additionally, she is one of six players in the AHA with a hat trick this season.
The NCAA and Syracuse University women's ice hockey all-time saves leader, Kelley carries a 2.62 goals against average into the semifinals, the second-best among AHA goalies with at least 30 games played this season. Kelley is the only AHA goalie with at least 1,000 saves, stopping 1,115 so far with a league-best 32.79 saves per game average. The New Berne, New Yorker has a .928 save percentage, again the second-best among the conference goalies with at least 30 games played. Kelley has logged four shutouts to date as well.
A defenseman from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Cheung made an immediate impact on the Syracuse blue line, blocking 72 shots this year, the sixth-most in the AHA and one of just eight players with at least 70 blocked shots. Offensively, Cheung has contributed 10 points, including a goals and nine assists. Her first career goal came on the power play in the 2024-25 season opener against Stonehill, the third goal of the season for Syracuse. Cheung had a pair of multi-assist games in her rookie year, including most recently at Mercyhurst (Feb. 15), which Syracuse takes on this weekend in Erie. Cheung has a point in five of the last six games for the Orange, who sport a 5-1 record over that span.
The third-seeded Orange hit the road this weekend for a best-of-three series at Mercyhurst, the AHA Tournament's number two seed. Game time on Friday is set for 3 p.m. in Erie, Pennsylvania, with Saturday slated for a 2 p.m. start. Sunday's if-necessary game three is set for a 2 p.m. start as well. All three games will be carried on FloHockey.
Syracuse split its regular season series finale at Mercyhurst, dropping the first game 5-3 before bouncing back in the Saturday title with a 4-2 win.
Players Mentioned
Saturday, February 07
Friday, February 06
Thursday, February 05
Tuesday, January 27
