The last two winners, Botterill and Northeastern’s Brooke Whitney, each led the nation in game-winning goals. Botterill leads the nation in that category this season with 10. Ruggiero has five and Potter has three.

The stated selection criteria for the award include skills, sportsmanship, clutch performance, character, competitiveness, love of hockey, academic achievement and civic involvement. The committee will have a difficult task fairly applying those criteria.

“It’s tough,” Stone said. “I think you look for consistency. There’s a lot of politics involved in it too. You’ve got to go into it understanding that it could be a crapshoot, too.”

USA Hockey, the national governing body for hockey in the United States, sponsors the award.

Both Potter and Ruggiero were members of the 1998 and 2002 U.S. Olympic teams. Botterill became the first and only Canadian to win the award in 2001.

Although the award is run by USA Hockey, it will have no U.S. bias, provided that the 13-member panel abides by the selection criteria as written.

The selection criteria do not guarantee that USA Hockey is unbiased in its promotion of the award, however. For most of the weekend, the Patty Kazmaier finalist announcement was the lead story on the USA Hockey web site, www.usahockey.com. Next to the announcement, USA Hockey ran a picture of Ruggiero in a U.S. jersey rather than a picture of Botterill in a Canadian sweater or any of the finalists in a collegiate uniform.

While the Kazmaier will be a great honor for whoever wins it, the ultimate decision is not on Botterill and Ruggiero’s mind right now.

“It’s a great thing on the side, but obviously our number one focus is the team and winning the national championship,” Botterill said.

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.