EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (blugolds.com) — University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire goaltender Stephanie Martin (Sr. - Yorktown, Va./Tabb) was named the winner of the 2023 College Hockey Inc. Scholarship on Monday. Martin will receive a $2,500 postgraduate scholarship that was created to celebrate an NCAA hockey student-athlete who helps build the game through their support of the next generation of hockey players.
Martin starred in net for the Blugolds over the last three seasons, posting a .931 save percentage in 55 starts. She recorded a 43-9-3 record in that stretch. Martin has also served as a volunteer coach with girls hockey programs around the Chippewa Valley and has hosted clinics for goaltenders in her home state of Virginia.
"Congratulations and, more importantly, thank you to Stephanie for making hockey better," College Hockey Inc. Executive Director Mike Snee said in a CHI press release. "Stephanie has already done so much at a young age to make hockey more accessible than it was when she was starting out as a player."
Martin plans to work with hockey associations in southeast Virginia to form the area's first girls youth hockey travel team.
"I am incredibly thankful for being chosen as the recipient of the College Hockey Inc. Scholarship," Martin told CHI. "By coaching and mentoring younger hockey goalies in the Southeast Virginia area, I hope to provide them with the experience and guidance in the hockey world that I lacked and dreamed of having. As a female in a mostly male-dominated sport, I want to break barriers for girls and women, not only in hockey, but for other sports and on other aspects of life as well."
Martin is also planning to enroll in dental school.
"I think the path she took to be able to play NCAA hockey is a testament to her character and work ethic," UW-Eau Claire head coach Erik Strand told CHI. "It is also part of her personality to give back. That is why she is so quick to help grow the game and is currently in the process of working with her local youth hockey board back home to create their first girls' youth hockey travel team. Whether it's coaching youth hockey players back home or working with kids here in the Chippewa Valley, Stephanie is always eager to help."
