Following the completion of a remarkable five-year prep career, Josie St. Martin was honored as the Most Valuable Athlete for the Stillwater girls hockey team.
One of five Ponies to receive All-Suburban East Conference recognition, the senior led the Ponies with 26 goals and 39 assists for 65 points in just 23 games. She was joined in earning all-conference honors by Emma Chard, Addy Finn, Josie Lang and Brooke Nelson.
Grace Cheney, Bella McKenzie and goaltender Lily Timmons were honorable mention all-conference selections for a team that finished with an 18-9-1 record, including 14-1-1 to claim the program’s fifth consecutive SEC championship. The Ponies were seeded No. 2 in Section 4AA and advanced to the finals before falling to top-seeded Hill-Murray 5-2. The Pioneers went on to place second at state.
The Ponies were led by a 13-member senior class led by St. Martin and Lang, who received all-state honors from the Minnesota Girls Hockey Coaches Association.
St. Martin, who averaged nearly two points per game for the Ponies in five seasons, was named the Star Tribune All-Metro Player of the Year and the Pioneer Press East Metro Player of the Year. She was also one of five finalists for the Minnesota Ms. Hockey Award that was presented to Ayla Puppe of Northfield.
St. Martin missed five games this season while scoring six goals and finishing with nine points to help lead Team USA to a gold medal in the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships in Switzerland in January. It was the third trip to the U18 World Championships for St. Martin, who also earned a bronze with Team USA in 2023 and a silver in 2022.
The Ohio State University recruit finished her prep career with 111 goals and 131 assists for 242 points in 122 games.
Lang also produced some eye-popping numbers for a defenseman on the way to being named to the Star Tribune All-Metro Second Team and was listed as a finalist for the Pioneer Press East Metro Player of the Year Award.
The Providence College commit racked up 19 goals and 31 assists for 50 points as a senior and totaled 42 goals and 67 assists in three seasons.
Additional scoring leaders for the Ponies this season included Nelson, with 26 goals and 29 assists for 55 points, and Addy Finn, with 18 goals and 25 assists.
Stillwater’s top four scorers are each seniors, along with Timmons, who finished with eight shutouts, a 2.23 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. Timmons, who plans to join the program at Gustavus, was a semifinalist for the Jori Jones Award which is presented to the state’s Senior Goalie of the Year.
Timmons finished her career with 17 shutouts over four seasons.
Olivia Williams was this year’s recipient of the Hobey Baker Character Award.
• In addition to the turnover with 13 players scheduled to graduate, Annie Cashman resigned after two seasons as head coach. Cashman guided the Ponies to a 37-17-1 record, including 30-1-1 on the way to back-to-back conference championships. Stillwater was stopped in the section playoffs by state champion Gentry Academy in 2023 and by state runner-up Hill-Murray this past season.
“It just seemed like the right thing to do for my family and put coaching high school hockey in the rear-view mirror,” said Cashman, who is returning to work in the medical device industry. “I travel quite a bit for my career and the timing seemed to line up and didn’t know how I was going to do it. It seemed like the right time to move onto something else.”
Veteran coach Tim Morris has been hired to take over as head coach. Morris has coached at Totino-Grace, Eden Prairie, Blaine and Lakeville South in more than three decades. He guided Eden Prairie to state championships in 2006 and 2008.
“It will be great to have Tim here,” Cashman said. “I’m really excited they picked him and someone with his experience.”
Girls hockey
All-Conference: Emma Chard, Josie St. Martin, Josie Lang, Addy Finn and Brooke Nelson; All-Conference Honorable Mention: Lily Timmons, Bella McKenzie and Grace Cheney; Minnesota Girls Hockey Coaches Association All-State: Josie St. Martin and Josie Lang; Star Tribune All-Metro First Team: Josie St. Martin; Star Tribune All-Metro Second Team: Josie Lang; Star Tribune All-Metro Player of the Year: Josie St. Martin; Pioneer Press East Metro Player of the Year: Josie St. Martin; Pioneer Press East Metro Player of the Year finalist: Josie Lang; Jori Jones Award (Senior Goalie of the Year) semifinalist: Lily Timmons; Minnesota Ms. Hockey finalist: Josie St. Martin; Hobey Baker Character Award: Olivia Williams; Most Valuable Athlete: Josie St. Martin; Captains elect: To be announced.
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