-- Wisconsin women's hockey seniorhas been named a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, USA Hockey announced on Thursday.Pankowski is the sixth UW player to be named a top-three finalist, joining Sara Bauer (2006 and 2007), Jessie Vetter (2009), Meghan Duggan (2011), Brianna Decker (2012) and Ann-Renee Desbiens (2016 and 2017). All five previous top-three finalists went on to win the award during their career.Pankowski also leads a trio of Badgers named first-team All-WCHA as the league announced its year-end awards on Thursday. She is the fourth Badger to be named first-team All-WCHA three times, joining Decker, Vetter and Hilary Knight.Juniorsandwere also named first-team honorees. Steffen ranks second among WCHA defensemen in scoring with 24 points on seven goals and 17 assists. Campbell earned first-team honors for the second-straight season after leading the WCHA in wins (18), goals against average (1.08) and shutouts (6). Her 28 wins in all games leads the NCAA as does her 1.15 GAA.UW also had three players earn second-team honors, senior, juniorand freshman. Rolfes recorded 15 points on three goals and 12 assists for the Badgers in WCHA contests this season while Roque tied for the WCHA lead in power play goals in league play with four and won a league-best 254 faceoffs this season in WCHA play.The WCHA also released its All-Academic Team on Thursday. To qualify for the WCHA All-Academic Team, student-athletes must have completed one year of eligibility at their present institution, prior to the current academic year and have a GPA of at least 3.0 for the previous two semesters. A total of 18 Badgers were recognized:, Samantha Cogan,andThe No. 2 Badgers open the WCHA playoffs this weekend against St. Cloud State at LaBahn Arena. The best-of-three series features games on Friday (4 p.m.), Saturday (3 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.), if necessary. Tickets are still available at UWBadgers.com.