Boston College senior defensemanhas been named one of the Top 3 Finalists for the 2019 Patty Kazmaier Award, as announced Thursday by USA Hockey. The Patty Kazmaier Award is presented annually by the USA Hockey Foundation to the top Division I women's college hockey player in the country. Keller, a first-time Top 3 Finalist, is joined by Clarkson's Loren Gabel and Wisconsin's Annie Pankowski.The winner of the 2019 Patty Kazmaier Award will be announced on Saturday, March 23 in conjunction with the Frozen Four.Keller's selection to the Patty Kazmaier Award Top 3 marks the first time since 2013 that a defender has been tabbed as one of the three finalists and just the eighth time in the 22-year history of the award. Harvard's Angela Ruggiero is the only defenseman to ever win the national player of the year award, taking home the 2004 honor. Keller (2016, 2017, 2019) and Ruggiero (1999, 2000, 2003, 2004) are the only two defenders to be three-time Top-10 Finalists.With Keller's selection to the Top 3 Finalists this year, BC can now claim five Top-3 finalists in program history: Kelli Stack in 2011, Alex Carpenter in 2015 (winner) and 2016,in 2018 (winner) and now Keller.Keller's is one of the nation's most dynamic players, impacting play at both ends of the ice on offense, defense and special teams. She has been on the ice for 56 percent of BC's even-strength goals. The Eagles surrender 23.09 shots on goal per game, fourth fewest in the country. She has registered at least one point in 26 of her 33 games played and has 11 multi-point outings on the year. In addition to her five game-winning goals, Keller has assisted on three others.Keller enters this weekend ranked first in the country among blue liners in points (41), goals (18), assists (23), goals per game (0.55), points per game (1.24), and game-winning goals (5) and is tied for first in power-play goals (6). The captain has 114 shots on goal and is averaging 3.45 shots on goal per game, with both of those numbers ranking third among blue liners. Among all skaters in the country, Keller ranks in the top 16 in points (t-12th), goals (t-16th), assists (t-14th), power-play points (t-13th), power-play goals (t-5th) game-winning goals (t-4th) and points per game (15th) and plus/minus (t-9th).Keller set the Hockey East single-season points record for a defender with 37 points in conference play as well as the Hockey East single-season goals record with 16. Keller now simultaneously holds the conference career and single-season points, goals and assists records by a defender and is second all-time in career assists with 80. The Farmington Hills, Mich. native was named the Hockey East Player of the Month for January and has also earned two Player of the Week awards and a Defensive Player of the Week award. Her 16-21-37 scoring line in Hockey East play was good for a tie for third overall while her plus-36 rating was tied for second.Earlier this season, the senior became just the sixth player in program history to reach 150 career points. In addition to owning all of BC's career defenseman scoring records, Keller is fifth overall in points (156), third in assists (112), and 10th in game-winning goals (10).The U.S. National team member missed one game this season while representing the gold-medal winning squad at the Four Nations Cup, her fourth top finish at the event. Additionally, Keller has won three IIHF World Championships and was a member of the 2018 gold medal-winning team.In addition to her hard work on the ice, Keller has made an impact in the classroom and in the community. She holds a 3.231 grad-point average as a communications major and has been a member of the Hockey East All-Academic Team and ACC Honor Roll. In the community, Keller has volunteered with Newton Special Athletes, Perkins School for the Blind, the Boston College Campus School, East Coat Jumbos (American Special Hockey) and Food for Families.