Gophers seniors Lee Stecklein (women's hockey) and Luca Wieland (men's track and field) were announced Monday as recipients of the 2017 Big Ten Medal of Honor, given annually to the top female and male student-athlete at each conference institution.

The conference is celebrating the 103rd anniversary of the Medal of Honor.

Stecklein, of Roseville, led the Gophers women's hockey team to three national titles during her five-year career. She was part of the first perfect season in NCAA women's hockey history, helping the Gophers to a 41-0-0 record as a freshman in 2012-13 before missing the 2013-14 season while earning an Olympic silver medal with the U.S. Olympic team.

Stecklein returned to the Gophers for 2014-15 and served as a team captain for three consecutive seasons, including captaining them to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2015 and 2016.

A native of Saarbrucken, Germany, Wieland became the 13th Gopher to earn an individual national championship when he captured the 2015 NCAA indoor heptathlon title as a sophomore while earning his first of two first-team All-America honors in the event. Wieland also won the 2015 Big Ten indoor heptathlon title, and will try become the first Big Ten athlete to win three consecutive decathlon championships later this spring. Wieland broke his own school records in the heptathlon (6,070 points) and decathlon (8,201) earlier this year.

Annual 'Goldys' given out

The Gophers athletic department recognized teams and individuals at its annual Golden Goldys banquet at TCF Bank Stadium. The team winners were the Final Four women's volleyball team and the men's basketball team that reached the NCAA tournament. Their coaches, Hugh McCutcheon and Richard Pitino, won Goldys as the women's and men's coaches of the year.

Stecklein

Individual winners included wrestler Brett Pfarr (male athlete of the year); volleyball player Sarah Wilhite (female athlete of the year), who also was chosen female breakthrough athlete of the year; basketball player Amir Coffey and volleyball player Alexis Hart (rookies of the year), and track and field athlete Derek Wiebke (male breakthrough athlete of the year).

Etc.

• Minnesota Duluth sophomore defenseman Neal Pionk signed a two-year entry level contract with the New York Rangers, giving up his final two seasons of college eligibility. Pionk, 21, had seven goals and 27 assists for the Bulldogs, who lost to Denver in the Frozen Four title game.

• The Gophers swept the Big Ten's weekly softball awards, with catcher Kendyl Lindaman winning freshman/player of the week honors and Sara Groenewegen earning pitcher of the week. Lindaman is the first Big Ten freshman to be chosen player of the week since 2015, when Illinois' Carly Thomas and Northwestern's Sabrina Rabin shared the honor.