In Paul Flanagan’s mind, the College Hockey America awards system is an imperfect science.

Syracuse’s head coach has seen players who have had “terrible weekends” win the CHA Player of the Week honors in past years.

But in her freshman season, forward Lauren Bellefontaine has cracked a “rather arbitrary” system. She’s earned three CHA Rookie of the Month Awards in the first four months of her career, becoming the first player to win the award three times in program history.

“It’s unbelievable, really,” captain Allie Munroe said. “To win that three times and to have the season she’s having is really special obviously, and hopefully it continues on. All she’s done through the year is grow and become a better player every weekend … More than you can ask for out of a rookie, for sure.

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In seven games in January, Bellefontaine scored once and dished three assists. With six goals and 10 assists, Bellefontaine leads all CHA rookies in points (16) of the season. She also won the Rookie of the Month award in October and December. Syracuse (8-18-2, 8-5-1 CHA) will rely on Bellefontaine as it speeds toward the impending CHA tournament.

The most impressive part of Bellefontaine’s debut season is her consistency, Flanagan said. Bellefontaine started the season strong, joining the top line and special teams units on both power plays and penalty kills.

Bellefontaine quickly adapted to the college game and has produced on each level of the ice — forechecking on defense, controlling the neutral zone and making plays in the offensive zone. She’s recorded 43 blocks, most out of all SU forwards.

On Jan. 29 against then-No. 6 Cornell, Bellefontaine was a key to help an injury-ridden back line. She often retreated into the defensive zone to cause turnovers and start counter-attacks. She tallied an assist in the 5-2 loss.

So far in February, she’s notched an assist in the second game of last weekend’s two-game sweep of Mercyhurst.

“She does all the little things,” Munroe said. “She’s obviously really fast, she wants the puck on her stick all the time. … And you want that out of a young forward, to have confidence. And to be able to shoot the puck and get into the dirty areas … to make the transition that easy is awesome.”’