Women’s College Hockey.org

In This Post…

• Recruiting Rule of The Day
• WKND Wrap-Up
• NCAA Polls
• NCAA Preview
• Sifters

Recruiting Rule of The Day…

Question: During the temporary COVID-19 recruiting dead period, may a prospective student-athlete reach out to a student-athlete, on his/her own accord, to meet and tour campus?

Answer: During the temporary COVID-19 recruiting dead period, institutions may not be involved in securing or arranging a prospective student-athlete’s visit to campus. However, this does not preclude a prospective student-athlete from reaching out to a student-athlete, on his/her own accord, to meet and tour campus. As previously noted, the temporary COVID-19 recruiting dead period was established by the NCAA Division I Council as one way the Division I membership may be able to avoid the unnecessary health and safety risks associated with travel and in-person interactions between coaches and student-athletes and other individuals they may encounter during these activities.

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Weekend Wrap-Up…

All four conference tournaments concluded by the end of last Sunday. Here’s a run-down on how each of the conference tournaments finished up.

Hockey East Notes…

• Northeastern won its fourth straight Hockey East playoff championship defeating Providence 6-2 in the Championship game. Northeastern’s path included a 7-0 win over UNH in the quarter-finals and a tightly contested 2-1 semi-final win over UCONN.
• Providence made its first trip to the Hockey East championship game under head coach Matt Kelly but it wasn’t easy. The needed a pair of one-goal wins, 4-3 over #6 seed Boston University and it took overtime to get by #5 seed Maine 1-0 in the semis.
• Is parity here to stay? Two teams, #7 seed UCONN and #5 seed Maine had to win on the road. UCONN won their quarter-final games as they “upset” #2 seed Boston College 5-1. Maine beat Vermont 3-1 in Burlington and took Providence to OT at Providence. This was UCONN’s 5th trip to the semis in seven years and the second time in as many years it ended BC’s Hockey East championship run.

ECAC Notes…

• Colgate won its first ever ECAC playoff championship coming from behind to beat St. Lawrence 3-2. Colgate beat Quinnipiac 2-1 in the semis to get to the championship game.
• St. Lawrence had one of the more interesting paths to get to the ECAC finals. Having only started its season in January, SLU’s schedule included playing North Country arch-rival Clarkson three straight games to to end the regular season. SLU won each game 4-3 in OT, 2-1, and 5-1. This ultimately set up game #4 vs. the Golden Knights in the ECAC semi-finals. That’s 4 games in eight days. SLU came out on top again–its fourth straight win 4-3 on OT. However, there was a bit of controversy on the OT goal. Clarkson challenged the OT winner saying the puck hit something as it was flipped into the air, a flag or the scoreboard perhaps. You can’t tell on video what exactly happened. Nonetheless, SLU advanced to ECAC Championship game.

College Hockey America Notes…

• Robert Morris University beat Syracuse to win the Peters Cup 1-0 and earned a date with #1 ranked Northeastern in the first round of the NCAA’s. RMU’s path to the CHA championship included a first-round 4-0 over RIT, a 3-2 OT thriller vs. arch-rival Mercyhurst where it had to come from behind down 2-1 heading into the 3rd period. In the final, it was a 1st period Gillian Thompson goal and sold goaltending my Raygan Kirk to seal the win.
• Syracuse got by Lindenwood with a 6-0 first round win setting up a semi-final clash with #7 nationally ranked Penn State. The Orange beat Penn State to get to the finals 3-2 but it wasn’t easy. Syracuse built a 3-0 lead heading into the 3rd period where Penn State, playing for it collective postseason lives, scored twice cutting Syracuse’s lead to one, with under nine-minutes to play.
• Syracuse had been on a roll toward the end of the season going 9-0-0 before losing to RMU in the finals.

Western Collegiate Hockey Association Notes…

• The WCHA was the only conference championship that needed overtime. Tournament #1 seed Wisconsin beat #3 seed Ohio State 3-2 in OT on a Lacey Eden goal, second of the game, less than a minute into overtime. OSU tied the game at two on a Sophie Jacques goal in the 3rd period at about the halfway point.
• Wisconsin got to the finals by beating #4 seed Minnesota in its semi-final 5-3. It was the 5th time this season Wisconsin and MN had met. Wisconsin had built leads of 2-0 and 4-3 before putting the game away late in the third period at 19:45 with a tally from Brita Curl.
• #3 seed Ohio State squared off against #2 seed MN-Duluth in its semi-final and routed the Bulldogs 7-2. A five-goal second period for OSU sealed its date with Wisconsin for the WCHA title.

NEWHA Commissioner’s Cup Notes…

• Last week the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance held a special end of the year event for Long Island Univ. and Sacred Heart, the only two programs to play a consistent schedule of games this season. It was a best two-out-of-three series event with LIU winning the series 2-0.

NCAA Polls…

Weekly polls are out as of March 8th.

USCHO.com Top 10
#1 Northeastern
#2 Wisconsin
#3 Ohio State
#4 Colgate
#5 Minnesota
#6 MN-Duluth
#7 Boston College
#8 Penn State
#9 Providence
#10 Robert Morris

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10
#1 Northeastern
#2 Wisconsin
#3 Ohio State
#4 Colgate
#5 Minnesota
#6 MN Duluth
#7 Boston College
#8 Penn State
#9 Providence
#10 Robert Morris

NCAA Preview…

The dust has settled and the field of 8 is set, but no amount of Head & Shoulders will cure the head-scratching that has gone on since the pairings came out. We’ll save the ‘Why did this team get left out and this team get in’ post for another time, as it probably requires some length to put into context. For now, here is a preview of the first two games and a bit about how the matchups look. We’ll look at the second pair of games in our post tomorrow.

#8 Robert Morris vs. #1 Northeastern | Monday March 15, 2pm EST | Link to Live Stream on NCAA.com

• Northeastern comes in as the #1 ranked team in both polls with a record of 20-1-1, its lone loss coming way back on Dec. 13th. NU is led by Senior netminder Arien Frankl who boasts a goals against ave. of just .70 and a ridiculous save percentage of .969%. In front of her is an experienced D corps lead by Patty Kaz Top 10 finalist Skylar Fontaine, as well as Brooke Hobson. Both combining for 40 pts. from the back-end. Up front you have two world class players in Alina Mueller and Chloe Aurard. All told, NU has 8 players in double-digit point territory and with Frankl in net, NU is tough to beat.
• Robert Morris University has been to the NCAA’s before and they know the drill, win your conference tournament or go home. They had a strong second half of the year going 7-2 in their last nine game. Overall, the Colonials finished the season 16-7-1 playing a total of 24 games – more than any other team in the country. They led by Sophomore goaltender Raygan Kirk who has some impressive stats herself — a 1.68 GAA and a .945 SV % while winning eight of the thirteen games she played, including the CHA championship game. To NU’s 8 players with double-digit points, RMU has eleven – four are seniors led by Lexi Templeman 29 points.
• Northeastern Video Preview

#5 MN-Duluth vs. #4 Colgate | Monday March 15, 7pm EST | Link to Live Stream on NCAA.com

• MN-Duluth is in the tournament as the #5 seed after having played just seventeen games this year, fewest of any tournament team. They finished the year with an overall record of 11-6-0, good for a .647 winning % and one win each over Ohio State and Wisconsin. Seven of their seventeen games were against ranked teams–Minnesota twice, Ohio State for three, and Wisconsin for two. They are led from the net out in Swedish star Junior Emma Soderberg who has played in 94.5% of the time this year good for a 1.60 GAA and a .941 save %. Offensively Senior Anna Klein and Junior Gabbie Hughes lead the way with 21 pts. a piece. On the blueline, Senior Ashton Bell leads an experienced group of D.
• Colgate the tourney’s #4 seed, has played on the big stage before making it to the national championship game in 2017-2018 losing to Clarkson 2-1 in OT. Colgate is ‘battle tested’ having played fifteen of its twenty-two games vs. ranked opponents at some point this year. Ten of those vs. Clarkson alone and 5 vs. Quinnipiac. Freshman Kayle Osborne leads the way for the Raiders in net with a 1.74 GAA and .925 SV %. Colgate’s offense is led by a talented group of soph’s in Danielle Serdachny and Sammi Smigliani. Freshman Kalty Kaltounkova is second in team scoring with six goals and twelve assists for eighteen points behind Serdachny’s twenty-one points.
• Duluth Video Preview

Sifters…

NCAA Tourney to Have Limited Number of Fans… It was announced earlier this week the the NCAA tournament will allow fans up to 15% capacity for all seven games taking in account local and state restrictions. You can find the story HERE and tickets can be purchased online HERE. Erie Insurance Arena has roughly 6,700 seats for hockey which would put attendance at about a max. of 1,000 fans per game.

Awards… With the NCAA tournament coming up, that means it’s awards season. New this year is a national goaltender of the year award (yet to be named) from the women’s hockey commissioners association. The top 10 finalists have been named. Hockey East and the WCHA lead the way with three nominees each. Six of the ten will be in the NCAA tournament. You can see the full list HERE.

Also announced are the top 10 finalists for the Patty Kaz. award. Click HERE for the list of Top 10 finalists. Northeastern leads the pack with three nominees, Clarkson and Wisconsin each have two. The WCHA as a conference leads the way with four nominees total. A group of three finalists will be named March 18th with the winner announced March 27th.

USA Hockey and Hockey Canada Announce Worlds Camp Rosters… For now anyway, the IIHF Senior Women’s World Championships is a go and both the U.S. and Canada have named their respective training camp rosters in preparation of team selection.

Canada… Hockey Canada named 35 players to attend their training camp in Halifax, Nova Scotia that ran from March 1-7. You can find the camp roster HERE. Princeton Junior forward Sarah Fillier was the only player on the camp roster who currently plays in the NCAA. USA Hockey has invited 46 players to its evaluation training camp in Blaine, MN March 24-30. You can view the camp roster HERE. The World Championships are slated to take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia May 6-16.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Streaming Info

-Streams for games in the ECAC can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the ECAC.

-Streams in the WCHA can be found HERE for homes games at Bemidji, MSU-Mankato, MN-Duluth, and St. Cloud. Streams for home games at Minnesota, Ohio St., and Wisconsin can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games in the WCHA.

Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE and all streams FREE of charge for the 20-21 season.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. home games can be found HERE. Penn St. home game are streamed on the Big Ten Network + and can be found HERE.