Category Archives: NCAA Tournament

Post #78 – 11/11/22 – Polls & Scheds, Attendance, Problem Solving, Upcoming Events, ICYMI

Posted on November 11, 2022 by Grant Kimball Leave a comment

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Click any of the links below to jump to that section. At the bottom of each section, click the ‘ (Back to Top) ‘ link to return to the top of the post.

Polls & WKND Sched

Attendance

Problem Solving

Sifters

ICYMI

Polls & WKND Sched

DCU/USCHO Division I Poll – November 7, 2022

Rnk	Team	Record	Last Poll
1	Minnesota (20)	9-0-1	1
2	Ohio State	10-1-1	2
3	Wisconsin	10-2-0	3
4	Colgate	11-1-0	6
5	Quinnipiac	10-1-0	4
6	Yale	4-0-0	8
7	Minnesota Duluth	7-5-0	5
8	Northeastern	10-1-1	7
9	Cornell	5-1-0	9
10	Providence	9-2-1	12
11	Clarkson	10-3-1	10
12	Penn State	8-5-1	11
13	Vermont	7-4-1	13
14	Connecticut	8-4-2	NR
15	Princeton	1-3-0	14

First place votes in parentheses ( )

Others receiving votes: St. Lawrence 14, Boston College 6, Mercyhurst 3, St. Cloud State 3, Harvard 1

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine College Hockey Poll

(Week Nine Poll)

First-place votes in parentheses

RANK	SCHOOL	LAST WEEK’S RANKING	2022-23 RECORD	WEEKS IN TOP 15
1.	University of Minnesota, 282 (18)	1	9-1-1	9
2.	Ohio State University, 263 (1)	2	10-1-1	9
3.	University of Wisconsin, 233	3	10-2-0	9
4.	Quinnipiac University, 207	4	10-1-0	9
5.	Colgate University, 203	6	11-1-0	9
6.	Yale University, 191	8	4-0-0	9
7.	Northeastern University, 180	7	10-1-1	9
8.	University of Minnesota Duluth, 166	5	7-5-0	9
9.	Cornell University, 143	9	5-1-0	9
10.	Providence College, 100	12	9-2-1	4
11.	Clarkson University, 90	10	10-3-1	9
12.	Penn State University, 75	11	8-5-1	8
13.	University of Vermont, 68	14	7-4-1	9
14.	University of Connecticut, 30	NR	9-1-1	4
15.	Princeton University, 22	13	1-3-0	9

Others Receiving Votes: St. Lawrence University, 14; Boston College, 7; St. Cloud State University, 3; Mercyhurst University, 2; University of Maine, 1.

Notes: The ECAC leads with seven teams in the ranking, while the WCHA has four, the HEA has three and the CHA has one… Team records are listed as W-L-T.

About the Poll: The 26th annual USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women’s College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the six NCAA Division I ice hockey conferences, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey.

Division I WKND Schedule

Thursday November 10, 2022

St. Thomas vs. Lindenwood

St. Lawrence vs. Clarkson

Friday November 11, 2022

St. Thomas vs. Lindenwood (NC)

Boston College vs. Northeastern

Boston University vs. Vermont

Minnesota-Duluth vs. St. Cloud State

RIT vs. Union (NC)

Saint Anselm vs. Franklin Pierce

Stonehill vs. Sacred Heart

Merrimack vs. New Hampshire

Colgate vs. Harvard

Cornell vs. Dartmouth

Holy Cross vs. Maine

Syracuse vs. Princeton (NC)

Providence vs. Connecticut

Long Island vs. Saint Michael’s

Saturday November 12, 2022

Cornell vs. Harvard

Colgate vs. Dartmouth

Northeastern vs. Boston College

UNH vs. Merrimack

Holy Cross vs. Maine

Boston Univ. vs. Vermont

Connecticut vs. Providence

MN-Duluth vs. St. Cloud

Franklin Pierce vs. Saint Anselm

Stonehill vs. Sacred Heart

Long Island vs. Saint Michael’s

Clarkson vs. St. Lawrence (NC)

Syracuse vs. Princeton (NC)

RIT vs. Union (NC)

Sunday November 13, 2022

Brown vs. Penn State

Monday November 14, 2022

Brown vs. Penn State

Conference Standings as of 11/9/22

ECAC

RNK	Team	Points
1	Yale	12
2	Quinnipiac	12
3	Cornell	9
4	Harvard	7
5	Clarkson	6
6	St. Lawrence	6
7	Colgate	6
8	Brown	5
9	Dartmouth	4
10	Union	3.5
11	Princeton	3
12	Rensselaer	1.5

Hockey East

RNK	Team	Points
1	Northeastern	26
2	Providence	18
3	Vermont	18
4	Connecticut	15
5	Boston College	14
6	Maine	12
7	Merrimack	10
8	Boston University	8
9	New Hampshire	8
10	Holy Cross	3

NEWHA

RNK	Team	Points
1	Saint Anselm	18
2	Stonehill	16
3	Long Island	12
4	Sacred Heart	10
5	Franklin Pierce	6
6	Saint Michael’s	4
7	Post	4

CHA

RNK	Team	Points
1	Syracuse	12
2	Penn State	9
3	Mercyhurst	3
4	Lindenwood	0
4	RIT	0

*NCAA Tourney Auto-bid is retained until the end of 22-23. Robert Morris Univ. will re-join the CHA for the 23-24 season as its 6th member meeting the NCAA Tourney Auto-bid requirement.

WCHA

RNK	Team	Points
1	Ohio State	31
2	Minnesota	27
3	Wisconsin	21
4	St. Cloud State	16
5	Minnesota State	10
6	Minnesota-Duluth	9
7	Bemidji State	3
8	St. Thomas	0

DCU/USCHO Division III Poll November 7, 2022

Rnk	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Middlebury	(19)	0-0-0	299	1
2	Gustavus	(1)	3-0-0	274	2
3	Plattsburgh		2-0-0	262	3
4	Elmira		3-0-0	235	4
5	Nazareth		2-0-0	206	6
6	UW-River Falls		1-1-0	170	7
7	Adrian		4-0-0	163	10
8	UW-Eau Claire		3-1-0	161	5
9	Norwich		2-0-0	151	11
10	Colby		0-0-0	140	8
11	Endicott		3-1-0	90	9
12	Amherst		0-0-0	77	12
13	Cortland		2-0-0	63	14
14	Augsburg		1-3-0	32	13
15	Aurora		3-1-0	22	15
15	Hamilton		0-0-0	22	NR

Others receiving votes: Williams 11, St. Norbert 7, Hamline 6, Utica 4, Lake Forest 3, UW-Superior 2

D-III WKND Schedule

Friday November 11, 2022

SUNY-Potsdam vs. Plattsburgh

Oswego St. vs. SUNY-Morrisville

Nazareth vs. Wilkes

New England College vs. Plymouth St.

William Smith vs. Elmira

Nichols vs. Suffolk

Salem St. vs. UMASS-Boston

Norwich vs. Castleton

SUNY-Cortland vs. Buffalo St.

Concordia-Wisconsin vs. Trine

Neumann vs.. Stevenson

Utica vs. Kings

Hilbert vs. SUNY-Canton

So. Maine vs. Johnson & Wales

Anna Maria vs. Alvernia

Manhattanville vs. Lebanon Valley

Curry vs. Univ. of New England

Salve Regina vs. Worcester St.

Aurora vs. Finlandia

Chatham vs. Arcadia

Lawrence vs. St. Norbert

Wis. Eau-Claire vs. Northland

Saint Benedict vs. Concordia-Morehead (MN)

Endicott vs. Western New England

Augsburg vs. St. Catherine

Bethel vs. St. Olaf

Hamiline vs. St. Mary’s

Wisconsin Stevens-Point vs. River Falls

Saturday November 12, 2022

Stevenson vs. Nuemann

Concordia vs. Trine

Plattsburgh vs. SUNY-Potsdam

Hilbert vs. SUNY-Canton

Anna Maria vs. Alvernia

Manhattanville vs. Lebanon Valley

St. Catherine vs. Augsburg

UW River-Falls vs. Northland

New England College vs. Castleton

SUNY-Morrisville vs. Oswego St.

St. Olaf vs. Bethel

Utica vs. King’s (PA)

University of New England vs. Curry

SUNY-Cortland vs. Buffalo St.

Saint Mary’s vs. Hamline

Southern Maine vs. UMASS-Boston

Nazareth vs. Wilkes

Chatham vs. Arcadia

Norwich vs. Plymouth

St. Norbert vs. Lawrence

Salem State vs. Johnson & Wales

Aurora vs. Finlandia

Elmira vs. William Smith

Western New England vs. Endicott

Suffolk vs.. Nichols

Marian vs. Adrian

Gustavus vs. St. Scholastica

Concordia-Morehead vs. Saint Benedict

Wisconsin Eau-Claire vs. Wisconsin Superior

Sunday November 13, 2022

Rivier (NH) vs. Assumption

Marian vs. Adrian

Worcester St. vs. Salve Regina

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Attendance

Below you will find comprehensive D-I attendance figures for all teams, found on USCHO. It is in order of average attendance per game. You can download these numbers below and sort how you want. Interesting to see. As of today there will have been 40 Friday games with a start time of 5pm or earlier, most around the the 2pm time frame.

How can you build an interest or a fan base when games start at 2, 3, 4, or 5pm on a Friday?

22-23-D-I-Attendance-Figures-as-of-11-8-22 Download

Some takeaways:

Maine has had the most home dates thus far with 10
Wisconsin leads the way with an ave per game attendance at 2,223 and a 97.8% capacity figure. Next is Minnesota at 40.9%
Only 2 teams have averages per game over 1,000 and only one team (Wisco) is averaging more than 2k per game
As for a breakdown…
- 1 team in the 2k’s
- 1 team in the 1K’s
- 1 team in the 800’s
- 1 team in the 700’s
- 2 teams in the 600’s
- 4 teams in the 500’s
- 6 teams in the 400’s
- 8 teams in the 300’s
- 8 teams in the 200’s
- 8 teams in the 100’s
- 2 teams below 100
  - Unfortunately – only 23.8% of D-I programs are drawing more than 500 fans per game.
Total attendance across D-I to date in the season is 94,590
Most Saturday games are play in the early to mid-afternoons. In fact, only 10 Saturday games to date out of 102 have had a start time of 6pm local time or later.

Women’s Division I Hockey Attendance: 2022-2023

Rank	Team	Dates	Total Attendance	Average Attendance	Capacity	Cap. %
1	Wisconsin	6	13,338	2,223	2,273	97.8
2	Minnesota	6	8,349	1,392	3,400	40.9
3	Minnesota Duluth	4	3,495	874	6,756	12.9
4	Yale	2	1,586	793	3,486	22.7
5	Colgate	6	4,105	684	2,222	30.8
6	Princeton	2	1,237	618	2,100	29.5
7	Mercyhurst	6	3,551	592	1,300	45.5
8	Penn State	8	4,675	584	5,782	10.1
9	Clarkson	5	2,822	564	3,000	18.8
10	Ohio State	6	3,180	530	1,200	44.2
11	Boston University	6	2,947	491	3,684	13.3
11	New Hampshire	6	2,947	491	6,501	7.6
13	St. Lawrence	6	2,729	455	3,000	15.2
14	Quinnipiac	5	2,241	448	3,086	14.5
15	Harvard	4	1,770	442	3,095	14.3
16	Dartmouth	2	810	405	4,500	9
17	Connecticut	8	3,174	397	2,000	19.8
18	Northeastern	6	2,324	387	4,747	8.2
19	RIT	3	1,126	375	4,300	8.7
20	Vermont	6	2,207	368	4,007	9.2
21	St. Thomas	6	2,169	362	1,400	25.8
22	Cornell	4	1,412	353	4,267	8.3
23	Bemidji State	8	2,737	342	4,373	7.8
24	Boston College	6	1,883	314	7,884	4
25	Union	2	585	292	2,225	13.1
26	St. Cloud State	6	1,641	274	5,159	5.3
27	Minnesota State	6	1,491	248	4,832	5.1
28	Maine	10	2,273	227	5,124	4.4
28	St. Anselm	7	1,589	227	2,700	8.4
30	Brown	3	642	214	2,495	8.6
31	Syracuse	5	1,065	213	350	60.9
32	Sacred Heart	5	1,059	212	—	—
33	Holy Cross	7	1,384	198	1,400	14.1
34	St. Michael’s	2	359	180	600	29.9
35	LIU	3	529	176	—	—
36	Merrimack	7	1,221	174	2,549	6.8
37	Rensselaer	6	1,030	172	5,217	3.3
38	Lindenwood	2	323	162	—	—
39	Providence	8	1,290	161	3,030	5.3
40	Stonehill	8	1,135	142	1,000	14.2
41	Franklin Pierce	3	219	73	—	—
42	Post	4	264	66	—	—

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Problem Solving – More Officials

Officiating doesn’t have a numbers problem. It has a system problem and it is broken. The numbers have always been there – in fact they are right in front of our eyes. Hundreds of thousands of them. They’re called players. It’s who every person in charge of getting more officials into the game talks about… “hey, we want officials who have played the game”. Problem is, in the officiating world, the system of becoming one, winds up being one of choice rather than having the opportunity to begin with.

We have been told since mid-last year that officiating numbers across the US and Canada are dwindling and there are major problems. So much so, that a state like MN is contemplating a rule that forbids teams to schedule multiple games in a day. There’s just not enough officials to work the amount of games. Youth hockey has this problem and so too does NCAA men’s & women’s hockey. Leagues are losing numbers and quality people with experience.

So how do you increase the pool of officials without deteriorating the quality? Age old questions for sure.

You could pay officials more, right? But then, everyone would have to pay more.

The model of attracting new officials is old, outdated, and frankly, difficult. You offer learn-to-ref clinics, put up some posters in the local rink, take and pass a test, get certified, get scheduled to work games, etc. But in these post pandemic days – it’s hard. Who wants to get screamed at by some loose-cannon hockey parent for an hour + on a Saturday afternoon for $20-$40. No thanks. You ever try and ask someone to sign up for something? It’s hard, it takes work, follow up, phone calls, emails, texts, etc. and worst of all, you have no control over who signs up – totally out of your hands.

Now, I don’t know what the percentages would be, but I’d bet most hockey officials played the game at even a bare bones organized house league level. I mean they have to learn to skate somewhere right?

The model has always been – have people who are interested in officiating sign up. At the higher levels, it’s a bit more of a recruitment process. But basically, at the local levels, offer a certification program, charge a fee, take a test and bam – you’re an official. It’s a model based on filtering or bringing people in. It’s a choice for people to do or not.

Well, what if you flipped the model? Instead of filtering new officials in, what if you filtered officials out?

What if the system was… you’re a young child and you want to play organized hockey, awesome. Guess what, as part of a players trajectory from age level – to age level, you are going to be introduced to officiating at the appropriate age, (holy-smokes you’ll even learn the rules of the game–which when you’re starting out as a player is kind of important!). You’ll have a chance to become an official because it’s part of the program of becoming a registered player. It’s what you do.

On the elite side of things, imagine if every player, male and female who attended a player development program/camp for USA Hockey or Hockey Canada walked away with being certified to be an official? You have an elite pool of players at your finger tips who probably have the one skill necessary to be an elite official – skating.

A few things would happen… 1) You would grow the pool of officials exponentially from a younger age. And when the pool grows – the numbers of talented officials would grow too. 2) Instead of trying to rope new officials in – officials rope themselves in because they want to learn to play the game. 3) The culture around officiating would change drastically. If just about every registered player knew what officiating was like – AND ALSO KNEW THE RULES OF HOCKEY, the abuse would drop drastically. There’s no doubt coaches and players would respect one another more. 4) Financially, the coffers would grow. Sure there would be a cost to do something like this, but that can be off-set w/ increased participation registration fees. You always have thousands more players register to play than those who choose to sign up to get certified to become an official. 5) As players go through this type of program from a younger age – some will filter themselves out of officiating – while many, many more will stay in it because they’ve done it for so long, enjoy doing it, and perhaps may see a career path with it.

Outside the box idea for sure. But with all the issues, something drastic has to be done.

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Sifters

Upcoming Events… There usually aren’t a lot of in-season tournaments or special events during the course of the D-I or D-III season, but with Thanksgiving and the holidays approaching, there will be some. Here’s a partial list:

Las Vegas Showcase, Boston University, Penn State, Minnesota, Yale, Nov. 25-26
Nutmeg Classic, Bemidji, UCONN, Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac, Nov. 25-26
Smashville Showcase, Cornell, Northeastern, Princeton,
Mayor’s Cup, Providence vs Brown, Nov. 26
East/West Showcase, St. Cloud, Minnesota, UNH, Merrimack, Jan. 6-7
Capital District Mayors Cup, Union & RPI, Jan. 28
The Beanpot, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, Northeastern, Feb 7 & 14

History Made… It is believed to be a first in D-I as two black female assistant coaches faced off vs. one another when Union College’s Olivia Soares faced Dartmouth College’s Nina Rogers last weekend. The story made NHL.com which you can read HERE.

New Poll… For those who don’t know about The Ice Garden, you should. It’s a SB Nation blow/website that covers the PHF and all things professional women’s hockey. They also do their own NCAA D-I Women’s Poll each week. You can catch that right HERE.

NLI Signings… The National Letter of Intent signing period was last week which allowed players a chance to sign their scholarship paperwork. Programs usually will announce recent signings after this period on their websites – so stay tuned!

ECAC News… Big news out of the ECAC this week as we learned the ECAC Women’s and Men’s playoffs will feature all 12 teams. While no specific playoff structure was announced for the women, it’s believed the they will follow the men’s side. Teams 1-4 will get a bye in the first round while teams 5-8 will host seeds 9-12 in a one game single elimination format. Winners would move on to play in a quarter-final best-of-three series hosted by seeds 1-4 the following weekend. Those winners would move on to the championship semi-finals and finals each. being one game. You can read the official story HERE. The change for the women takes effect in 2024 while the men’s side will see the new format this season.

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ICYMI… Post #77

We’re starting a new section to our blog called… In Case You Missed It or ICYMI. If you didn’t get the chance to read out last post, now you can. Will will begin putting out previous Pipeline posts at the bottom of our current one. Check it out below.

The Women’s College Hockey Pipeline…

Stay informed. Get educated. Become ‘HOCKEY-WISE’ !

Your leading online resource for NCAA Women’s College Hockey

Lots of New

There’s a whole lot of new coming into the 22-23 NCAA hockey season. New teams, new coaches, old players on new teams, new rules, new polls, and a new auto-bid to the NCAA tourney. You get the picture – Let’s dive in!

NEW TEAMS DROP THE PUCK

Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts just outside Boston becomes the NEWHA’s 7th member as they begin play as a first-year NCAA D-I program under first-year Head Coach Tara Watchorn. Thus far, the Skyhawks are 4-3-1 with 4 strait wins in NEWHA play sweeping Post and St. Mike’s after dropping their first two NCAA contests to UCONN 7-1 and 3-2. The Skyhawks have since tied and lost to Brown 2-2 and 3-1 last week.
At Division III, the Hilbert College Hawks out of Hamburg, NY south of Buffalo, get underway this year as an D-III Independent. Their first NCAA games are set for October 28 & 29 when the travel to face Alvernia and Lebanon Valley. The Milwaukee School of Engineering hit the re-set button on starting their program and will begin lay in ’23-’24. Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT has made its hire in Steve Novodor and will put a team on the ice next season in 23-24.

NEW COACHES

This was the most active year for coaching/support staff changes in recent memory. 71 changes in total have been made to date. There are a few D-III positions still to be announced, so we’ll eclipse the 70+ mark. That is a lot of turnover.

6 new head coaches get behind the bench this year for D-I programs and 2 more begin the program building process. You have new bench. bosses in Hockey East-Maine, NEWHA-Long Island Univ., Post Univ., and Stonehill College, CHA-Syracuse, WCHA-St. Cloud. 2 more Head Coaches are building programs virtually from the ground up in Robert Morris University (back in the CHA after being cut in 2021) and Assumption College who is making the transition from ACHA Club status to NCAA D-I and the 8th member of the NEWHA.

An astounding 13 new head coaches have been hired in D-III to start the 22-23 season, 10 of which are changes to existing programs.

OLD PLAYERS, NEW TEAMS

In Division I for the 21-22 season, we saw 85 graduate transfers on D-I rosters. Glancing at each schools’ rosters this season in 22-23, we find a total of 95 graduate transfers at the D-I level, an increase of 10 players. That’s right around a third of all players usually taken in a typical recruiting class. We’ll use 6 players as the average number of recruits a program takes per year.

This trend won’t go away until all players who were granted a 5th year due to COVID by the NCAA, exhaust their eligibility. Which, barring any unforeseen circumstances, should be in the Spring of 2025 and means the 25-26 season should have very few if any grad. transfers.

Year 1 = 20-21 (initial COVID year), Year 2 = 21-22, Year 3 = 22-23, Year 4 = 23-24, Year 5 = 24-25

NEW RULES

The 22-23 season begins a new 2-year cycle for the NCAA men’s & women’s ice hockey rules committee to introduce new rules and legislation into the game. New changes with significance this year:

Offsides: A player shall be considered onside if the skate is over the blue line when the puck enters the attacking zone, which is the rule used in the National Hockey League. Previously, the skate was required to be in contact with the blue line.
Video Review: Coaches Challenges – coaches may challenge a reviewable play. If the play is not reversed, a timeout will be charged for the unsuccessful challenge. Any subsequent unsuccessful challenges would result in a minor penalty for delay of game.
Overtime/Shootouts – will remain 3v3 with conference rules to determine if a shootout will be used after a 5-min 3v3 OT period is played.
Major Penalty Option… officials [have] an option of a major (five-minute) penalty without an ejection. An educational video will be developed to illustrate the differences between a major penalty by itself and a major penalty with an ejection.
High sticking in defensive zone: To be consistent with a hand pass infraction in the defensive zone, when the defensive team high sticks the puck in the defensive zone, the team will not be able to change its players.
Covering puck in crease: The committee added covering the puck in the crease by a skater as a reviewable play through a coach’s challenge.

BODY CONTACT

The NCAA Ice Hockey Women’s Rules Committee members as well as the body of coaches and school administrators, feel legal body contact has been penalized far too often. So in an attempt to have greater consistency across all NCAA divisions and conferences, the women’s rules committee requested language around the rules of body contact be clarified and a supplemental video produced and distributed.

The end result – 11 minutes and 18 seconds of video clips and voice-over clarifications and explanations of what legal and illegal body contact is as defined by the NCAA Ice Hockey Women’s Rules Committee. Here are the takeaways:

Legal body contact may consist of:
- Use of Angling
- Use of Size, Strength and Balance to play the puck
- Use of Body Position to control or gain possession of puck
- incidental collision may occur and should not be penalized
- There is no distinct hip, shoulder, arm or stick contact to physically force the opponent off the puck
Illegal Body Contact–Principles of the continued enforcement standard
- The use of the stick will be limited to only playing the puck
- The stick will not be allowed to in any way impede a players progress
- The use of a free hand/arm will not be allowed to grab or impede a player’s progress
- Players who use their physical skills and/or anticipation and have a positional advantage shall not lose that advantage as a result of illegal acts by the opponent
- Players will be held accountable for acts of an intimidating or dangerous nature

Through the first few weeks of the season, it’s been an adjustment for everyone – officials and players. But the early comments from most coaches seem to indicate they really like the direction. It does seem like less penalties are being called, judging from a quick scan of box scores as compared with memory from early last season. It will be interesting to see the number of body contact/illegal checking penalties called this season vs. last.

NEW NATIONAL POLLS

Good bye top 10, hello top 15. The two leading major media outlets that publicize national polls for D-I and D-III women’s hockey, USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (just D-I), will now have a weekly Top 15 National Poll to accommodate the increase of teams selected to the NCAA Tournament – which is now at 11 teams. For years, national polls have always listed 10 teams. Below are the weekly polls as of this week.

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DCU/USCHO Division I Poll October 31, 2022

Rnk	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Minnesota	(18)	7-0-1	298	2
2	Ohio State	(1)	8-1-1	278	1
3	Wisconsin		10-2-0	242	3
4	Quinnipiac	(1)	9-0-0	231	7
5	Minnesota Duluth		7-3-0	226	5
6	Colgate		10-1-0	211	4
7	Northeastern		8-1-1	182	6
8	Yale		2-0-0	145	9
9	Cornell		3-1-0	132	8
10	Clarkson		10-1-1	122	10
11	Penn State		7-4-1	95	12
12	Providence		7-2-1	92	13
13	Vermont		5-4-1	54	14
14	Princeton		0-2-0	44	10
15	Boston College		6-3-1	31	15

Others receiving votes: St. Lawrence 11, Harvard 3, Connecticut 2, Maine 1

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women’s College Hockey Poll

November 1, 2022

RNK	Team	Points	(First Place Votes)	Last Poll	Record	Weeks in Poll
1	University of Minnesota	283	(17)	2	7-0-1	8
2	Ohio State University	264	(1)	1	8-1-1	8
3	University of Wisconsin	233		3	10-2-0	8
4	Quinnipiac University	221	(1)	7	9-0-0	8
5	University of Minnesota Duluth	204		6	7-3-0	8
6	Colgate University	187		4	10-1-0	8
7	Northeastern University	181		5	8-1-1	8
8	Yale University	152		8	2-0-0	8
9	Cornell University	129		9	3-1-0	8
10	Clarkson University	116		11	10-1-1	8
11	Penn State University	87		12	7-4-1	7
12	Providence College	73		13	7-2-1	8
13	Princeton University	55		10	0-2-0	8
14	University of Vermont	45		14	5-4-1	8
15	Boston College	28		15	6-3-1	6

Others receiving votes: St. Lawrence University 5, Harvard University 3, University of Connecticut 2, University of Maine 2.

DCU/USCHO Division III Poll October 31, 2022

Rnk	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Middlebury	(20)	0-0-0	300	1
2	Gustavus		1-0-0	275	2
3	Plattsburgh		0-0-0	262	3
4	Elmira		1-0-0	234	4
5	UW-Eau Claire		2-0-0	215	6
6	Nazareth		0-0-0	183	7
7	UW-River Falls		0-1-0	180	5
8	Colby		0-0-0	141	8
9	Endicott		1-0-0	134	9
10	Adrian		2-0-0	113	12
11	Norwich		0-0-0	105	11
12	Amherst		0-0-0	87	10
13	Augsburg		1-1-0	45	NR
14	Cortland		0-0-0	35	13
15	Aurora		2-0-0	29	14

Others receiving votes: Hamilton 24, Utica 11, Hamline 10, Williams 7, Lake Forest 6, Oswego 3, St. Norbert 1

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Staffs Are Set

It’s been a long Summer and Fall tracking all of the coaching and support staff changes across D-I and D-III. In all, 71 staff changes have taken place to date. And we still have a few more on the D-III side to go before the season gets underway in the next 3 weeks. Why so many changes? Hard to put a finger on one ‘thing’. Professional playing opportunities are paying better and attracting younger female coaches who still want to play. But, that’s a minor trend. Lot’s of head coach turnover, which can mean assistant coach turnover as new head coaches look to bring in their own people. Are coaches throwing in the towel and leaving the profession at the NCAA level, yes to some degree. Based on our data, of the coaches who have been hired as a head or assistant at D-I or D-III, a little less than 40% have no NCAA coaching experience. The coaches who leave programs (let go or otherwise) aren’t necessarily being rehired by other programs, which is a much more common occurrence on the men’s side.

For a complete D-I and D-III list of coaching and professional staff changes to date, click HERE for our google sheet Coaching Changes Tracker.

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Recruiting Update

As October has come and gone, the 2023 D-I recruiting process is on the mind of many players, parents, and coaches alike, D-III as well. Those graduating high school in 2022 or 2023 has been engaged in the process since June 15 of the respective year they were allowed to begin communication. The graduate transfer player pool is usually the last to make their commitments given the timing of when transfers typically make commitments – late Feb/March. So while teams may have ‘space’ or scholarship money left, you can bet many programs are saving it for graduate transfer options.

The first wave of D-I commitments for the class of 2024 usually ends around this time of year. And let’s be honest, making a decision where to spend your college years is not that easy. It takes some time and many factors are involved. For players in grade 11 who have been engaged in the process since June 15 – we’re about the 4.5 month-mark right now. More players will make decisions in the coming weeks and months. Others still will wait to find the right school, hockey program and best fit for them.

On the evaluation side of things… there are still plenty of competitive opportunities between now and when the D-I Women’s Hockey Quiet Period begins, usually in the latter half of April. In December, the USA-Canada Cup in Kitchener always attracts competitive teams from across North America. January 8-15, the IIHF U18 World Championships will be held in Sweden. The Canada Winter Games, which is Canada’s version of the Winter Olympics held every 4 years takes place on Prince Edward Island Feb. 18 to March 5. The USA Hockey National Championships and MN Girls National Development Camp Tryout phase events usually round out the last major events. Bottom line, there are plenty of hockey for coaches to watch and evaluate players.

What’s really interesting to watch will be two things: 1) The changing dynamic of recruiting 5th year grad transfer players and 2) How the new standard of allowable body contact impacts recruiting decisions. Will size and physicality be more of a priority?

Some notables:

There are two more D-I teams coming online next fall – Robert Morris University (CHA) and Assumption College (NEWHA). Both are basically looking to build their rosters from the ground up. And grad transfers could be a big part of the recruiting equation for both schools. So there could be more grad transfers taken next year than in years passed.
If the past two seasons are any indication, more than a third of a typical recruiting class is likely to come from graduate transfers. 85 grad transfers were on rosters during 21-22. In 22-23 there are 95. Perhaps more in the next 2 years?
A typical recruiting class is around 6 players, that equates to 264 spots across D-I. (44 teams x 6 players). next season with RMU and Assumption, that number will increase by 2 full teams’ worth of players – let’s assume 24 players per team–add 48 more players and you’re around the 310 mark. 95 grad transfers would be 30% of the class. That leaves 215 spots to be split up between players graduating high school in ’23 and ’24. That’s at least 215 non-grad transfer players. Roughly 30 U18 national team players from various countries take up spots, and now you’re down to 185 spots left. MN as a state has over 100 varsity High School teams… needless to say, you have to be darn good to get an offer at the D-I level. The environment is as competitive as ever.
Player height/size is always something coaches consider when recruiting and it could become more of a factor in future recruiting decisions. Why? There is a coordinated effort from conference director of officials to standardize play across each conference with respect to body contact. Gone will be the days of the WCHA being ‘the most physical conference’.

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Until Next Time… Enjoy and Happy Reading!

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Grant Kimball is founder and contributing writer at Women’s College Hockey.org and beginning his 4th season as an Assistant Coach with the Yale University women’s hockey program. Grant has developed an experienced perspective in the world of women’s ice hockey, having coached and recruited players from across the globe during his 25+ year amateur and NCAA coaching career. He has coached at 6 NCAA DIII and DI programs in the NCHA (D3), the CHA, WCHA, Hockey East, ECAC, and the Ivy League (DI). Beyond coaching, Grant served as a site representative for the 2019 NCAA quarterfinal of the D-I NCAA Tournament. He also currently serves as an Officer with the American Hockey Coaches Association as Vice President of Membership and sits on the AHCA’s Women’s Hockey Executive Committee.

Post #77 – 11/3/22 – Lots of New, Staffs Are Set, Recruiting Update, Sifters, ICYMI

Posted on November 3, 2022 by Grant Kimball Leave a comment

Stay informed. Get educated. Become ‘HOCKEY-WISE’!

The Women’s College Hockey Pipeline…

Your leading online resource for NCAA Women’s College Hockey

Latest From… The Women’s College Hockey Podcast – Episode #3B…

Episode #3A Part I – Is Now LIVE|The Recap

Click any of the links below to jump to that section. At the bottom of each section, click the ‘ (Back to Top) ‘ link to return to the top of the post.

Lots of New

Staffs Are Set

Recruiting Update

Sifters

ICYMI

Lots of New

NEW TEAMS DROP THE PUCK

Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts just outside Boston becomes the NEWHA’s 7th member as they begin play as a first-year NCAA D-I program under first-year Head Coach Tara Watchorn. Thus far, the Skyhawks are 4-3-1 with 4 strait wins in NEWHA play sweeping Post and St. Mike’s after dropping their first two NCAA contests to UCONN 7-1 and 3-2. The Skyhawks have since tied and lost to Brown 2-2 and 3-1 last week.
At Division III, the Hilbert College Hawks out of Hamburg, NY south of Buffalo, get underway this year as an D-III Independent. Their first NCAA games are set for October 28 & 29 when the travel to face Alvernia and Lebanon Valley. The Milwaukee School of Engineering hit the re-set button on starting their program and will begin lay in ’23-’24. Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT has made its hire in Steve Novodor and will put a team on the ice next season in 23-24.

NEW COACHES

An astounding 13 new head coaches have been hired in D-III to start the 22-23 season, 10 of which are changes to existing programs.

OLD PLAYERS, NEW TEAMS

Year 1 = 20-21 (initial COVID year), Year 2 = 21-22, Year 3 = 22-23, Year 4 = 23-24, Year 5 = 24-25

NEW RULES

The 22-23 season begins a new 2-year cycle for the NCAA men’s & women’s ice hockey rules committee to introduce new rules and legislation into the game. New changes with significance this year:

Offsides: A player shall be considered onside if the skate is over the blue line when the puck enters the attacking zone, which is the rule used in the National Hockey League. Previously, the skate was required to be in contact with the blue line.
Video Review: Coaches Challenges – coaches may challenge a reviewable play. If the play is not reversed, a timeout will be charged for the unsuccessful challenge. Any subsequent unsuccessful challenges would result in a minor penalty for delay of game.
Overtime/Shootouts – will remain 3v3 with conference rules to determine if a shootout will be used after a 5-min 3v3 OT period is played.
Major Penalty Option… officials [have] an option of a major (five-minute) penalty without an ejection. An educational video will be developed to illustrate the differences between a major penalty by itself and a major penalty with an ejection.
High sticking in defensive zone: To be consistent with a hand pass infraction in the defensive zone, when the defensive team high sticks the puck in the defensive zone, the team will not be able to change its players.
Covering puck in crease: The committee added covering the puck in the crease by a skater as a reviewable play through a coach’s challenge.

BODY CONTACT

Legal body contact may consist of:
- Use of Angling
- Use of Size, Strength and Balance to play the puck
- Use of Body Position to control or gain possession of puck
- incidental collision may occur and should not be penalized
- There is no distinct hip, shoulder, arm or stick contact to physically force the opponent off the puck
Illegal Body Contact–Principles of the continued enforcement standard
- The use of the stick will be limited to only playing the puck
- The stick will not be allowed to in any way impede a players progress
- The use of a free hand/arm will not be allowed to grab or impede a player’s progress
- Players who use their physical skills and/or anticipation and have a positional advantage shall not lose that advantage as a result of illegal acts by the opponent
- Players will be held accountable for acts of an intimidating or dangerous nature

NEW NATIONAL POLLS

DCU/USCHO Division I Women’s Poll – October 31, 2022

Rnk	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Minnesota	(18)	7-0-1	298	2
2	Ohio State	(1)	8-1-1	278	1
3	Wisconsin		10-2-0	242	3
4	Quinnipiac	(1)	9-0-0	231	7
5	Minnesota Duluth		7-3-0	226	5
6	Colgate		10-1-0	211	4
7	Northeastern		8-1-1	182	6
8	Yale		2-0-0	145	9
9	Cornell		3-1-0	132	8
10	Clarkson		10-1-1	122	10
11	Penn State		7-4-1	95	12
12	Providence		7-2-1	92	13
13	Vermont		5-4-1	54	14
14	Princeton		0-2-0	44	10
15	Boston College		6-3-1	31	15

Others receiving votes: St. Lawrence 11, Harvard 3, Connecticut 2, Maine 1

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women’s College Hockey Poll

November 1, 2022

RNK	Team	Points	(First Place Votes)	Last Poll	Record	Weeks in Poll
1	University of Minnesota	283	(17)	2	7-0-1	8
2	Ohio State University	264	(1)	1	8-1-1	8
3	University of Wisconsin	233		3	10-2-0	8
4	Quinnipiac University	221	(1)	7	9-0-0	8
5	University of Minnesota Duluth	204		6	7-3-0	8
6	Colgate University	187		4	10-1-0	8
7	Northeastern University	181		5	8-1-1	8
8	Yale University	152		8	2-0-0	8
9	Cornell University	129		9	3-1-0	8
10	Clarkson University	116		11	10-1-1	8
11	Penn State University	87		12	7-4-1	7
12	Providence College	73		13	7-2-1	8
13	Princeton University	55		10	0-2-0	8
14	University of Vermont	45		14	5-4-1	8
15	Boston College	28		15	6-3-1	6

Others receiving votes: St. Lawrence University 5, Harvard University 3, University of Connecticut 2, University of Maine 2.

DCU/USCHO Division III Women’s Poll – October 31, 2022

Rnk	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Middlebury	(20)	0-0-0	300	1
2	Gustavus		1-0-0	275	2
3	Plattsburgh		0-0-0	262	3
4	Elmira		1-0-0	234	4
5	UW-Eau Claire		2-0-0	215	6
6	Nazareth		0-0-0	183	7
7	UW-River Falls		0-1-0	180	5
8	Colby		0-0-0	141	8
9	Endicott		1-0-0	134	9
10	Adrian		2-0-0	113	12
11	Norwich		0-0-0	105	11
12	Amherst		0-0-0	87	10
13	Augsburg		1-1-0	45	NR
14	Cortland		0-0-0	35	13
15	Aurora		2-0-0	29	14

Others receiving votes: Hamilton 24, Utica 11, Hamline 10, Williams 7, Lake Forest 6, Oswego 3, St. Norbert 1

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Staffs Are Set

For a complete D-I and D-III list of coaching and professional staff changes to date, click HERE for our google sheet Coaching Changes Tracker.

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Recruiting Update

Some notables:

There are two more D-I teams coming online next fall – Robert Morris University (CHA) and Assumption College (NEWHA). Both are basically looking to build their rosters from the ground up. And grad transfers could be a big part of the recruiting equation for both schools. So there could be more grad transfers taken next year than in years passed.
If the past two seasons are any indication, more than a third of a typical recruiting class is likely to come from graduate transfers. 85 grad transfers were on rosters during 21-22. In 22-23 there are 95. Perhaps more in the next 2 years?
A typical recruiting class is around 6 players, that equates to 264 spots across D-I. (44 teams x 6 players). next season with RMU and Assumption, that number will increase by 2 full teams’ worth of players – let’s assume 24 players per team–add 48 more players and you’re around the 310 mark. 95 grad transfers would be 30% of the class. That leaves 215 spots to be split up between players graduating high school in ’23 and ’24. That’s at least 215 non-grad transfer players. Roughly 30 U18 national team players from various countries take up spots, and now you’re down to 185 spots left. MN as a state has over 100 varsity High School teams… needless to say, you have to be darn good to get an offer at the D-I level. The environment is as competitive as ever.
Player height/size is always something coaches consider when recruiting and it could become more of a factor in future recruiting decisions. Why? There is a coordinated effort from conference director of officials to standardize play across each conference with respect to body contact. Gone will be the days of the WCHA being ‘the most physical conference’.

(Back To Top)

Sifters

NCAA D-I Quiet Period Next Week… The National Letter of Intent Fall signing period begins next week. Wednesday November 9 is the actual date players can sign their NLI scholarship paperwork. D-I women’s Ice Hockey has a ‘NCAA Quiet Period’ which begins Monday Nov. 7 and ends at midnight Friday 12:01am. During that time, no on or off campus contact or evaluations may take place. Communication may continue to take place.

Everyone In D-I Is Now Playing… It may have taken a little longer than in years prior, but every D-I team has now started their season. The last 2 D-I teams to not play a regular season game, Princeton and Yale, finally played their first two games last wknd. At the other end of the spectrum, 6 D-I programs Clarkson, UCONN, Wisconsin, Bemidji, Penn State, and RIT have played more than a 1/3 of their regular season with 12 games played heading into the weekend.

22-23 NCAA Legislative Items Announced… The NCAA Modernization of Rules Subcommittee has recommended significant changes to coaching limits, official and unofficial visits. Announced Oct. 27th of last week were the following recommendations:

Changes to Official / Unofficial Visits
- Removal of the 5 official visit limitation. No cap on the total number of officials visits a recruit could take. Only one visit per school would be allowed unless there was a head coaching change after the first official visit. a 2nd visit could be made
- Schools would be allowed to pay for transportation, hotel, food, and reasonable entertainment costs for up to 4 individuals accompanying a prospect’s official visit. Guests could include family members, high school or club coaches or anyone helping in the recruits’ decision making process.
- Schools could provide complimentary admissions to a home athletics event to prospects and up to four guests.
Coaching Limits
- A proposal would increase the number of permissible countable coaches in baseball, softball and ice hockey to five. It is currently at three.

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ICYMI… Post #76

Stay informed. Get educated. Become ‘HOCKEY-WISE’!

The Women’s College Hockey Pipeline…

Your leading online resource for NCAA Women’s College Hockey

Do The Math – Part 2

In our last post we talked about families being able to hep themselves by doing a bit of work on the financial end of things as their daughters’ college/recruiting process begins. That help is in the form of doing self guided family financial evaluation. Doing so will allow families to come up with estimated college expenses and… THE ALL IMPORTANT ‘out-of-pocket dollar amount’ that can be used to pay for these various college and hockey related expenses.

In today’s post, we give families an explanation of how to evaluate this process and the tools – a Google Doc set of financial worksheets to do the math, estimate what expenses they need to account for to come up with that out-of-pocket dollar amount so you can evaluate every opportunity that comes along know what your financial situation is.

You won’t get exact amounts of each expense or amounts related to institutional financial aid. These will be different for everybody based on your own financial situation and the schools / hockey programs you deal with.

So click HERE and we’ll take you to our ‘Paying For College’ portion of our website. You can also find out Family Financial Aid Worksheets HERE to download and work through yourself.

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Media Help On The Way

For a lot of reasons, D3 women’s college hockey (heck, women’s hockey in general) doesn’t get much national media attention. Middlebury’s perfect season last year not withstanding, there just aren’t a lot of journalists or members of the media who cover the sport. But, times are changing. And it’s about time.

Last month it was announced that Chris Sugar, the senior MBA and Political Science major at Oswego State University who is the owner/editor and the man behind D3 Hockey News, will be THE ONLY contributing writer for USCHO.com exclusively covering D3 women’s hockey beginning this season.

Chris certainly has a passion for covering D3 hockey. His twitter account @D3HockeyNews has over 6,100 followers and in March of 2022, he started a podcast where he interviews players and coaches and members of the media.

I recently spoke to Chris about his new gig with USCHO.com and he is excited to get to work. Congrats Chris. We look forward to seeing your work!

In addition to Chris’ post with USCHO, another media announcement in the world of women’s hockey caught our eye last week. Stephanie Wood will become the new voice of the New England Hockey Journal’s ‘RinkWise’ Podcast. Stephanie is currently the Head Girls Coach at Austin Prep and Women’s Director at the Islanders Hockey Club in Massachusetts. Her first episode is now live and you can read more about her podcast appointment HERE.

Congrats Stephanie… would love to have you on The Women’s College Hockey Podcast sometime soon!

In media, it’s about eyeballs. How many views, how many followers, how many paid subscriptions? How many people are consuming a particular type of content. The more people consume, the more media coverage there will be… because there will be the dollars coming in to pay people to do the media work that is SO needed in our sport. In this sense, it’s not such a bad idea to be a follower!

We hope to announce more girls/women’s college hockey media coverage in the future.

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IIHF Worlds Is Underway

The 2022 IIHF World Championships began last week. This marks the first time a World Championship was held in the same year after the Olympics. They are being held in Denmark. The Gold Medal game is scheduled for this Sunday Sept. 4 at 1:30 EST.

Lots of connections to NCAA college programs in this event and not just for Team USA or Canada either. Current rostered NCAA players include Sweden with 7, Swiss with 5 players, as well as 1 Canadian uSport player. Czechia with 5, Germany with 5, Finland with 4, Hungary 2, Denmark 2. The US with 9 and Canada has 3.

You can catch up on all the action with the IIHF Video Hub for recaps of each game. Hats off to what I am pretty sure is a Canadian broadcast crew in Denmark providing the production quality.

And speaking of media coverage… thanks to the NHL Network and TSN in Canada for broadcasting all of the US and Canada’s games. You get get a the full tournament schedule HERE.

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Sifters

D1 Season about to begin… We are literally days away from some programs hitting the ice for the first time in 2022-2023. NCAA D-1 rules allow coaches on the ice to practice with their teams a certain number of hours per week prior to the D1 official start date. I know, sounds odd right… allowed to practice before your official start date? It’s true. This years’ official start date for all programs outside of the Ivy League will be September 17. This is when programs can use their ‘regular season’ allotted weekly time limit of athletic activity – 20-hours per week. The first official practice date for Ivy league institutions will be Sept. 23, a full week earlier than normal. NCAA games will begin on Sept. 17 with several exhibition games and the following weekend Sept. 23-24-25, game count for real.

Busy Recruiting Month Ahead… The Dawg Daze Of Summer Showcase hosted by the National Girls Hockey League and the 2023 CPC National Preview Showcase hosted by the Collegiate Prospect Combine got underway last weekend kicking off a busy stretch of recruiting for college coaches. In addition, Manitoba hosted its top 40 U16 & U18 summer development camps in Winnipeg. September alone has something going on pretty much every single weekend. To see where college coaches may be recruiting, click HERE for our 2022-2023 Recruiting Event Calendar. We’ll be provide events for October soon. If you don’t see an event not listed, please send us an email to add it.

New Coaching Hires… It has been the busiest off-season in terms of coaching hires & departures across D-1 and D-3 ever. Here’s a list of new Head Coaches behind the bench at D1 and D3 this year. We’ll preview new assistant coach hires in our next post. The Head Coach turnover rate for D1 coaches was 14.6 %. For D3 it was 15.5%. I’m not sure why I started doing this, but ever since I became a college coach in 2001-2002, I have tracked D1 head coaching changes and there has never been fewer than 3 head coaching changes ever season since ’01-’02.

D-I Head Coaches

Kelly Nash, Long Island University, NEWHA
Gretchen Silverman, Post University, NEWHA
Tara Watchorn, Stonehill College, NEWHA–New Program 22-23
Molly Engstrom, University of Maine, Hockey East
Britni Smith, Syracuse University, College Hockey America
Brian Idalski, St. Cloud State Univ, WCHA

New D-I Head Coach hires who will compete in the 23-24 season

Jack Sweeney, Assumption College, NEWHA
Logan Bittle, Robert Morris University, College Hockey America

D-III Head Coaches

Maddy Santore, Johnson & Wales, NEHC
Zach Perkins, Anna Maria College, Independent
Mollie Fitzpatrick, Plymouth State University, NEHC
Dave LaBaff, Wilkes University, MAC
Kalie Grant, SUNY-Canton, NEWHL
Kevin Dessart, Lawrence University, WIAC
Rachel Grampp, Buffalo State Univ., NEWHL
Finlandia University, Mike Kurug, NCHA
Elmira College, UCHC
Lindsay Macy, St. Benedict College, MIAC
Cole Klubek, Hilbert College, TBD

New D-III Head Coaches who were hired to start new programs (or new teams starting up)

Heath Issacson, Mass College of Liberal Arts, 23-24
TBD, Albertus Magnus College, 23-24
TBD, Hood College, 23-24

Transformation Committee To Meet… Tomorrow August 31 the NCAA Transformation Committee will meet to discuss adoption of a revised package of transfer rules and changes to the ‘Infractions’ process. In an announcement made August 17, there were some concerns over purposed changes. You can read more on the proposed changes HERE.

Canada Stays With Ryan… Hockey Canada announced this week that it has signed Troy Ryan to continue as its Women’s National Team Head Coach over the next 4-year Olympic cycle. Canada will try to win its 6th Olympic gold medal in 2026 with the winter games being help in Italy. You can read more about Ryan’s announcement HERE.

Be sure to scroll down after the Ryan article as there is an interesting story about the Living Sisu Hockey League out of Montreal.

SAT & ACT National Test Dates, Etc… As the amateur hockey season across the globe begins, so too does ‘ACT and SAT Test Taking Season’. Invariably, these tests are mostly offered on Saturdays. And when does everyone play hockey – on the weekends, so conflicts can arise. But they don’t have too. Some coaches over the years have had issues with their players missing a game/practice to take a test.

Coaches… do the right thing and let your players take a test – when the player wants to.

And we would also suggest if you have not registered for a specific test yet – do it now! Here are links to the National Testing Dates in the USA for the SAT and ACT exams — SAT HERE and ACT HERE (scroll toward the bottom of the page). For international students – click the link for the test you want info on: SAT – Int’l — ACT – Int’l (left side of page).

It looks like there is a digital version of the SAT being offered for International students in 2023.

Find Your ‘Why’… Although this twitter thread is about a men’s hockey player who made it to the NHL, a lot of what he preaches is true for any player wanting to play at the most competitive level. Some GREAT stuff, just click HERE.

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Until Next Time… Enjoy and Happy Reading!

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Post #69 – 3/12/22 – NCAA Tourney Update – Quinnipiac, MN-Duluth, Wisconsin Advance, D-III Tourney Underway

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Grant Kimball One comment

In This Post…

D-I NCAA Tournament Update |
D-III NCAA Tourney Underway |
D-I and D-III Viewing Links |

D-I 2022 NCAA Tourney Update

The Bracket

Quinnipiac, MN-Duluth, and Wisconsin Advance

Quinnipiac scored 2 goals in the 2nd period and 2 in the 3rd, including an empty-netter for a 4-0 victory vs. Syracuse. The bobcats will now face #1 tournament seed Ohio State Saturday for a berth in the Frozen Four. Corrine Schroeder got the shutout and made 16 stops. Adzija, Mobley, and Boyd each had 2 points a piece to pace the Bobcats.

2 goals to finish the 2nd period with a 2-0 lead! 🎥⤵️

Taylor House and Sadie Peart light the lamp and we are rolling into the 3rd 🔥 pic.twitter.com/WQBLOOjX19
— QU Women's Hockey (@QU_WIH) March 11, 2022

And that will just about do it! Lexie Adzija with the empty net ✊ pic.twitter.com/5GQDrMvdLD
— QU Women's Hockey (@QU_WIH) March 11, 2022

MN-Duluth forward Gabbie Hughes needed just 39 seconds to put Duluth up 1-0 on the Crimson and they never looked back en route to a 4-0 win over Harvard in Minneapolis last night. Hughes would go on to score two more goals to complete the hat-trick while 5th yer senior and Top 10 Patty Kaz finalist Elizabeth Giguere chipped in with 3 assists of her own. Anna Klein would 2 assists as well. Duluth’s Soderberg picked up the shutout making 27 saves.

1 Down. 3 to go.

Up Next for @UMDWHockey: Minnesota Golden Gophers in a rematch of last weekend's WCHA playoffs. pic.twitter.com/OG32AMKhe2
— Alicia Tipcke (@AliciaTipcke) March 11, 2022

Celly hard, Hughes, celly hard! pic.twitter.com/tGpJ0FDX6Z
— UMD Women's Hockey (@UMDWHockey) March 11, 2022

Gabbie Hughes, everybody. pic.twitter.com/LMlVjCYU50
— UMD Women's Hockey (@UMDWHockey) March 11, 2022

What a time to have your first-ever collegiate hat-trick Gabbie Hughes!!!🧢👒🎩 pic.twitter.com/TBqv4pTy7Z
— UMD Women's Hockey (@UMDWHockey) March 11, 2022

Helloooooo McKenzie Hewett!!!! pic.twitter.com/CUnVLucFgw
— UMD Women's Hockey (@UMDWHockey) March 11, 2022

What almost was…. Elizabeth Giguere is absolutely disgusting @UMDWHockey @UMDBulldogs pic.twitter.com/ZrHreWzCqs
— Duncan Goldberg (@DuncGold) March 11, 2022

Wisconsin took a 2-0 lead into the 3rd period and scored an empty net goal to secure a 3-1 win for the Badgers. Clarkson cut the lead to 1 on an extra-attacker goal with 2:01 remaining Almost half the game was played on special teams as a total of 26 minutes in penalties were called. Clarkson outshot Wisconsin 31-25. Wisconsin moves on to play the #3 overall seed Northeastern in a rematch of last years national championship game.

Check out the highlights from the #Badgers 3-1 win last night over Clarkson! pic.twitter.com/gUL4MtCzOd
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerWHockey) March 11, 2022

D-III NCAA Tourney Underway

The Division III NCAA National Championships got underway as well this week. Here’s everything you need to know.

You can watch the selection show HERE.

7 conferences give ‘Auto Bids’ to their post-season playoff champions. Those are below. 3 additional schools receive bids based on their season record and body of work. Those schools receive an ‘At-Large’ invitation to the tournament.

CONFERENCE	SCHOOL
Commonwealth Coast Conference	Endicott
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference	Gustavus Adolphus
New England Hockey Conference	Elmira
New England Small College Athletic Conference	Middlebury
Northeast Women’s Hockey League	Plattsburgh State
United Collegiate Hockey Conference	Nazareth
Women’s Northern Collegiate Hockey Association	Aurora

The three institutions selected from Pool C were Colby, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Bracket

Schedule

March 9 – First Round

Aurora University 0 @ UW-River Falls 7

UW-Eau Claire 0 @ Gust-Adolphus 3

March 12 – Quarterfinals

#8 Endicott @ #1 Middlebury, 3PM EST

#9 Colby @ #2 Plattsburgh, 3PM EST

#3 Elmira @ #6 Nazareth, 3Pm EST

#5 Gustavus @ #4 UW-River Falls, 3:05PM CST

Sifters

2 Minutes For Delay of Game… The women’s hockey spotlight is now firmly on the NCAA D-I tournament with its expanded 11-team field. Not only are three more teams added, but the tournament selection show was aired for the first time ever on national television via ESPN News last Sunday. The D-I game is evolving. Coverage of women’s NCAA hockey, D-I or D-III, has been hard to come by consistently in one spot. One hockey media outlet, USCHO.com, which stands for US College Hockey Online, does its best to cover both NCAA divisions. But even their women’s hockey coverage is sporadic.

With three NCAA tournament games played last night, over 50% of the field, one might expect a bit of coverage from the likes of a USCHO. Yet when you go to the USCHO.com homepage, there’s nothing about any of the three games. Heck, there isn’t anything on the women’s D-I homepage either. Seems like it should be US Men’s College Hockey Online, right? The only place I can find coverage or recaps from a national type media entity is from The Ice Garden, which is a blog that covers not only NCAA D-I hockey but professional leagues like the PHF.

The need for national coverage of Women’s D-I and D-III hockey only helps the sport top to bottom. There are so many great college players, coaches, rivalries, human interest stories, etc. NCAA Women’s Hockey deserves timely, quality, and consistent coverage.

Stream/Viewing Info for D-I & D-III Games today…

Wisconsin vs. #3 Northeastern, 1pm EST – Watch HERE for FREE.

#5 Yale vs. #4 Colgate, 3pm EST. It’s been hard to find viewing info, until now. ESPN+ will carry the game according to its website. You can click HERE to subscribe.

MN-Duluth vs. #2 Minnesota – 2pm CST/3PM EST – Watch HERE for FREE.

Quinnipiac vs. #1 Ohio State, 5pm EST – Watch HERE for FREE.

D-III NCAA Tournament Game Viewing Options…

Endicott vs Middlebury, 3pm EST – Watch Here.

Elmira vs. Nazareth, 3pm – Watch HERE.

Colby vs. Plattsburgh, 2:45pm EST – Watch HERE.

Gustavus vs. UW-River Falls, 3PM EST / 2pm CST – Watch Here.

Enjoy the viewing!

Until Next Time…

21-22 Streaming Info

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Give Someone a Stick Tap… Know someone in women’s college hockey who’s work needs some recognition? Nominate them for WCH.org’s monthly ‘Stick Tap’ HERE or Email us at: womenscollegehockey@gmail.com

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Grant Kimball is founder and contributing writer at Women’s College Hockey.org and beginning his 3rd season as an Assistant Coach with the Yale University women’s hockey program. Grant has developed an experienced perspective in the world of women’s ice hockey, having coached and recruited players from across the globe during his 25+ year amatuer and NCAA coaching career. He has coached at 6 NCAA DIII and DI programs in the NCHA (D3), the CHA, WCHA, Hockey East, ECAC, and the Ivy League (DI). Beyond coaching, Grant served as a site representative for the 2019 NCAA quarterfinal of the D-I NCAA Tournament. He also currently serves as an Officer with the American Hockey Coaches Association as Vice President of Membership and sits on the AHCA’s Women’s Hockey Executive Committee.

NCAA Tournament

Post #68 – 3/10/22 – Weekly Schedule, Polls, NCAA Tourney Preview, Sifters

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Grant Kimball Leave a comment

In This Post…

We’ll take a look at the upcoming weekly D-I schedule|
See who’s ranked in the USCHO.com, USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine, and the ‘Power 10’ national polls|
NCAA Tourney Preview|
Sifters… Little tidbits of news and info from around women’s college hockey|

D-I Weekly Schedule

Thursday March 10th, 2022

Minneapolis Regional – Harvard vs. Minnesota-Duluth 7pm EST. WATCH B1G+ (FREE)

Columbus Regional – Syracuse vs. Quinnipiac 6pm EST. WATCH – B1G+ (FREE)

Boston Regional – Clarkson vs. Wisconsin 7pm EST. Watch – SportsLive (FREE)

Friday March 11, 2022 – DAY OFF

Saturday March 12, 2022

Boston Regional Final – Clarkson/Wisco winner vs. #3 Northeastern 1pm EST. Watch – SportsLive (FREE)

Hamilton Regional Final – #5Yale vs. #4 Colgate 3pm EST. Watch – NCAA.com

Minneapolis Regional Final – Harvard/MN-Duluth winner vs #2 Minnesota 3pm EST. WATCH – B1G+ (FREE)

Columbus Regional Final – Syracuse/Quinnipiac winner vs. #1 Ohio State 5pm EST. WATCH – B1G+ (FREE)

Game results, box scores, and statistics come directly from CHN – College Hockey News, USCHO.com or the NCAA’s official stats site HERE.

Video highlight links are to individual program produced media, some of which may be found on team twitter or other social media accounts – so scroll the feed to see the game highlights.

Postgame links are any postgame video produced by individual programs and found on either team websites or social media accounts.

Don’t See a link… for video highlights or postgame? Assume there was none available at the time of our post.

D-I Top 10 Polls

Evan’s last look at his Top 10 in D-I women’s college hockey came in Pipeline Post #65. You can find it HERE.

2022 NCAA Tourney Preview

The Bracket

Seedings

-5 teams are seeded, #1 Ohio State, #2 Minnesota, #3 Northeastern, #4 Colgate, and #5 Yale

-Seeds 1-5 get an automatic bye into the regional final. There are 4 regions: Columbus – Ohio State as the host, Minneapolis – Minnesota as the host, Boston – Northeastern as the host, and Hamilton, NY – Colgate as the hosts. Seeds 6-11 play a 1st round game with the winner moving on to the regional final.

-The top 5 teams, by virtue of their pairwise rankings after all post-season playoff championships were completed, received seeds 1-5. Using the pairwise rankings as the seeding method was determined by the 2022 NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament Committee.

How They Got There

There are 4 automatic qualifiers for the 4 D-I conference playoff champions that award ‘Auto-bids’ and 7 ‘At-Large’ bids awarded that make up the 11-team NCAA Tournament field.

-#1 Ohio State, received the WCHA automatic qualifier by winning the WCHA playoff championship 3-2 in OT vs. Minnesota and ranked #1 in the pairwise.

-#2 Minnesota received an At-Large bid and ranked 2nd in the pairwise rankings.

-#3 Northeastern University, received the Hockey East automatic qualifier by winning the Hockey East Playoff championship vs. UCONN 3-1 and ranked #3 in the pairwise.

-#4 Colgate University, received the ECAC Automatic qualifier by winning the ECAC playoff championship over Yale 2-1 in overtime and ranked #4 in the pairwise.

-#5 Yale University, received an ‘At-Large’ bid and ranked 5th in the pairwise rankings. Yale lost to Colgate in the ECAC Championship game 2-1 in OT.

–Syracuse University, received the College Hockey America Automatic qualifier by defeating Mercyhurst University in the CHA Championship 3-2 in overtime.

–Quinnipiac University received an ‘At-Large’ bid and ranked 7th in the pairwise rankings. The Bobcats lost to Colgate 3-2 in the semifinals of the ECAC post-season tournament.

–Wisconsin received an ‘At-Large’ bid and ranked 6th in the pairwise rankings. The Badgers lost to Ohio State in the semifinals of the WCHA post-season tournament.

–Clarkson University received an ‘At-Large’ bid and ranked 10th in the pairwise rankings. The Green Knights lost to Quinnipiac in the first round of the ECAC post-season tournament.

–Minnesota-Duluth received an ‘At-Large’ bid and is ranked 8th in the pairwise. The Bulldogs lost to Minnesota 5-1 in the WCHA post season tournament semifinals.

–Harvard University received an ‘At-Large’ bid and is ranked 9th in the pairwise. The Crimson lost its first-round ECAC quarterfinal series to Princeton.

Sifters

Free Viewing… Nice to see first round NCAA games free to watch. Click the links above for info.

National Awards Season… This is the time of year when national players’ of the year, coach of the year, goaltender of the year, etc. get named. The 3 finalists for Goaltender of the Year in D-I have been announced–2 from the ECAC, St. Lawrence’s Lucy Morgan and Quinnipiac’s Corinne Schroeder. And from Hockey East, it was Northeastern’s Aerin Frankel. The winner will be announced March 17th.

USA Hockey Nationals Update… One of the last events for D-I college coaches to get some in-person evals in before the April-May quiet period takes place will be in Pittsburgh, PA as USA Hockey hosts its girls tier I national championships.

Tier I Schedule and Info can be found HERE. Tier II Schedule and Info can be found HERE. All games will be streamed live on HockeyTV.

Here is who we know to have made the field as of now… with still a few spots to doll out the next few weeks.

U14s – Qualified

Amherst Lady Knights

Cleveland Lady Barons

Detroit Little Caesars

FL Alliance

LA Lions

MN Green Giants

Philadelphia Jr Flyers

Pittsburgh Penguins Elite

Team North Dakota

4 more teams to qualify + 3 At Large Bids

Central District

Mass District

New England District

Rocky Mtn District

U16s – Qualified

Anaheim Lady Ducks

BK Selects Academy (Rochester Youth Hockey)

Detroit Belle Tire

East Coast Wizards

Gilmour Lancers

FL Alliance

MN Grey Sharks

Philadelphia Jr Flyers

Pittsburgh Penguins Elite

Team Colorado

Team North Dakota

2 more teams to qualify + 3 At Large Bids

Central District

New England District

U19’s – Qualified

Alaska All-stars

BK Selects Academy (Rochester Youth Hockey)

NAHA White – North American Hockey Academy

Detroit Little Caesars

Gilmour Lancers

FL Alliance

Philadelphia Jr Flyers

Pittsburgh Penguins Elite

Shattuck St. Mary’s (Prep)

3 more teams to qualify + 4 At Large Bids

Central District

New England District

Rocky Mtn District

Until Next Time…

21-22 Streaming Info

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Post #67 – 3/6/22 – Pairwise & NCAA Tourney Selection Show Info

Posted on March 6, 2022 by Grant Kimball One comment

In This Post…

NCAA Pairwise Update as of Saturday March 5th
NCAA Championship Tournament Selection Show Details

Pairwise Update

Here is the latest Pairwise rankings as detailed by USCHO. Rankings are updated as of Sunday March 6th at just after 3am this morning.

There was one more game to be played this afternoon in the WCHA Final-Faceoff as Ohio State beat Minnesota in a #2 vs. #1 match-up. Ohio State erased a 2-goal deficit in the 3rd period to force overtime. It only took OSU 23 seconds into OT while on a PP to end it and win the WCHA Championship and the WCHA’s auto-bid to the NCAA tournament.

Ohio State and Minnesota are #1 and #2 respectively in the Pairwise, so not much movement should happen below them. It’s now up to the NCAA D-I tournament committee to work on sorting out the bracket & regional site team placements.

WCH-Pairwise-Rankings-March-6-1 Download

How To Watch Selection Show

The NCAA D-I National Collegiate Tournament Selection Show will air tonight, Sunday March 6, at 9pm EST. For the first time ever, it will be broadcast on television live via the ESPN News channel. Check local cable listings for where you can find ESPN News.

If you have access to the ESPN App, you can subscribe to ESPN+ and watch the selection show from there.

More on how to watch the selection show can be found HERE.

Be sure to tune in!

Until Next Time…

21-22 Streaming Info

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Post #66 – 3/3/22 – Weekly Schedule, Polls, The Pairwise & NCAA Tourney, Conference Tourney Recap, Sifters

Posted on March 3, 2022 by Grant Kimball Leave a comment

In This Post…

We’ll take a look at the upcoming weekly D-I schedule|
See who’s ranked in the USCHO.com, USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine, and the ‘Power 10’ national polls|
The Pairwise & NCAA Tourney|
Sifters… Little tidbits of news and info from around women’s hockey|

D-I Weekly Schedule

We are going to try a new format for displaying the weekly schedule as well as games played with links to box scores. Formatting from USCHO.com is not kind to mobile users. So to help, we will be using the links CHN – College Hockey News.

It’s ‘Final-Four’ Weekend for NEWHA, ECAC, Hockey East, and WCHA… The CHA completed its post-season playoff championship last weekend with Syracuse beating Mercyhurst in the final 3-2 in OT. The NEWHA, ECAC, Hockey East, and WCHA are all down to its ‘Final-Four’ championship weekend. The NEWHA held quarterfinal games Tuesday. Hockey East played its Semifinal games last night. The NEWHA and ECAC championship weekends have semifinals Friday and championships Saturday. The WCHA final-four championship weekend is Saturday/Sunday. All schedules are below:

Make sure to scroll down

Tuesday, March 1

NEWHA Quarterfinals #6 St. Michael’s 1 @ #3 St. Anselm 2

NEWHA Quarterfinals #5 Post 2 @ #4 Sacred Heart 5

Wednesday, March 2

Hockey East Semifinal #3 UCONN 3 @ #2 Vermont 1, HIGHLIGHTS

Hockey East Semifinal #5 Maine 1 @ #1 Northeastern 3, HIGHLIGHTS are ⬇️

We're headed to our sixth-straight @hockey_east title game.

How we did it⬇️

📰: https://t.co/uamF5MtIc6
📊: https://t.co/LoD5m3Iocw #HowlinHuskies pic.twitter.com/VrY9mfD3W6
— Northeastern Women’s Hockey (@GoNUwhockey) March 3, 2022

Friday, March 4

NEWHA Semifinal #4 Sacred Heart vs. #1 Franklin Pierce 3PM Hosted By Franklin Pierce, Watch/Stream

NEWHA Semifinal #3 St. Anselm vs. #2 Long Island Univ. 7PM Hosted by Franklin Pierce, Watch/Stream

ECAC Semifinal #8 Princeton vs. # 2 Yale 3PM, @ Yale Univ. Ingalls Rink, ESPN+ Stream

ECAC Semifinal #4 Quinnipiac vs. #3 Colgate, @ Yale Univ. Ingalls Rink, ESPN+ Stream

Saturday, March 5

NEWHA Championship TBD, 7PM Hosted By Franklin Pierce, Watch/Stream

ECAC Championship TBD, 3PM EST, @ Yale Univ. Ingalls Rink, ESPN+ Stream in USA, Outside USA

Hockey East Championship TBD, 7PM, @ TBD Campus site of highest remaining seed, TV-NESN+

WCHA Semifinal #4 MN-Duluth vs. #1 Minnesota, 1:07PM CST, @ Univ. of MN Ridder Arena, TV/Stream INFO

WCHA Semifinal #3 Wisconsin vs. #2 Ohio State, 4:07PM CST, @ Univ. of MN Ridder Arena, TV/Stream INFO

Sunday, March 6

WCHA Championship TBD, 1Pm CST, @ Univ. of MN Ridder Arena, TV/Stream INFO

NCAA Tournament Selection Show, 9PM EST, TV-ESPN NEWS Channel, Stream Info Coming Soon

Game results, box scores, and statistics come directly from CHN – College Hockey News, USCHO.com or the NCAA’s official stats site HERE.

Video highlight links are to individual program produced media, some of which may be found on team twitter or other social media accounts – so scroll the feed to see the game highlights.

Postgame links are any postgame video produced by individual programs and found on either team websites or social media accounts.

Don’t See a link… for video highlights or postgame? Assume there was none available at the time of our post.

D-I Top 10 Polls

Evan’s last look at his Top 10 in D-I women’s college hockey came in last week’s Pipeline Post #65. You can find it HERE.

The Pairwise & NCAA Tourney

The Pairwise

In a Jan. 8th post of the Pipeline we introduced what is known as the Pairwise rankings. ‘The PWR’ or ‘The Pairwise’ as it’s known in NCAA hockey circles, is a way to rank teams that play an unbalanced schedule based on a specific mathematical formula. We use the USCHO.com iteration of the Pairwise rankings which can be found online HERE.

Why are the Pairwise Rankings important? It is what the NCAA D-I Women’s Ice Hockey Committee will use will determine the 11-team field for the NCAA Tournament. And this year, the committee is strictly going by the math and not subjectivity. The Committee will conviene Sunday March 6th and crunch the numbers to announce the 11-teams going to the NCAA Tournament.

Contrary to what many may think, the USCHO.com top 10 poll that comes out each week or any other media poll that exists, has no bearing on who makes the NCAA tournament. Those polls are for media purposes only and not used by the D-I NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Committee.

Making The NCAA Tournament, Auto & At-Large Bids

There are two ways to make the NCAA Tournament’s 11-team field. Receive your conference’s automatic bid by winning the conference post-season playoff championship – or – have a high enough Pairwise Ranking to fall within the top 11 teams and receive an ‘At-Large’ bid.

There are 5 D-I conferences. 4 of the 11 bids come from conference post season playoff tournament championship Auto Bids. The other 7 are ‘At-Large Bids. The NEWHA does not have an automatic bid until the 22-23 season by virtue of an NCAA rule which stipulates conferences must compete with 6 teams for two full seasons before getting an automatic bid. The NCAA determined the 20-21 COVID season did not count as a full season for the NEWHA while only 2 NEWHA teams played games.

The CHA, which was a 6 team conference until it lost member Robert Morris University when the school shut-down the program in May of 2021, is allowed to retain its auto bid for a period of two years. The CHA would lose its auto bid if it were unable to get a 6th team beginning with the 23-24 season.

After the 11-team tournament field has been selected, then the fun begins in putting together 4 regional sites. To learn more about how the selection process works and how regional sites will be determined – click here for the 2022 NCAA Pre-Championship Manual.

Below is the USCHO.com Pairwise rankings as of Wednesday March 2, 2022.

WCH-USCHO-Pairwise-Rankings-3-2-22 Download

Sifters…

#8 Outlasts #1 In ECAC… For the first time in the 20-year history of the ECAC Playoff Championship Tournament, the #8 seed Princeton Tigers knocked off the #1 seed Harvard Crimson. The Tigers won game one 3-2, lost game two 2-1 in overtime, but won the third and deciding game, 3-2. #8 Princeton will play #2 Yale in the first ECAC Semifinal set for 3Pm Friday. #2 seed Yale also went the distance in its first-round quarterfinal series with #7 seed St. Lawrence.

Top 10 Patty Kaz Announced… The 10 Patty Kaz finalists were announced today by USA Hockey.

Introducing the top-10 finalists for the 2022 #PattyKaz Award!👏

Details → https://t.co/S5pNLnMcS6 pic.twitter.com/kfnmGvxqdT
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) March 3, 2022

The WCHA leads the way with 6 finalists while Hockey East landed 4. No one from the ECAC, CHA, or NEWHA made the cut. Northeastern leads the way with 3 players themselves,Minnesota and Wisconsin with 2 each. Ohio St., MN-Duluth, and Vermont each have 1. Northeastern’s Aerin Frankel, last year’s Patty Kaz winner, is a finalist this year.

The Patty will be awarded on the NHL Network March 27 in a special on-air television presentation. The top-3 finalists will be announced March 17th during the Women’s Frozen Four National Championship.

Possible NCAA Recruiting Rule Changes… As the NCAA often does each year, proposals for various rule changes in a variety of areas like recruiting, financial aid, eligibility etc., are announced and then voted on in April to become legislated. The following rule proposals were just announced and will be voted on in April.

Amend the trigger for student-athlete status to align with the approach authorized by waivers the past two academic years in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An individual would remain a prospective student-athlete until the individual signs a National Letter of Intent or the school’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid or the school receives the individual’s financial deposit in response to its offer of admission and completes all high school graduation requirements or all transfer academic eligibility requirements.
An individual would revert to prospective student-athlete status if the individual does not attend classes at the beginning of the first full-time regular academic term after the individual completes all high school graduation requirements or all transfer academic eligibility requirements.
Specify a school shall not provide more than two consecutive nights of lodging to a prospective student-athlete in conjunction with an official visit.
Eliminate the limitation on the number of official visits a prospective student-athlete may take.
Specify that in sports other than basketball, contact may not be made with a prospective student-athlete during the time of day when classes are in session at their school.

WCH Spring Recruiting Event List… Coming shortly will be our WCH Spring/Summer Recruiting Event List. We’ll keep track of all showcases, camps/clinics, and recruiting events from March until the end of August across North America & beyond we’re aware of. We’ll post a link with event names, dates, and locations along with links to info if provided. For any coaches who want their event listed, please fill out our online form and we’ll be sure to list it. You can find it HERE.

Changes to Camps & Clinics for D-I Schools… In an effort to curb early recruiting tactics by college coaches in sports other than women’s basketball, the NCAA has legislated new ‘Institutional’ camp/clinic rules which took effect in January of 2022. ‘Institutional Camps/Clinics’ are now only allowed to be conducted during the months of June, July, August and December to Feb. 1. Institutional camps/clinics are not allowed outside of that time period.

Institutional camps and clinics are defined as those 1) owned/operated by a D-I coach or the institution institution itself and 2) where participants are classified as prospective student-athletes and have entered grade 9.

This new legislation does not impact Institutional Camps/Clinics where the participants are in grade 8 & below or the ability of college coaches to work for privately owned camps/clinics.

What’s Next For Women’s Hockey… It seems like the sport has this conversation after every Olympics. One would think with over 6 million viewers world-wide for the Gold Medal game, there is a way to harness a sustainable viewing audience for our sports best during the regular hockey season. Word came this week of something in the works. Yahoo Sports’ Justin Cuthbert & Co. bat around whats needed for a viable pro league:

Until Next Time…

21-22 Streaming Info

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Post #65 – 2/24/22 – Weekly Schedule, Top 10 Polls, The Pairwise, Conference Playoffs, Sifters

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Grant Kimball One comment

In This Post…

We take a look at the D-I schedule|
Weekly Top 10 National Polls – USCHO.com, USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine, and the NCAA’s ‘Power 10’|
Pairwise Rankings |
D-I Conference Playoffs|
Sifters… Little tidbits of news and info from around women’s college hockey & beyond|

D-I Weekly Schedule

The regular season has ended for 4 out of the 5 D-I conferences. The NEWHA still has one more regular season weekend to complete. Hockey East kicked off the Conference Tournament season Wednesday with two games. Here’s the weekly schedule.

Make sure to scroll down

Monday Feb. 21, 2022

NEWHA, LIU 6 @ St. Michael’s 0

Tuesday Feb. 22, 2022

NEWHA, LIU 5 @ St. Michael’s 1

Wednesday Feb. 23, 2022

Hockey East, #9 Merrimack @ #8 UNH 7pm, Opening Round – Merrimack wins 4-1

Hockey East, #10 Holy Cross @ #7 Providence 7pm, Opening Round, Providence wins 3-1

Thursday Feb. 24, 2022

CHA Quarterfinal, #5 RIT vs. #4 Lindenwood 4pm, Hosted @ Syracuse

Friday Feb 25, 2022

NEWHA, Post @ LIU 3pm

NEWHA, Franklin Pierce @ Sacred Heart 4pm

NEWHA, Saint Michael’s @ St. Anselm, 7pm

Hockey East Quarterfinal, #5 Maine @ #4 Boston College, 1pm (NESN)

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 1, #5 Clarkson @ #4 Quinnipiac, 3pm

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 1, #8 Princeton @ #1 Harvard, 6pm

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 1, #7 St.Lawrence @ #2 Yale, 6pm

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 1, #6 Cornell @ #3 Colgate, 6pm

CHA Semi-Final, RIT/Lindenwood vs. Syracuse, 12pm, Hosted @ Syracuse

CHA Semi-Final, #3 Mercyhurst vs. #2 Penn State, 4pm, Hosted @ Syracuse

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 1, #5 Minnesota State @ #4 MN-Duluth, 2pm CST

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 1, #7 St. Cloud @ #2 Ohio St., 6pm EST

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 1, #8 St. Thomas @ #1 Minnesota, 6pm CST

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 1, #6 Bemidji St. @ #3 Wisconsin, 7pm CST

Saturday Feb. 26, 2022

NEWHA, Franklin Pierce @ Sacred Heart, 2:30pm

NEWHA, Saint Michael’s @ St. Anselm, 3pm

NEWHA, LIU @ Post, 7:45pm

Hockey East Quarterfinal, TBD vs #2 Vermont, 12pm

Hockey East Quarterfinal, #6 Boston Univ. @ #3 UCONN, 3pm

Hockey East Quarterfinal, #TBD @ #1 Northeastern, 7:30pm (NESN+)

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 2, #5 Clarkson @ #4 Quinnipiac, 3pm

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 2, #8 Princeton @ #1 Harvard, 3pm

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 2, #7 St.Lawrence @ #2 Yale, 3pm

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 2, #6 Cornell @ #3 Colgate, 3pm

CHA Championship, TBD vs. TBD, 2pm, Hosted @ Syracuse

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 2, #5 Minnesota State @ #4 MN-Duluth, 2pm CST

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 2, #7 St. Cloud @ #2 Ohio St., 3pm EST

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 2, #8 St. Thomas @ #1 Minnesota, 3pm CST

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 2, #6 Bemidji St. @ #3 Wisconsin, 4pm CST

Sunday Feb 27, 2022

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 3 (If Necessary), #5 Clarkson @ #4 Quinnipiac, 3pm

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 3 (If Necessary), #8 Princeton @ #1 Harvard, 3pm

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 3 (If Necessary), #7 St.Lawrence @ #2 Yale, 3pm

ECAC Quarterfinal Game 3 (If Necessary), #6 Cornell @ #3 Colgate, 3pm

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 3 (If Necessary), #5 Minnesota State @ #4 MN-Duluth, 2pm CST

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 2, #7 St. Cloud @ #2 Ohio St., 3pm EST

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 3 (If Necessary), #8 St. Thomas @ #1 Minnesota, 2pm CST

WCHA Quarterfinal Game 3 (If Necessary), #6 Bemidji St. @ #3 Wisconsin, 2pm CST

Game results, box scores, and statistics come directly from CHN – College Hockey News, USCHO.com or the NCAA’s official stats site HERE.

Video highlight links are to individual program produced media, some of which may be found on team twitter or other social media accounts – so scroll the feed to see the game highlights.

Postgame links are any postgame video produced by individual programs and found on either team websites or social media accounts.

Don’t See a link… for video highlights or postgame? Assume there was none available at the time of our post.

D-I Top 10 Polls

What a regular season.

The women’s college hockey regular season did not disappoint. Weekend after weekend, college hockey fans were treated to great individual and team performances. The best part was the ever-changing rankings every week due to the amount of parity inside the top 10.

Let’s dive into the final Power 10 of the regular season.

1. Minnesota (26-7-1) | Prev: 1

The Golden Gophers finished the regular season with a sweep of St. Thomas, earning a pair of 7-1 wins. Minnesota was scorching hot in their final 15 games, going 13-2-0 with big wins over then-No. 7 Minnesota Duluth, then-No. 2 Ohio State and a sweep of then-No. 1 Wisconsin. Senior Taylor Heise posted five points on the weekend, bringing her season-total to 60 — good for first in the nation.

2. Ohio State (25-6-0) | Prev: 3

In the biggest series of the final weekend, Ohio State swept Wisconsin by scores of 5-1 and 2-1. Despite the close score in Game 2, Ohio State outshot Wisconsin, 45-23. Junior forward Kenzie Hauswirth entered the weekend with only one goal on the season. She potted three on the weekend, including the game-winner on Saturday. With the sweep, the Buckeyes proved they’re the second-best team in the nation heading into the WCHA postseason and the national tournament.

🚨🚨 Sending off the seniors with a HUGE win! 🥅🏒#GoBucks https://t.co/sV9dMYx1OU pic.twitter.com/umD8eyG4yg
— Ohio State Buckeyes 🌰 (@OhioStAthletics) February 19, 2022

3. Northeastern (27-4-2) | Prev: 5

The Huskies move up a bit in the final rankings of the regular season after earning a 2-1 win over UNH and then going 1-0-1 against UConn this past weekend. It’s fitting that graduate student goalie Aerin Frankel ended the season with a 32-save shutout in the 5-0 win. Frankel finishes the regular season with the best goals against average (1.07) and save percentage (.956) in the country. She’ll be must-watch in the national tournament.

4. Wisconsin (23-6-4) | Prev: 2

The Badgers had a tough weekend at Ohio State, dropping both games and getting outplayed. In Wisconsin’s defense, they were only able to skate three forward lines. The star of the weekend for Wisconsin was backup goalie Cami Kronish. On Saturday, in just her third start of the season, she stopped 43 of 45 Ohio State shots in the 2-1 loss. Starter Kennedy Blair missed the game with an upper-body injury.

5. Minnesota Duluth (22-9-1) | Prev: 4

The Bulldogs only move down a spot because I think the top four teams in college hockey are the four listed above. They faced St. Cloud State over the last week, going 2-0-1 against the Huskies. In the two wins, fifth-year Elizabeth Giguere and redshirt senior Naomi Rogge posted big weekends. Giguere had four assists, while Rogge registered two goals and a helper.

Also, how about senior McKenzie Hewett winning the game with nine seconds to play on Senior Day?

MCKENZIE HEWETT, GAME. pic.twitter.com/XAiHw0v8Wp
— UMD Women's Hockey (@UMDWHockey) February 19, 2022

6. Colgate (26-7-1) | Prev: 7

Colgate moves up a spot after three big wins last week. The first was a 3-2 victory over Cornell, then a 2-1 win over then-No. 10 Clarkson. The Raiders finished off the weekend by beating St. Lawrence, 9-1. In the win over ranked Clarkson, Colgate got goals from senior Rosy Demers and sophomore Kalty Kaltounkova. Freshman goalie Hannah Murphy turned aside 39 of the 40 shots she faced.

7. Harvard (21-7-1) | Prev: 8

The Crimson ended their regular season with a 4-1 win over RPI and a 3-0 victory over Union. They got goals from sophomores Shannon Hollands and Courtney Hyland, senior Becca Gilmore, and first-year Taze Thompson in Game 1 and junior Kristin Della Rovere, senior Emma Buckles and senior Dominique Petrie in Game 2. Gilmore has put on an especially great season, potting 43 points in 29 games, which is good for first on her team and tied for 14th in the nation.

8. Yale (22-6-1) | Prev: 6

The Bulldogs fell to Quinnipiac, 4-1, on Friday, but finished strong with a 3-0 win at Princeton on Saturday. Sophomore Elle Hartje finished off a strong second season, posting a goal and an assist over the two games. She’s been dynamite this year, leading her team in points with 44. That number ranks 13th in the nation. Her two-way skills, matched with her production, project her to be an even greater force in the coming years.

Hartje pads the lead with a great individual effort that nets her 14th of the year!!#ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/XUqpGeNFTn
— Yale Women’s Hockey (@YaleWHockey) February 19, 2022

9. Quinnipiac (23-8-3) | Prev: 9

The Bobcats earned a 4-0 win over RPI last Tuesday and then a strong 4-1 victory over then-No. 6 Yale. They finished off this past weekend with a 1-0 loss to Brown on Saturday. In the win over the Bulldogs, Quinnipiac got goals from Renee Saltness, Kendall Cooper, Jess Schryver and Olivia Mobley. They also got a great game out of goalie Corinne Schroeder, who stopped 38 of 39 shots en route to the win. Schroeder’s save percentage of .946 is good for third in the nation, while her 1.43 GAA ranks sixth.

10. Clarkson (22-9-3) | Prev: 10

Clarkson ended its season with a 2-1 loss to Colgate and a 3-1 loss to Cornell. Despite ending on two-straight losses, Clarkson is the No. 10 team in the nation. The Golden Knights rank ninth in the country in both goals for (104) and goals against (59). They’ll face Quinnipiac in the ECAC quarterfinals this weekend.

Pairwise Rankings & NCAA Tourney

The Pairwise

Making The NCAA Tournament, Auto & At-Large Bids

There are 5 D-I conferences and 11 teams that make the tournament. 4 of those bids come from conference Auto Bids. The other 7 are ‘At-Large Bids. Winners of the Hockey East, ECAC, College Hockey America, and WCHA post-season playoff championship receive the auto bids. You win, and you’re in. The NEWHA does not have an automatic bid until the 22-23 season by virtue of an NCAA rule which stipulates conferences must compete with 6 teams for two full seasons before getting an automatic bid. The NCAA determined the 20-21 COVID season did not count as a full season for the NEWHA while only 2 NEWHA teams played games.

Below is the USCHO.com Pairwise rankings as of Tuesday, Feb. 22 just past 8pm.

WCH-USCHO-PWR-Rankings-2-22-22 Download

Conference Standings & Post-Season Structure

Below are the final regular season standings for each conference minus the NEWHA which has one more regular weekend of play this Friday and Saturday. Each conference’s post-season playoffs structure is described as well.

Hockey East Post-Season Playoff Format

For the first time ever, the Hockey East Women’s Tournament will feature all 10 member programs in a single-elimination postseason tournament for the Bertagna trophy. Seeds seven and eight will host seeds 10 and nine, respectively, in the Opening Round on Wednesday, February 23 while the top six seeds receive a bye into the Quarterfinals. After a reseeding, the top two seeds will host the winners of the Opening Round while the three seed will host the six seed and the four seed will host the five seed. Semifinals will take place on Wednesday, March 2 and the Championship is set for Saturday, March 5 in prime time for just the second time ever.

QUARTERFINALS, Best 2 Out of 3 Series – Feb. 25, 26 and 27 if necessary

No. 8 Princeton at No. 1 Harvard

Friday: 6 p.m., Saturday: 3 p.m., Sunday: 3 p.m., if necessary

No. 7 St. Lawrence at No. 2 Yale

Friday: 6 p.m., Saturday: 3 p.m., Sunday: 3 p.m., if necessary

No. 6 Cornell at No. 3 Colgate

Friday: 6 p.m., Saturday: 3 p.m., Sunday: 3 p.m., if necessary

No. 5 Clarkson at No. 4 Quinnipiac

Friday: 3 p.m., Saturday: 3 p.m., Sunday: 3 p.m., if necessary

SEMIFINALS & Championship – March 4 & 5

Teams TBD, Highest remaining seed to host, single elimination

The Championship will open on Feb. 24 with a quarterfinal match-up between No. 4 seed Lindenwood and No. 5 seed RIT. Thursday’s winner will advance to meet No. 1 seed Syracuse in the first semifinal on Feb. 25. No. 2 Penn State will then face. No. 3 Mercyhurst in Friday’s second semifinal with Friday’s winners advancing to Saturday’s final at 2 p.m. ET.

The winner of the 2022 CHA Championship will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Championship.

As the 2021-22 WCHA regular season champion and Julianne Bye Cup winner, MInnesota is the tournament’s top seed and is set to host No. 8 St. Thomas. No. 2 Ohio State hosts No. 7 St. Cloud State, No. 3 Wisconsin hosts No. 6 BEmidji State, while No. 4 MInnesota Duluth earned the final home ice advantage to host No. 5 MInnesota State.

The four winners of the best-of-three quarterfinals advances to the 2022 Final Faceoff, held March 5-6 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. The winner of the 2022 WCHA Final Faceoff receives the League’s automatic bid into the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Championship.

Pairings, locations, and start times for the Friday-Sunday, Feb. 25-27 best-of-three WCHA Quarterfinals:

No. 8 St. Thomas at No. 1 Minnesota (Ridder Arena – Minneapolis, Minn.)
Game 1 – Friday, Feb. 25: 6 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, Feb. 26: 4 p.m.
Game 3 – Sunday, Feb. 27: 2 p.m. (if necessary)

No. 7 St. Cloud State at No. 2 Ohio State (OSU Ice Rink – Columbus, Ohio)
Game 1 – Friday, Feb. 25: 5 p.m. CT / 6 p.m. ET
Game 2 – Saturday, Feb. 26: 2 p.m. CT / 3 p.m. ET
Game 3 – Sunday, Feb. 27: 2 p.m. CT / 3 p.m. ET (if necessary)

No. 6 Bemidji State at No. 3 Wisconsin (LaBahn Arena – Madison, Wis.)
Game 1 – Friday, Feb. 25: 7 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, Feb. 26: 3 p.m.
Game 3 – Sunday, Feb. 27: 2 p.m. (if necessary)

No. 5 Minnesota State at No. 4 Minnesota Duluth (AMSOIL Arena – Duluth, Minn.)
Game 1 – Friday, Feb. 25: 2 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, Feb. 26: 2 p.m.
Game 3 – Sunday, Feb. 27: 2 p.m. (if necessary)

2022 WCHA FINAL FACEOFF

The premier conference tournament in women’s college hockey, the 2022 WCHA Final Faceoff will be held March 5-6, 2022 at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. Annually featuring a collection of the nation’s highest-ranked programs and best players, the WCHA’s four remaining teams will compete for the league’s playoff championship and automatic berth to the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

The league’s top event and best weekend of the year for college hockey fans, the two-day 2022 WCHA Final Faceoff weekend is a celebration of the sport’s past, present, and future.

Saturday, March 5, 2022
Semifinal Game 1 – No. 1 remaining seed vs. No. 4 remaining seed: 1 p.m. CT
Semifinal Game 2 – No. 2 remaining seed vs. No. 3 remaining seed: 4 p.m. CT

Sunday, March 6, 2022
WCHA Championship – 1 p.m. CT

Sifters…

Robert Morris Names Head Coach… Former Robert Morris University Women’s Hockey Associate Head Coach Logan Bittle has been hired to re-boot the RMU program as its new Head Coach. Bittle’s announcement came Feb. 4th. You can read more about RMU’s new bench boss here ——-> USCHO.com Story, RMU Women’s Hockey Homepage Story

U18 Worlds Back On… News of the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship broke at the Olympics last week in a tweet by the IIHF.

The IIHF leadership met the media in #Beijing2022, discussed the #Olympic #icehockey tournaments, development, #Milano2026 and announced updates on the events that will be postponed from January to summer.

Read more or watch the press conference: https://t.co/bmMqotaRRn
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) February 17, 2022

You can read more in the IIHF announcement HERE.

6+ Million Watched… Over 3.54 million viewers in the US and 2.7 million in Canada tuned in to watch the Women’s Olympic Gold Medal game between the US and Canada. It was the most watched hockey game, at any level, in the US since 2019. Given the game was aired live at 11:10pm EST, you can bet those numbers would be bigger had the game been played at an earlier hour. Beijing is 13-hours ahead of EST. Lots of tired eyes the next day, mine included.

US-Canada women’s gold medal hockey game on NBC averaged 3.54 million viewers. That’s more viewers than any NHL game this season. And second most watched hockey game in United States since 2019.
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) February 18, 2022

From CBC: 2.7 million watched the Canada vs USA gold medal game, making it Canada’s most-watched moment of Beijing 2022.
— Hailey Salvian (@hailey_salvian) February 22, 2022

Topic for another post… So, there is a market. A large one. How does the sport tap into a meaningful % of those 6 million who watched on a regular basis… and not just once every 4 years.

Busy Spring for Recruiting… D-I college coaches will have a packed Spring in terms of recruiting events to get to before the NCAA Women’s Hockey ‘Quiet Period’ begins on April 18. USA Hockey National Development Camp tryouts, U.S. District Play-Downs, U.S. National Championships, as well as various US and Canadian Academy ID camps, Canadian league and Provincial Championships are just a few of the events on the calendar college coaches will get to. Coaches have approximately 9 weeks left for off-campus evaluations of recruits in grade 10 before the June 15 call date commences.

A NCAA ‘Quiet Period’ is defined as where NCAA coaches may not conduct any in-person, off-campus evaluations or conduct off-campus face-to-face contact with recruits or their family members from April 18 until June 1. Recruits who are in grade 11 & above may take unofficial visits and have face-to-face contact with coaches as long as it takes place on their campus. There is also a NCAA ‘Dead Period from noon March 17 to noon the 21st., which is defined as a period of time when no on or off-campus evaluations or face-to-face contact may be had. In addition, no unofficial or official visits may take place.

Buckle Up!

Help Women’s College Hockey, Go Attend A Game… For years the National Championship tournament has not had what coaches would call ‘True Bracket Integrity… meaning #1 plays #8, #2 plays #7 and so on. College coaches want that. The NCAA was more concerned with saving money, not flying teams to certain sites, then organizing a proper championship experience for teams. That mindset is somewhat gone in 2022 with an expanded field to 11 teams. However, part of the criteria the NCAA uses to determine who plays at each regional site, is based on the potential for a playoff atmosphere. A playoff atmosphere to the NCAA means fans in the stands and to get butts in the seats, means there has to be a local interest in the teams competing… to the NCAA anyway.

Potentially you could have at least two of three teams at a regional site who are geographical close in proximity to one another, without bracket integrity intact. May be you have the #1, #4, and #5 teams, rather than a schedule that protects the top seed.

So here is how you can help… Go attend NCAA regional tournament games no matter your affiliation with teams there. If you’re a fan of women’s college hockey – pack the stands and sell venues out. Make it so the attendance issue isn’t one the NCAA can hang its hat on to create a schedule where they can save money.

Better attendance helps ensure future NCAA tournaments have true bracket integrity and a better national championship experience for our student-athletes–which should be what matters most.

MN State HS Tourney Underway… There aren’t a lot of states who do a better job of putting on a state tournament than Minnesota. Class ‘A’ got underway yesterday and Class ‘AA’ gets underway today. All games are played at the Excel Energy Center, home to the MN Wild. You can watch all games HERE for FREE.

@MG_Girls_Hockey

Tune in Thursday to watch the State Girls Hockey Class AA Quarterfinals! These games will be free to view thanks to the support of @TheUrgencyRoom
https://t.co/IdfNDVQVZ6 will also be covering the consol. and 3rd place games. https://t.co/CFNub6u5Fp…
— MGSH Girls Hockey (@MGgirlshockey) February 22, 2022

Until Next Time…

21-22 Streaming Info

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all games live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Post #60 – 11/24/21 – Weekly Recap, Weekly Polls, D-I Tournament Events, Sifters

Posted on November 25, 2021 by Grant Kimball Leave a comment

In This Post…

D-I Weekly Recap |
D-I Weekly Polls |
D-I Tournament Events |
Sifters |

D-I Weekly Recap

Game results, box scores, and statistics come directly from USCHO.com or the NCAA’s official stats site HERE.

Video highlight links are to individual program produced media, some of which may be found on team twitter or other social media accounts – so scroll the feed to see the game highlights.

Postgame links are any postgame video produced by individual programs and found on either team websites or social media accounts.

Don’t See a link… for video highlights or postgame? Assume there was none available at the time of our post.

Quick Observations

There were 12 shutouts in games this past weekend through tonight — Wednesday — out of 41 games played, just shy of 1/3 of all games where a team didn’t score a goal.
7 games needed overtime, 4 teams won in OT while 3 remained tied after OT. One game, in Hockey East ended in a shootout win for Providence.
MN-Duluth hadn’t played a game in three-and-a-half weeks dating back to Oct. 23/24.
Speaking of Duluth… congrats to grad transfer forward Elizabeth Giguere who notched her NCAA career 250th point in a 5 assist effort vs Bemidji on Nov. 19.

And there it is — Élizabeth Giguère has become the ninth player in NCAA history to reach 250 career points. With four assists today, Giguère now has 104 career goals in addition to 146 career assists. pic.twitter.com/TwUJmyCzml
— UMD Women's Hockey (@UMDWHockey) November 19, 2021

Game Schedule, Results & Box Scores

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Non-Conference

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
6:00 ET	Post	1	@	Rensselaer	4	Box Score

Friday, November 19, 2021

CHA

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
2:00 ET	Mercyhurst	3	@	RIT	1	Box Score
7:00 ET	Penn State	1	@	Syracuse	0 OT	Box Score

ECAC

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
6:00 ET	Brown	1	@	(7) Clarkson	5	Box Score
3:00 ET	(10) Princeton	1	@	(5) Colgate	1 OT	Box Score
3:00 ET	(6) Quinnipiac	4	@	Cornell	0	Box Score
6:00 ET	(9) Yale	4	@	St. Lawrence	4 OT	Box Score

Hockey East

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
2:00 ET	Holy Cross	2	@	Boston College	4	Box Score
6:00 ET	Boston University	1	@	Maine	5	Box Score
6:00 ET	New Hampshire	1	@	(4) Northeastern	4	Box Score
6:00 ET	Providence	3	@	Connecticut	3 OT – PC wins SO, 1-0	Box Score

NEWHA

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
3:00 ET	St. Anselm	1	@	LIU	5	Box Score
4:00 ET	Franklin Pierce	9	@	Post	0	Box Score
7:00 ET	Sacred Heart	10	@	St. Michael’s	0	Box Score

WCHA

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
3:07 CT	(7) Minnesota Duluth	9	@	Bemidji State	0	Box Score
6:07 ET	Minnesota State	3	@	(2) Ohio State	6	Box Score
6:07 CT	(3) Minnesota	6	@	St. Cloud State	2	Box Score

Saturday, November 20, 2021

CHA

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
1:00 ET	Mercyhurst	6	@	RIT	1	Box Score
3:00 ET	Penn State	3	@	Syracuse	6	Box Score

ECAC

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
3:00 ET	(9) Yale	4	@	(7) Clarkson	2	Box Score
3:00 ET	(6) Quinnipiac	4	@	(5) Colgate	0	Box Score
3:00 ET	(10) Princeton	0	@	Cornell	2	Box Score
3:00 ET	Brown	1	@	St. Lawrence	2	Box Score

Hockey East

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
3:00 ET	Vermont	5	@	Merrimack	4 OT	Box Score
2:00 ET	Connecticut	2	@	(4) Northeastern	3	Box Score

NEWHA

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
2:00 ET	St. Anselm	2	@	LIU	3 OT	Box Score
3:30 ET	Franklin Pierce	3	@	Post	0	Box Score
4:00 ET	Sacred Heart	6	@	St. Michael’s	3	Box Score

WCHA

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
2:07 CT	(7) Minnesota Duluth	4	@	Bemidji State	1	Box Score
1:07 ET	Minnesota State	0	@	(2) Ohio State	9	Box Score
2:00 CT	(1) Wisconsin	7	@	St. Thomas	1	Box Score
3:07 CT	St. Cloud State	1	@	(3) Minnesota	5	Box Score

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Hockey East

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
3:00 ET	Boston College	4	@	Boston University	5	Box Score
3:00 ET	Vermont	5	@	Merrimack	2	Box Score
2:00 ET	Providence	2	@	Maine	3	Box Score

WCHA

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
2:00 CT	(1) Wisconsin	5	@	St. Thomas	1	Box Score

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Non-Conference

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
3:00 ET	(6) Yale	2	@	LIU	1 OT	Box Score
6:00 ET	St. Lawrence	5	@	RIT	1	Box Score
1:30 ET	Post	0	@	Sacred Heart	4	Box Score
7:00 ET	(10) Harvard	3	@	New Hampshire	2	Box Score

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Non-Conference

Time	Opponent	Opp Score	@	Home	Score	Summary
3:00 ET	Merrimack	1	@	Brown	0	Box Score

D-I Weekly Polls

Beginning this week, we’ll publish three nationally recognized ‘Top 10’ polls – 1) USCHO.com Women’s Top 10 Poll and 2) USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine Top 10 Women’s Poll, and the NCAA Power 10 Rankings compiled by Evan Marinofsky as seen on NCAA.com.

The USCHO.com ranking will be listed first and the USA Today / USA Hockey Magazine ranking listed second when identifying rankings for teams. Example, ‘#4/5’

USCHO Division I Women’s Poll – November 22, 2021

Rnk	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Wisconsin	(15)	15-0-1	150	1
2	Ohio State		12-2-0	135	2
3	Minnesota		11-3-0	115	3
4	Northeastern		12-2-1	102	4
5	Quinnipiac		13-1-2	93	6
6	Yale		7-2-1	63	9
7	Minnesota Duluth		6-4-0	60	7
8	Colgate		13-4-1	49	5
9	Clarkson		12-2-2	33	7
10	Harvard		6-3-0	12	NR
10	Princeton		5-2-1	12	10

Others receiving votes: Boston College 1

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women’s Poll

(2021-22 Season, Week 11 Poll)

First-place votes in parentheses

RANK	SCHOOL	LAST WEEK’S RANKING	2021-22 RECORD	WEEKS IN TOP 10
1.	University of Wisconsin, 190 (19)	1	15-0-1	11
2.	Ohio State University, 171	2	12-2-0	11
3.	University of Minnesota, 150	3	11-3-0	11
4.	Northeastern University, 121	4	12-2-1	11
5.	Quinnipiac University, 113	7	13-1-2	8
6.	University of Minnesota Duluth, 90	6	6-4-0	11
7.	Yale University, 66	NR	7-2-1	1
8.	Colgate University, 61	5	13-4-1	11
9.	Clarkson University, 43	8	12-2-2	4
10.	Princeton University, 24	9	5-2-1	7

Others Receiving Votes: Harvard, 10; Boston College, 4; UConn, 1; Cornell, 1.

Notes: University of Wisconsin remains in the top spot of the rankings with 190 points and 19 first-place votes… The ECAC leads with five teams in the ranking, while the WCHA has four and the HEA has one… Team records are listed as W-L-T… For past poll results, click here.

About the Poll: The 25th annual USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women’s College Hockey Poll is conducted each week in conjunction with the American Hockey Coaches Association. The poll includes input from coaches and journalists representing each of the five NCAA women’s hockey conferences who are eligible for the NCAA Women’s National Collegiate Ice Hockey Championships, as well as composite votes from officers of the AHCA and USA Hockey.

NEW – NCAA Power 10 Rankings… by Evan Marinofsky

WCH will begin to post a new Rankings list and commentary published on the National Collegiate Women’s site on NCAA.com which can be found HERE. It’s put out by Evan Marinofsky who covers NCAA Ice Hockey for the NCAA. Evan is a media professional who covers the Bruins for WEEI and has an extensive college hockey media background. Long story short, he’s credible.

Another great weekend of women’s college hockey has us back for another Power 10 rankings.

This week doesn’t see much movement in the top four, however, there is some serious movement in the middle of my top 10. Yes, I’m looking right at you, Quinnipiac, Yale and Minnesota Duluth.

Let’s dive in.

1. Wisconsin (15-0-1) | Prev: 1

The Badgers are still ridiculously good. They steamrolled St. Thomas this past weekend, winning 7-1 on Saturday and 5-1 Sunday.

Sophomore forward Maddi Wheeler had quite the weekend, potting two goals and two assists in the first game and then adding two more assists in the second. That brings her point total to 18, which is good for fifth on the team. After this weekend, forwards Casey O’Brien (16) and Makenna Webster (14) rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation for goals. Not bad.

After getting this upcoming weekend off, the Badgers will have a big test against Minnesota on December 3 and 4.

2. Ohio State (12-2) | Prev: 2

The Buckeyes had no issues with Minnesota State this weekend, taking the Mavericks down by scores of 6-3 and 9-0.

In the 6-3 win, graduate student forward Clair DeGeorge and senior forward Paetyn Lewis both posted four-point nights. In the nine-goal rout, 12 Buckeyes posted at least one point. Most notably, sophomore Jenna Buglioni registered four.

P2| Clair DeGeorge scores her second of the period with 3:22 on the clock!

Ohio State 6, Minnesota State 0#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/O73keTrtiK
— Ohio State Women's Hockey (@OhioStateWHKY) November 20, 2021

Next up is the D1 in DC Tournament. Ohio State will play St. Lawrence first and then Penn State.

3. Minnesota (11-3) | Prev: 3

Minnesota had another great weekend, sweeping St. Cloud State with scores of 6-2 and 5-1. Senior forwards Abigail Boreen and Taylor Heise and senior d-man Gracie Ostertag all registered two goals apiece on the weekend.

Here’s a fun stat: In its last four games, Minnesota is outscoring the opposition 28-4. That’s quite the goal differential.

The Gophers will look to continue dominating this weekend at the Smashville Showcase. First up is Mercyhurst, a team very close to earning a spot in these rankings, on Friday.

4. Northeastern (12-2-1) | Prev: 4

The Huskies continued strong play with two victories over good Hockey East opponents this past weekend. First up was New Hampshire, who Northeastern beat, 4-1. The following day was a 3-2 win over UConn.

WOAH: Here are 6 crazy stats from this women’s ice hockey season so far

Even though Friday’s win was only by three goals, the Huskies dominated, outshooting UNH, 46-13. In Saturday’s game against UConn, Northeastern was down 2-0 but rattled off three-straight lamplighters over the final two periods to win the game.

Next up is a big weekend series at Princeton.

5. Quinnipiac (13-1-2) | Prev: 6

The Bobcats move up a spot on my Power 10 for two main reasons. One is they took care of business against Cornell, winning by a final of 4-0. The second, and this one is bigger, is that they took down the team that previously held this No. 5 spot.

That’s right: Colgate had this spot last week, and Quinnipiac beat it, 4-0.

In its biggest win so far this season, the Bobcats got goals from sophomore forwards Sophie Urban and Nina Steigauf, junior forward Jess Schryver and first-year forward Maya Labad.

Quinnipiac moves up in the latest Power 10 rankings.

But the story of the game was graduate student goalie Corinne Schroeder. She stopped all 38 shots she faced from Colgate’s relentless offensive attack, as the Bobcats were outshot, 38-13. After this weekend, Schroeder leads the nation in goals-against average with an incredible .663. She has yet to allow more than a single goal in nine games.

Next up is the Nutmeg Classic. The first game will be against Yale this Friday.

6. Yale (7-2-1) | Prev: 7

Speaking of Yale, the Bulldogs come in this week at No. 6.

They tied St. Lawrence, 4-4, Friday night and beat Clarkson, 4-2, the following day. First-year forward Anna Bargman, junior forward Claire Dalton and junior defenseman Emma Seitz all registered a goal in each game.

This one from Seitz was particularly spectacular.

Seitz's second goal was an absolute beauty!#ThisisYale pic.twitter.com/InEvty1fp1
— Yale Women’s Hockey (@YaleWHockey) November 21, 2021

Up next for Yale is a game against LIU Tuesday night. Then comes its biggest test of the season so far against Quinnipiac in the Nutmeg Classic. That will have massive implications on these rankings.

7. Colgate (13-4-1) | Prev: 5

It was a tough weekend for Colgate. The Raiders tied Princeton, 1-1, and then lost to Quinnipiac, 4-0.

Last week, I said both games would be huge tests for Colgate because each opponent was ranked. In the tie against Princeton, the offense peppered Tigers goalie Rachel McQuigge with 48 shots. She stopped 47 of them. The next day it was more of the same. Once again, Colgate put up a ton of shots (38) and once again, it ran into a hot goalie in Quinnipiac’s Schroeder.

Next up is the Smashville Showcase. Colgate gets Boston College first on Friday. Saturday will bring either Minnesota or Mercyhurst — both very good opponents.

8. Minnesota Duluth (6-4) | Prev: NR

After almost a full month away from competition, the Bulldogs were back playing games. They traveled to Bemidji State this past weekend for a series with the Beavers. Friday’s game was a 9-0 win, while Saturday brought a 4-1 victory. In the nine-goal win, fifth-year forward Elizabeth Giguere posted a team-high five assists.

Minnesota Duluth’s next game is this weekend in the D1 in DC tournament. Its first matchup is against Penn State on Friday.

9. Clarkson (12-2-2) | Prev: 9

The Golden Knights stay put at No. 9 in these rankings after splitting this past weekend. Friday saw Clarkson take down Brown, 5-1. But the following night, Clarkson was bested by Yale, 4-2.

Clarkson took down Brown, 5-1, this past weekend.

There were lots of signs of encouragement in the 5-1 win. The Golden Knights enjoyed scoring from all over the lineup and outshot Brown, 44-23.

Next up is a weekend set against Maine.

10. Harvard (6-3) | Prev: 10

The Crimson didn’t play this past weekend, so no reason to move them out of the No. 10 spot.

Next up is a date with New Hampshire Tuesday night, another weekend off and then Union on Dec. 3.

Evan Marinofsky has covered the Boston Bruins for CLNS Media and WEEI, covering three postseasons and the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. He covered the UMass hockey team for two seasons for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, including its national championship run in 2021. He also covered the Cape Cod Baseball League for a summer in 2019. You can follow him on Twitter @EvanMarinofsky.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.

Holiday Tournament Time

It’s that time of year. Hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is here Thursday and with it, comes a slew of tournament events. Here is a rundown of what’s happening this weekend.

Smashville Women’s Collegiate Showcase — Nov. 26-27 — Boston College, Colgate, Mercyhurst, Minnesota
Nutmeg Classic — Nov. 26-27 — Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, UCONN, Yale (Hosted by UCONN, @ UCONN)
DI in DC — Nov. 26-27 — Ohio St., Penn St., Univ. MN-Duluth, St. Lawrence University
Mayors Cup — Nov. 27 — Providence @ Brown
World University Games — Dec. 10-17 — Northeastern University, Team Switzerland, Team China, Team Canada, Team Russia, Team Japan. You can find out more on this event HERE.

The D-III season is now under way and there are some holiday tournament events being played as well:

Cardinal/Panther Classic–Endicott, Plattsburgh, Elmira, and Middlebury (Nov. 27 & 28)
Codfish Bowl–UMASS-Boston, Bowdoin, Trine, and Stevenson (Nov. 27 & 28)
Castleton Invitational–Conn. College, Castleton, Potsdam, and Colby (Dec 10 & 11)
East/West Showcase–Adrian, Norwich, Elmira, Plattsburgh (Dec. 11 & 12)

Sifters

Katey Stone Wins #500… A 5-2 win vs. Brown on the road Nov. 13th gave Harvard Head Coach Katey Stone her 500th career NCAA win. She now becomes the first female head coach to reach the 500 win plateau. You can read more on Coach Stone’s 500th win HERE. You can find a list of the top 100 coaches in NCAA women’s hockey HERE as well.

NCAA D-I Tourney Expansion Update… Big news came out Tuesday as the Division I Competition Oversight Committee supported the recommendation for expansion of the women’s D-I NCAA National Collegiate Championship tournament to 11 teams in 2022. The NCAA D-I Council still needs to give final approval and will meet Dec. 15th to decide. You can read the official announcement from NCAA.com HERE. The cliff notes version is this:

11 teams make the tournament.
The top five seeds in the tournament would receive first-round byes. The fifth-seeded team would play at the campus site of one of the top four seeds.
Three first-round games would be played at the campus sites of three of the top four seeds in the tournament. The winners of first-round game would receive a day off before playing in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
The four second-round winners would advance to the Women’s Frozen Four March 18-20 in Park, Pennsylvania.

Holiday Recruiting Events Dot the Schedule Into December… It’s that time of year. College’s are winding down the first half of their respective seasons over the next few weekends (can you believe it!… seems like the season just started.) and that means one thing: Time to hit the recruiting trail. Several events are taking place around North America beginning this weekend and continuing late into December. Look for our complete list of marquee recruiting events next week. Things kick off this weekend with showcase events in Nashville to coincide with the ‘Smashville’ D-I Thanksgiving tournament as well as the Massachusetts State Championship tournament that gets underway Friday.

21-22 NCAA S-A Guide… Speaking of recruiting, the NCAA came out with its annual Guide for the College Bound Student-Athlete. You can download it HERE for free. This is the perfect document for anyone wondering about NCAA eligibility in the post-COVID era. It’s a must read!

Athletic Scholarships for RIT ad Union?… Yes, you read that correctly. Athletic scholarships could be on the way for these two long-time D-III schools with Division I Women’s and Men’s Ice Hockey programs. Final approval of the measure could come at the 2022 NCAA Convention. In late October, the D-III NCAA President’s Council supported a change to legislation concerning Bylaw 15 of the NCAA Manual–Financial Aid. Which would allow a small number of institutions who sponsor a D-III athletic department with a D-I team to give athletic scholarships. Allowing it at the NCAA level is one thing, having each school come up with the $ to fund athletic scholarships is another. A NCAA waiver in 2004 allowed current D-I hockey programs like Clarkson and St. Lawrence to give athletic scholarships. A move to allow D-III schools to fund it’s D-I teams with scholarships could have far reaching impacts for a sport like hockey. I don’t know all the inns and outs of what schools would have to do to elevate their hockey teams to D-I status, but imagine of Adrian, Plattsburgh, or Elmira, wanted to jump up to D-I? Hmmm… Interesting.

Kaplan, Hecker & Fink NCAA Gender Equity Review… If you have not so done yet, give this document a read, you can find it below. It’s absolutely stunning what the findings bring to light about how the NCAA operates, what it holds true to prioritize, and the disparities that exist in certain sports. It’s hard to put into words how bad it is. Ice Hockey as a sport is highlighted as one of the worst culprits in terms of disparities between the student-athlete experience for it’s women’s and men’s programs as well as the NCAA National Championship S-A experience. This document has much to do with the D-I tournament being expanded.

KHF Gender Equity Review Phase II Report (1)Download

Until Next Time…

21-22 Streaming Info

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Hockey East once again is streaming all game live and for FREE.

-Streams for CHA games with the exception of Penn St. can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-Streams for NEWHA games can be found at each teams’ website. Subscriptions may be necessary to watch games.

NCAA Coaching Changes… Keep up with all the coaching changes across D-I and D-III HERE.

Recruiting Events/League Online Directory… Find all the recruiting events on WCH.org right HERE. Want to add your event? Click HERE to fill out our WCH.org event form.

Post #40 — 6/11/21 — We’re Back, AHCA Convention, NCAA News/Update, Sifters

Posted on June 11, 2021 by Grant Kimball Leave a comment

In This Post…

The Pipeline Blog is Back!
AHCA Convention Update
NCAA News/COVID Update
Sifters

We’re Back!

The Women’s College Hockey.org Pipeline Blog is back! Once a week, we’ll bring you all the news, notes, and updates from around NCAA women’s college hockey, just as we did during the 20-21 season. We appreciate your patience during our time away in April & May. There is quite a bit of news to catch up on, so let’s get to it.

AHCA Convention Update

The annual American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) convention was unfortunately was held virtually from May 10-13 again due to COVID. The annual event normally held at the Naples Beach Hotel in Naples, Florida is for women’s and men’s coaches, school athletic administrators, and college hockey’s stakeholders to meetup to discuss issues of importance affecting the sport.

The AHCA did have an in-person farewell weekend event with a few hundred AHCA members April 29 – May 1 at the NBH. Although an in-person convention did not happen, that did not lessen the work that got accomplished. The virtual event was superbly planned and executed with each division and genders having online zoom meetings as well as professional development seminar opportunities with guests such as Martin St. Louis. Here are the major topics & takeaways discusses by the D-I women’s coaching body.

Division-I Topics

NCAA legislation moratorium until the 2022-2023
Verbal offer date change
NCAA tournament bracket expansion & Single site NCAA tournament location recommendation
Patty Kazmaier Award voting timeline and presentation structure changes
Use of new NPI ratings formula for national tournament selection

Division-I Takeaways

+ NCAA legislation moratorium until the 2022-2023 cycle… New NCAA legislation is on hold until the 2022-2023 cycle. Legislation slated to take effect for the 20-21 season was tabled due to COVID. Those pieces could find their way into the 2022-2023 cycle, but remains unknown.

+ Verbal offer date change… Over the next year, the women’s coaching body will discuss a change that would allow coaches to make verbal offers to prospects beginning August 1 after a prospects grade 10 year. This is instead of June 15 which is the current date in place. The rationale: More time to get to know your recruits before making financial commitments and allowing prospects to get to know coaches and more about the institution.

Men’s hockey currently has this rule. Women’s coaches discussed this rule change at length two years ago, and there was much support, so much so, women’s coaches were under the impression the rule change would take effect our sport as well. That is until our women’s executive committee found the legislation was approved for men’s hockey only. It ‘slipped through the cracks’ as the women’s executive committee was told by our NCAA reps.

+ NCAA Tournament Bracket Expansion… The women’s coaching body is working on a request for a 10 team national tournament field. NCAA bylaws stipulate 50% of the tournament field must come from conferences with auto-bid and the other 50% come from at at-large berths. The newest D-I women’s conference the NEWHA and will complete its required 2nd full season with 6 teams after the 21-22 season. After which it will be auto-bid for the 2022-2023 season. That gives Division I women’s hockey 5 auto-bid eligible conferences, but out of compliance according to NCAA selection bylaws with an 8 team field. Upping the field to 10 makes a lot of sense with 5 eligible auto-bid conferences to make up the 50% bylaw requirement. However there are several factors, cost being one, when adding 2 more teams. Currently D-I women’s ice hockey is under-represented on a % basis of its membership that gets to compete for the national collegiate championship. That % sits at just under 20% which is the lowest % of any NCAA sport with as many teams in its membership.

+ Single site NCAA tournament location recommendation… As part of the push to get a 10 team NCAA tourney field, one angle as part of the proposal is making a change to the format of the tournament itself. Using this years’ tourney as an example, all games were held at one site – in Erie, PA. One site allows for ‘Bracket Integrity’. What’s bracket integrity? It’s when you have a true seeded field with a schedule such as #1 vs #10, #2 vs #9, #3 vs 8, #4 vs 7, and #5 vs #6. Rarely if ever has the D-I women’s tournament had bracket integrity. Why? It costs money to fly teams around the country. So to save, the NCAA would try to avoid any more than two flights in the first round. In doing so, you have teams that play one another in the 1st round who are a little closer geographically and in competitiveness than when bracket integrity exists.

+ Patty Kazamier Award voting timeline and presentation structure changes… Coaches will make a request of the Patty Kazamier organizers to make changes that will enhance the profile of the award, while making the event a little less burdensome for the teams and finalists involved. Coaches feel voting should take place after the national tournament is complete. Second, the award has been announced on the off-day before the national championship game in a very nice ceremony, but it can be a bit awkward if the winner lost the semi-final on the day before. Usually finalists are playing in the Frozen Four or in the national championship game. Announcing the winner at another date and time would make that senario go away. Also, it would help increase the awards’ profile by not sandwiching it in the middle of our sports marquee event – the national championship.

+ National Tournament Selection Criteria Change Coming… College hockey has used what is known as the Ratings Percentage Index or RPI, in selecting teams for the national tournament by the women’s ice hockey committee. A new method – called the NPI or NCAA Percentage Index – will be in the committee’s arsenal now. The NPI gives a 30% weighting to winning percentage and 70% to strength of schedule. Simply put, the NPI is cleaner math.

The RPI is calculated based on winning percentage, opponents’ winning percentage and opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage, and the NPI is calculated based on winning percentage and the opponent’s rating itself (rather than the combination of opponents’ winning percentage and opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage) as
the measure of schedule strength.

There was a recommendation for the NPI to replace the RPI, but it was ultimately determined the selection committee should have use of both tools at its disposal to use.

NCAA News/COVID Update

Robert Morris Drops D-I Hockey Women’s & Men’s Programs… In a shocking development, Robert Morris University decided to drop its Division I women’s and men’s ice hockey programs effective immediately. The news broke May 26th and the decision was said to be part of new strategic initiatives outlined to position RMU as one of the most agile in the country. You can read the official story HERE on RMU’s website. A follow up story can be found HERE on USCHO.com.

RMU becomes the third D-I women’s program to close its doors behind former CHA conference member Wayne State Univ. in 2011 and the Univ. of North Dakota in 2017 of the WCHA. There has been been a groundswell of support to try and save the programs. A local rink management company along with management at the Pittsburgh Penguins have reached out to present a plan to RMU president Chris Howard.

As if recruiting wasn’t tough enough already for those in the class of 2021 or 2022, an entire team of D-I players just hit the transfer portal to try and hook on with another program. It’s June, and rosters are largely set heading into next year. But some space will be available for programs to take players. It’s just an awful situation that no one with the women’s or men’s RMU hockey programs could have anticipated. We will keep you updated as developments take shape.

Recruiting Opens Up for D-I Coaches… The NCAA ended its temporary COVID recruiting dead period June 1st. Coaches are back in rinks and traveling to evaluate players live for the first time since in 14 months. Numerous camps, clinics, showcases, and recruiting events opened or will open their doors soon. The Os Prospects/Futures event in Bloomington, Minnesota was just held June 4-6 and drew over 450 players with close to every D-I program in attendance. The first two weeks of June are proving to be very busy for player evaluations in anticipation of the June 15th call date for the class of 2023.

Important Date for NIL – Name, Image, Likeness Coming July 1… If you’re paying attention to NCAA news other than COVID restrictions, than you are sure to have heard about NIL or name, image, and likeness NCAA legislation and state laws being drafted to begin July 1. For those who don’t know a thing about the NIL issue, here is the jist.

Beginning July 1, 2021 the NCAA will allow athletes to be compensated for their ‘Name, Image, and Likeness’ without institutional or conference involvement. It has been long argued schools have profited off of their athletes but with no compensation back to the athletes themselves. That non–compensation system is changing. With NIL, we’re really talking about the sports that produce the millions in revenue some schools take in–Football and Basketball mostly – but others exist too – hockey being one of them.

So, what can student-athletes be compensated for? According to the NCAA, Student-Athletes can be compensated for the following:

Compensation for third-party endorsements related to athletics, without school or conference involvement.
Compensation for other student-athlete opportunities, such as social media, new businesses, and personal appearances, without institutional involvement or the use of trademarks/logos.

In May the NCAA updated its NIL plans which you can read HERE.

What does NIL look like? Here’s an example. Picture a car dealership that advertises on TV/radio that XYZ University star Junior Goaltender Sally Smith will be signing autographs from 10-2pm on a Saturday to try and help drum-up business. Now, Julie can be paid by the dealership for her appearance and not break NCAA rules doing so.

There are no federal/national laws that govern rules and compliance for NIL. So, states are left to come up with their own laws covering NIL. States with laws on the books are set to go into effect on July 1, 2021. There could be 50 different versions of NIL laws. The money some athletes (think name brand football/basketball names – both female/male) could make is substantial money, some predict in the six-figures. Imagine how this could play out in recruiting battles. Recruits could want to go to schools in states that have favorable NIL laws so they can optimize their own NIL.

Will NIL have an impact on women’s hockey? Tough to say. But you have to wonder how businesses within the sports themselves and in the locale of the school, will try and use NIL to their advantage.

Sifters

Coaching Carousel… There have been no shortage of D-I head and assistant coaching positions open to be hired. It’s been one of the most active off-season for openings we’ve ever seen. Here’s a rundown of what jobs were/are still open and or have been filled already.

Head Coaching Positions Filled/Open

Brown University – ECAC – Melanie Ruzzi (former Asst. coach at Princeton University)
Dartmouth College – ECAC – Elizabeth Keady Norton (former Assoc. Head Coach @ Boston University)
Stonehill College – NEWHA (new member in 2022-2023 season) – Tara Watchorn (former Asst. Coach at Boston Univ.)
St. Anselm College – NEWHA – OPEN
St. Thomas University – WCHA – Joel Johnson (Former Assoc. Head Coach at Minnesota)

Assistant Coaching Positions Filled/Open

Boston University – Hockey East – 2 Assistant Coaches – OPEN
Brown University – ECAC – 2 Assistant Coaches – OPEN
University of Connecticut – Hockey East – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
Dartmouth College – ECAC – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
Mercyhurst University – CHA – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
Merrimack College – Hockey East – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
University of Minnesota – WCHA – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
University of New Hampshire – Hockey East – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
Princeton University – ECAC – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
Providence College – Hockey East – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
Quinnipiac University – ECAC – 1 Assistant Coach (Filled by Brent Hill)
Stonehill College – CHA – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
Syracuse University – CHA – 1 Assistant Coach – OPEN
Union College – ECAC – 2 Assistant Coaches – OPEN

In total there were 5 D-I head coaching positions open and 17 assistant positions. Those numbers represent a 11.9% and 20.2% turnover rate. While we not have data year-to-year on coaching turnover, we do know since 2001, there have been no fewer than 3 head coach opening to be filled.

UCONN Breaks Ground on New On-Campus Arena… The University of Connecticut broke ground in a ceremony for a new $70 million dollar, 2,600 seat rink facility on May 22. No completion date was given, but the state-of-the-art facility will feature women’s and men’s dry change & locker room areas, full athletic training facilities, a hydrotherapy area, players lounge, and video display areas. You can read UCONN’s official announcement HERE and video HERE.

Future Teams Take the Ice… St. Thomas University, a perennial D-III power in the MIAC will be making their D-I debut as a new member of the WCHA for the 21-22 season. St. Thomas makes the jump as the 8th team in the WCHA. The Tommies basically got kicked out of the MIAC and really had no choice but to move up to D-I in all sports with hockey as a part of it’s athletic profile. It’s a perfect fit geographically as 5 other teams in the WCHA reside in Minnesota. Adding the Tommies does however take away 4 non-conference games for each WCHA team. Teams will now play 28 regular season games and have up to 6 non-conference games to schedule.

Stonehill College, located just outside of Boston, MA will commence the building of its women’s hockey program with newly announced head coach Tara Watchorn. Stonehill plans to compete in its first season during 22-23 as a member of the NEWHA. Coach Watchorn will spend the 21-22 season recruiting her inaugural team.

With word of RMU shutting down both its women’s and men’s hockey programs, it was nice to hear about a potential school starting D-I hockey, albeit in an unlikely part of the country–Tennessee. Tennessee State University, one of the country’s historically black colleges and universities, is reportedly ready to conduct a feasibility study into starting women’s and men’s Division I hockey teams. As reported in the Nashville Post, TCU is potentially partnering with the Nashville Predators to see if this can come to fruition. It was unclear when the study would take place or when an announcement could come. You can read more HERE.

COVID Changing Youth Hockey Landscape… With the amount of players taking a gap year and with a continued growth in girls hockey, we wondered where would all these players play? Shattuck St. Mary’s recently announced in March it would be starting a second U19 girls hockey team. You can read the official announcement HERE. The team will be coached by Mitch Baker, former assistant coach at Union College.

With COVID shutdowns still going on in Ontario, we’re starting to hear about players leaving Ontario and coming to the US to play hockey and go to school for next season. A normal hockey season in Ontario is not looking so normal this coming year. Youth hockey and sports in general, are on track to go back to a normal way of life here in the US. Players are left to roll the dice and wait to see what the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association decides, which ultimately will come at the hand of the Ontario ministry of health and Hockey Canada officials. Another lost year of hockey development could be real troublesome for players and the sport itself.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

NCAA Tournament

Post #39 — 4/2/21 — Patty Kaz Award, Final Top 10 Polls, NCAA News, Sifters

Posted on April 2, 2021 by Grant Kimball 3 comments

In This Post…

Recruiting Rule of The Day
Northeastern’s Frankel Wins The Patty
Final Top 10 Polls
NCAA News
Sifters

Recruiting Rule of The Day…
12.1.2 Amateur Status. An individual loses amateur status and thus shall not be eligible for intercollegiate competition in a particular sport if the individual: (Revised: 4/25/02 effective 8/1/02, 4/23/03 effective 8/1/03, 4/29/10 effective 8/1/10)

(a) Uses his or her athletics skill (directly or indirectly) for pay in any form in that sport;
(b) Accepts a promise of pay even if such pay is to be received following completion of intercollegiate athletics participation;
(c) Signs a contract or commitment of any kind to play professional athletics, regardless of its legal enforceability or any consideration received, except as permitted in Bylaw 12.2.5.1;
(d) Receives, directly or indirectly, a salary, reimbursement of expenses or any other form of financial assistance from a professional sports organization based on athletics skill or participation, except as permitted by NCAA rules and regulations;
(e) Competes on any professional athletics team per Bylaw 12.02.12, even if no pay or remuneration for expenses was received, except as permitted in Bylaw 12.2.3.2.1;
(f) After initial full-time collegiate enrollment, enters into a professional draft (see Bylaw 12.2.4); or (g) Enters into an agreement with an agent.

Northeastern’s Frankel Wins The Patty

Northeastern University senior goaltender Aerin Frankel won the 2021 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award on Saturday March 27. The event was televised on the NHL Network live at 2pm as an hour long special. The native of Briarcliff Manor, NY beat out Wisconsin forward Daryl Watts and Minnesota forward Grace Zumwinkle. Statistically Frankel was in a class by herself this year. With 23 games played this year she had an 0.81 GAA and a .965 Save % seeing just under 23 shots per game.

You can watch her video accepting the award HERE and her Patty Kaz intro video HERE. She is a senior and will have the NCAA extra year of eligibility to use. We assume she’ll be back for the Huskies next season.

Final Top 10 Polls

The final USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls of the season came out for the week of March 22. They are identical to each other. You will notice Minnesota is ranked 6th… and yes they did not get into the NCAA tournament. Keep in mind these rankings are not used by the NCAA selection committee to determine who gets into the tournament or not. These rankings are strictly for media purposes by the various entities.

That said, these rankings are decided by good ‘hockey people’ who know the game… sports writers, NCAA coaches, members of the AHCA membership. I can’t recall a time when a team ranked as high as 6th in any poll, much less both, was left out of the tournament. It will be interesting to hear the selection committee comment on the process this year during the AHCA Convention in May.

USCHO.com Top 10 Poll – March 22
#1 Wisconsin
#2 Northeastern
#3 Ohio State
#4 MN-Duluth
#5 Colgate
#6 Minnesota
#7 Boston College
#8 Penn State
#9 Providence
#10 Robert Morris

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10 Poll – March 22
#1 Wisconsin
#2 Northeastern
#3 Ohio State
#4 MN-Duluth
#5 Colgate
#6 Minnesota
#7 Boston College
#8 Penn State
#9 Providence
#10 Robert Morris

NCAA News

The D-I and D-III women’s coaching body as well as D-I conference commissioners held their monthly zoom meeting last week. The big topic of discussion was this year’s NCAA national tournament, the selection process, and the absence of Minnesota and Penn State. There was a spirited discussion about the transparency of the process as a whole. Also discussed… D-I hockey could be in position to better the sport given the recent inequities shown in women’s basketball. Fair and equitable treatment could come in the form of an increase in teams selected to the D-I national tournament 8 to 10. Currently, on a percentage basis, the women’s tournament is out of balance compared to that of men’s D-I hockey. The women’s currently have 8 selections that represent 22.22% of the total number of teams at the D-I level eligible to make the tournament (36). Men’s D-I hockey is at 26.66% of it’s membership which is 60 and slated to be 61 after the 21-22 season.

Future meetings later this month will take place between each of the D-I conference commissioners and the D-I coaches chairs of each conference to discuss national agenda items for its AHCA convention in May. More about that agenda and the convention itself later this month.

Sifters

Worlds Update… Multiple NCAA players are off to their countries respective training / tryout camps for the 2021 World Championships being held in Halifax, Nova Scotia May 6-16. Players heading to Canada needed to take into account a mandatory 14-day quarantine before heading off for camp. Team USA’s camp, which just ended March 30, was held in Blaine, MN. twenty-four players on NCAA rosters this season were invited. A total of 46 players total were involved. The U.S. has named their World Championship Roster and you can find it HERE.

The MN State Tournament… continues this week. The Class A and Class AA finals will be held tomorrow and can be seen live HERE. The Class A championship begins at 11AM CST with Proctor/Hermantown vs. Gentry Academy. The Class AA championship has Edina vs. Andover at 1PM CST.

5 OT’s for the North Dakota/MN-Duluth Men… the NCAA men’s tournament kicked off last weekend and it produced the longest NCAA tournament game ever and 4th longest game ever. #1 overall tournament seed North Dakota came back to tie MN-Duluth with less than two minutes to go in the game and eventually lost 3-2 in the 5th overtime. You can watch the game highlights below.

RECAP 📢 @UMDMensHockey beats North Dakota in longest NCAA tournament game ever to reach fourth-straight Frozen Four.#NCAAHockey pic.twitter.com/XcOY2eipmL
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 28, 2021

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

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