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The Women’s College Hockey Pipeline…

Your leading online resource for NCAA Women’s College Hockey

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

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

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

Do The Math – Part 2

Media Help On The Way

IIHF Worlds

Sifters

In Case You Missed It

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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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In Case You Missed It… Post #75

We’re starting a new section to our blog called… In Case You Missed It. If you didn’t get the chance to read out last have no fear. Will will begin putting out previous Pipeline posts at the bottom of our current one. Check it out below.

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In Case You Missed It… Post #75

NCAA Update

U-18 USA & Canada Selection Camps

Do The Math

Sifters

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NCAA Update

On August 3rd the NCAA Division I Board of Directors acted on recommendations made by the Transformation Committee. Some items made it through are were put into action immediately, like more benefits to support athletes. One item did not. The package of recommendations on Transfers was sent back and not voted on.

The NCAA’s D-I Board of Directors took action earlier last week on recommendations made by the Transformation Committee. Schools are now be allowed – immediately – to offer enhanced benefits for student-athletes. The D-I Board of Directors took no action on the TC’s proposed new set of transfer rules.

Institutions are now able to provide enhanced benefits to better their support athletes in a variety of areas such as personal well being & safety, insurance products for major injury and loss of value, and funding participation in elite-level training, tryouts, and competition. It used to be schools were very limited in what they spend $ on to support their athletes in these areas. Starting August 3, schools will no longer need to submit waivers to get approval to pay for these types of benefits.

Let’s say you are a part of your country’s national team program and they want you to participate in a team camp or tournament event. It appears schools will now be able – if they are willing – to pay for their athletes to attend. Or if you’re a potential high draft-pick in your sport and had the potential to get lucrative playing and endorsement contracts, an insurance policy could be purchased by your school to protect against a catastrophic injury and loss of value in your potential earnings.

The D-I Board agreed to not act on the transfer rules package recommended at this time. It seems there was a bit of pushback from the D-I membership as well as SAAC – The Student Athlete Advisory Committee in that some of the transfer rules seemed too restrictive. The original recommendations by the NCAA TC would have allowed for an academic eligibility exception where students would not only be academically eligible from the school they were transferring from, but also have enough credits to be eligible at the school they were transferring to. Additionally, several ‘transfer windows’ would be available where athletes would have a certain amount of time to give written notice to their school with intentions to transfer. However those windows would close after a certain number of days. The SAAC Committee commented that the overall transfer package was deemed too restricting and limited a players’ freedom of movement.

The NCAA’s D-I Board will next meet and vote on additional recommendations from the Transformation Committee on August 31. You can read the full NCAA announcement on its approval of enhanced student-athlete benefits HERE.

U-18 USA & Canada Selection Camps

Hockey Canada’s U18 selection Camp… is already underway in Calgary Alberta. Goaltenders had the first few days of camp Aug. 2nd & 3rd. Forwards and defenders had a series of position specific practices Aug. 4th and 5th prior to the 45-player group is split into 2 teams, Red & White, where team practices will commenced on Aug. 6th. Interestingly, Finland has brought it’s U-18 team over to participate along with Canada. Finland’s participation began with its own team practices Aug. 5 and begin play vs. Team Red Aug. 10.

Speaking of games, it looks like Hockey Canada will be streaming quite a bit of hockey over the next little while.

Canada U-18 Selection Camp Game Streams can be found HERE and then by clicking on the ‘Watch’ link in the right-hand side of the page, see example below.

USA Hockey’s U18 and O18 selection Camp… get’s underway today with games beginning today at the LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo, NY. Players are split into 2 age groups, Under-18 and Over-18. The U18 group will practice and scrimmage together with 4 total games vs. one another. The Over-18 group will be split into 4 teams for practices and games with each team playing 3 games.

You can find the U18 and O18 team rosters HERE. We haven’t been able to find any info on links to watch live streams. We will keep you posted if we do find some.

Do The Math

Wondering how much you’ll have to pay for college? Best to ‘Do The Math’ now, so you know how much you have to work with down the road – when you’ll need to know…

Unless you plan on your daughter getting a full scholarship, (there aren’t many of that get offered), families are going to wind up paying some amount of money out-of-pocket to put your daughter through college. How much exactly, that’s a lot harder to determine when the college hockey recruiting process is involved.

But even if a final dollar amount is unattainable right now and college could be years away, families SHOULD do something in the meantime to help make things a lot easier in the future.

What families should be doing is a ‘Family Financial Evaluation’.

Simply stated, this is a process where families crunch the numbers and find out a worst-case / this-is-what-we-can-afford at the top end of our budget amount – in order to make paying for college, work. Consider it like an internal family audit and a way of determining what your family finances will be over the next 6 to 7 years. And that’s how many years ahead families should be evaluating their finances for.

Why 6-7 years?

For those players who are heading into grade 11 this coming Fall, you are either in the midst of the recruiting process already or it’s going to probably happen before the grade 11 year is over and that’s the time frame you’ll need to evaluate. 2 more years of high school + 4 years of college. Add in a post-grad year perhaps, and that is how you get to 7.

So why is it important to do this now if we’re talking about something that may not happen for another 7 years!!??

3 reasons. 1) As they say, knowledge is power. The more you know how much you can afford, the better off you will be when it comes time to evaluate college costs. You can focus your time and efforts where legit opportunities are. 2) For someone who is going through the recruiting process right now or soon will, you could be faced with having to make some decisions – and soon. In order to do so, those opportunities have to be affordable in order to work out. 3) Some schools may be real aggressive with making offers, and it’s not just on the D-I side any longer,. Plenty of offers come in the grade 11 year for players at the D-3 level. And at D-I – it’s all about financial aid and knowing costs as there are no athletic scholarships.

In next week’s post, we’ll breakdown what to evaluate when looking at your finances.

Sifters

As David Bowie sang, Cha, Cha, Cha, Changes… The coaching changes keep coming. This time if year is somewhat late for departures, especially of head coaches – but that’s exactly what has happened. Tim Crowley, head coach at Elmira College, has stepped down. We have a suspicion it’s for another coaching position, but that hasn’t been made public yet, and don’t want to speculate. Elmira’s assistant coach, Mandy Montgomery stepped down earlier this summer and that leaved Elmira with two very important positions to fill.

The more unexpected departure came when it was reported last week University of Maine’s Head and Assistant Coach, who are husband and wife, Richard Reichenbach and his wife Sara, resigned for undisclosed reasons. In an article posted by a local TV station WGME, it appears the school has commenced its search process already. You can read that story HERE and see our updated 2022-2023 Coaching Changes Tracker HERE.

Season Almost Here… You know the season is getting closer when conferences start to announce their schedules. The CHA 22-23 schedule can be found HERE. The WCHA conference schedule can be found HERE.

Regional Representation… Ontario and Minnesota Lead The Way… Canada’s U18 Selection camp has players from 7 different provinces, here is a breakdown:

Province	# of Players
British Columbia	6
Alberta	4
Saskatchewan	2
Manitoba	3
Ontario	21
Quebec	5
Nova Scotia	3

Team USA’s U18 National Festival Camp Roster has players from 13 different states, here is a breakdown:

State	# of Players
California	2
Montana	1
Missouri	1
Minnesota	13
Illinois	1
Michigan	2
Pennsylvania	2
Florida	1
New York	1
Vermont	1
Connecticut	1
Massachusetts	4
Wisconsin	1

Until Next Time… Enjoy and Happy Reading!

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-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.

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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.

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