Post #106 – 7/7/23 – Friday’s Sifters + A Little Extra:
Little lobs of news and info from around the world of women’s college hockey and beyond
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Friday’s Sifters
D-III Positions Open Up, NGHL News, Hockey East Facility Get’s An Upgrade and More, Teams Get It Done In The Classroom, + A Little Extra
Two D-III Head Coaching positions opened up this week. The National Girls Hockey League welcomes new teams, a Hockey East program get’s a rink upgrade.
Plus, several NHL Development Camps took place this week with NCAA female D-I coaches taking part.
July is shaping up to be one busy month on the recruiting trail for NCAA coaches.
Let’s get to it.
Coaching/Staff News At RMU, UCONN, Univ. of New England, SUNY-Cortland, SUNY-Potsdam
Robert Morris University… Head Coach Logan Bittle has announced the hiring of Operation Coordinator Patrick Barry to round out his coaching and support staff. Barry previously worked in operations and video with Penn St. You can read more on his hiring HERE.
UCONN… Has hired a new Director of Women’s Hockey Operations and Equipment Matt LaMalfa.
University of New England… Long time University of New England Head Coach David Vendetti has resigned according to a press release put out by the school. A national search for his replacement will be conducted.
SUNY-Cortland… Has posted for its part-time Assistant Coach position.
SUNY-Potsdam… Has announced a national search for a new Head Coach.
FEIA Joins National Girls Hockey League
The NGHL has a new hockey program joining for this coming 23-24 season – Fort Erie International Academy. Located in Fort Erie, Ontario just south of Niagara Falls, the FEIA girls hockey program enters its full 2nd season. Designed as a traditional boarding school, FEIA aims to attract International students in grade 6-12.
The NGHL provides opportunities for girls from the U10 to U19 age group and in the Tier I and Tier II competitive categories. The NGHL has teams literally from coast to coast.
For more information on the NGHL or the FEIA just click the links ➡️ NGHL ➡️ FEIA
Merrimack Get’s New Rink Upgrades
A multi-million dollar gift from Richard H’15 and Susanna Gallant will pave the way for transformative renovations to Lawler Rink. A new luxury pavilion with premium seating at the north end of the rink, enhanced luxury suites, modernized game day club experience, and new designated areas for media, broadcasts and the Merrimack Marching Band. There is a short video of what the future renovations will look like below:
Conference Academic Award Season
We know it’s July and the academic year has been over for a few months, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t news to share. Several D-I conferences have announced All-Academic Team selections.
Conferences have their own academic award criteria, but it’s usually some form of players having a 3.0 or better for 2 or more semesters.
Vermont and Merrimack led Hockey East with 23 selections each.
Yale was tops in the ECAC with 27 selections.
Mercyhurst lead the way in College Hockey America with 26 selections.
You can read each conference’s All-Academic Team release here: ➡️ Hockey East ➡️ ECAC ➡️ CHA
Extras
NCAA Coaches Have An Important July Ahead Of Them
D-I and D-III coaches have a lot at stake this month. With player commitments being made and multiple high profile events taking place mid-month, like USA Hockey’s Under 18 Select Camp or some of the Canadian Provincial Under 18 evaluation camps, July is proving to be a busy but important time of year.
With June 15 in the rear-view mirror and the first wave of recruits making commitment decisions, programs are constantly having to re-adjusting their recruiting priorities. Especially at his time of year given the recruiting cycle, sometimes a player who didn’t start out as high on the list, now either winds up there because teams didn’t get the recruit they wanted or, they have a short window of time to prove they deserve to be there.
And as decisions/commitments happen in D-I, D-III recruiting is greatly impacted. D-III coaches are making commitments themselves with players who know a D-III school is what they want. Subsequently, players that were ‘keeping the D-I dream alive’ and get told ‘NO’ from the D-I schools they were holding out for, could lost a spot at D-III.
It will be a very interesting few weeks as coaches will be using these upcoming events to make some important recruiting decisions.
Here’s just a partial list of events taking place this July that are likely to have a big impact on recruiting decisions.
- July 11-16, Alberta Provincial U18 Camp
- July 13-16 Ontario Provincial U18 Camp
- July 16-22, USA U18 Select Camp (Oxford, OH – Miami University)
- July 17-19, NAE – North American Elite July Showcase (Haverhill, MA)
- July 20-23, British Columbia U18 Provincial Camp
- July 28-30, Beantown Showcase (Marlborough, MA, NESC)
Until Next Time Everyone… Be Well and take Care,
-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. Paid 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.
