Tag Archives: Hockey East

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

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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 ⬇️

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-3-2-22Download

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.

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.

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.

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

Posted on by 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

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.

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. 

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?

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. 

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Post #57 – 9/30/21 – Weekend Recap, More Coaches Polls, CAN U18’s Cancelled, Sifters

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In This Post…

  • D-I Weekend Recap |
  • More Coaches Polls |
  • Hockey Canada Cancels U18’s – Again |
  • Sifters |

D-I Weekend Recap

Game results, box scores, and statistics come directly from the NCAA Stats Site (found 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.

No link… for video highlights or postgame? Assume there was none available at the time of our post.

Game Results, Box Scores, Video Highlights, Postgame

Thursday, Sept 23rd

St. Lawrence 1
@ #9/10 Penn State 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame

Friday, Sept 24th

RIT 1
@ #4/6 Colgate 8
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
Maine 2
@ #10/NR Quinnipiac 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
Sacred Heart 1
@ #NR/10 Clarkson 6
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
Minnesota State 3
@ Merrimack 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
St. Thomas 0
@ #3/3 Ohio State 6
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
Long Island Univ. 1
@ UCONN 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
RPI 1
@ Mercyhurst 2
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
St. Lawrence 2
@ Penn State 2 (OT)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
#1/1 Wisconsin 8
@ Lindenwood 1
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame

Saturday, Sept 25th

St. Michael’s College 1
@ Vermont 12 (exhibition)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
Franklin Pierce 2
@ #2/2 Northeastern 4 (Exhibition)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
Sacred Heart 1
@ #NR/10 Clarkson 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
St. Thomas 1
@ #3/3 Ohio State 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
Maine 1
@ #10/NR Quinnipiac 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
Long Island Univ. 0
@ UCONN 2
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
RPI 0
@ Mercyhurst 2
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
Minnesota State 9
@ Merrimack 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
#1/1 Wisconsin 10
@ Lindenwood 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
#4/6 Colgate 13
@ RIT 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame

Observations

  • 20 games played, 1 Thursday, 9 Friday, and 10 on Saturday.
  • The home team went 13-6-1 last weekend.
  • Colgate @ RIT Saturday drew 1350 in attendance, the largest crowd of the weekend. RPI/M’Hurst came in 2nd with 726 on Saturday. According to the NCAA Stats Site, 8,140 spectators attended the 20 games scheduled, an ave. of 407/game.
  • The average margin of victory per win this weekend was 4.65 goals. Exactly half of the games this weekend saw 5 goals or more scored by the winning team.
  • SLU/Penn State played the first overtime 3 on 3 game this year… with no winner.
  • St. Thomas played its first ever games as a member of Division I and the WCHA.
  • There we 7 shutouts.
  • Minnesota-State Mankato had the furthest road trip of any program this weekend… according to Apple Maps, it’s 1425 miles from Mankato, MN to North Andover, MA where Merrimack College is located.

Weekly Top 10 Rankings

We publish two 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.

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 – September 27, 2021

RnkTeam(First Place Votes)RecordPointsLast Poll
1Wisconsin(14)2-0-01491
2Northeastern(1)0-0-01352
3Ohio State2-0-01113
4Colgate2-0-0936
4Minnesota0-0-0934
6Minnesota Duluth0-0-0855
7Boston College0-0-0487
8Cornell0-0-0418
9Princeton0-0-02010
10Quinnipiac2-0-019NR

Others receiving votes: Clarkson 17, Harvard 9, Providence 3, Penn State 2

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

September 28, 2021

# RKTeamPoints(First Place Votes)Last PollRecordWeeks in Poll
1University of Wisconsin190(19)12-0-03
2Northeastern University16320-0-03
3Ohio State University14332-0-03
4University of Minnesota12050-0-03
5University of Minnesota Duluth10740-0-03
6Colgate University10662-0-03
7Cornell University6570-0-03
8Boston College5980-0-03
9Princeton University4090-0-03
10Clarkson University22NR2-0-01

Others receiving votes: Quinnipiac 12, Providence 10, Harvard 6, Penn State 2.

More Coaches Polls

The NEWHA and Hockey East have released their 21-22 Preseason Coaches Polls. In just its third year, Long Island University claims the NEWHA’s top spot while in Hockey East, Northeastern was picked to finish first by league coaches. You can see both polls below.

2021-2022 New England Women’s Hockey Alliance Preseason Coaches Poll

RANKTEAMPOINTS (FIRST PLACE VOTES)
1.LIU25 pts. (5)
2.Sacred Heart19 pts. (1)
3.Franklin Pierce18 pts.
4.Saint Anselm14 pts.
5.Saint Michael’s9 pts.
6.Post5 pts.
2021-22 NEWHA Preseason Coaches’ Poll Announced

2021-2022 Hockey East Preseason Coaches Poll

RankTeam (1st Place Votes)Pts.
1.Northeastern (9)90
2.Providence (1)75
3.Boston College70
4.UConn67
5.Boston University59
6.Vermont52
7.Maine43
8.New Hampshire40
9.Holy Cross25
10.Merrimack19

Hockey Canada Cancels Under-18’s

Originally this was going to be a little boo-hoo blurb in our Sifters section, but as I got going on it, it became what it is below.

Monday evening, Hockey Canada announced the cancellation of three events slated to take place this fall due to ongoing COVID concerns. The 2021 National Women’s Under-18 Championships was one of them, an event cancelled last Fall and one many NCAA schools were looking forward to getting to. So our questions is this: Was there back-up plan?

Here is part of Hockey Canada’s official statement, “Despite a strong desire to work with three great communities to host the top players at various levels across the country this season, the health and safety of all participants and the communities at large continues to be of the utmost importance to Hockey Canada. The ongoing pandemic, in addition to the vaccination status of some international teams, has left us with no other option. We believe the decision to cancel these fall events is the safest decision given the ongoing uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic at a local level, as well as the uncertainty around countries and regions being able to safely compete...”

The Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup and 2021 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge were the two other events cancelled. Other countries were set to compete at these two events. Looking at the above statement, we can buy the rationale for cancelling based on Canada requiring certain types of vaccines for entry. If teams can’t meet the requirement, than you have no choice but to cancel the event. But the Women’s U-18 don’t involve outside countries – just provincial U-18 teams. If conditions are such, that the intended locale doesn’t meet Hockey Canada standards, move to plan B. Why not announce a postponement with a clear plan to either move to a plan B – which would have already been figured out in advance – or a path investigate alternative locations or dates? Didn’t Hockey Canada just go through this a few months back with the Women’s Worlds being canceled? Didn’t Hockey Canada already have a front row seat for this?

A quick glance of Canadian Major Junior or Tier II Jr. A league schedules tells us games are being played across provincial lines, even US based teams are crossing into Canada. So what got missed? The development of a ‘what if’ plan to hold the event elsewhere if conditions warranted, that’s what. Organizations have had to learn to adapt in our new COVID world–event organizers need back-up plans! NCAA – you are on the clock too, should COVID concerns derail any championships in its intended locale, have a plan B. Insert hand slapping face emoji here. What’s the saying, history is doomed to repeat itself? Until it doesn’t.

Like most things in life you either want to do something and can. You want to do something but can’t, because of some limitation preventing you. Or – you just don’t want to do it. Curious to know where this situation falls. Health and safety should never be compromised – no question. The lack of explanation about possible alternatives leaves a lot to be answered. Where on the priority list does the Women’s Under-18 Championships fall?

Kudos to Manitoba Hockey for their statement HERE about putting in the work to find an alternative. Leadership comes in all forms, but sometimes, all it takes is effort.

Sifters

ECAC YouTube Page… The ECAC has its own YouTube page found HERE. Viewers can watch game highlights of ECAC teams. We hope to see more highlights this season.

CHA Celebrates 20 Years… College Hockey America is celebrating its 20th season as a D-I conference with five insitutitions–Lindenwood, Mercyhurst, Penn State, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Syracuse. The league was founded back in 2002-2003 as a four-team conference with Findlay University, Mercyhurst University, Niagara University, and Wayne State University. Sadly, only one program still remains active – Mercyhurst. Quinnipiac came into the CHA for the 2004-2005 after being an independent after Findlay dropped its program. Even Ohio State was a conference member of the CHA for a brief time prior to the 04-05 season before becoming a member of the WCHA (again). Mercyhurst has been to the NCAA tournament 17 times, Robert Morris twice, RIT and Syracuse once each.

CHA NCAA Auto-bid Situation… D-I NCAA conferences in women’s ice hockey must have 6 active members to be eligible for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. With Robert Morris’ program still in doubt of starting back up, the CHA would need to find a 6th team by the ’23-’24 season or be in jeopardy of losing its auto bid. Conferences have a two-year grace period to find a 6th team under NCAA rules.

Hockey East Continues Free Streams… Hockey East will once again stream all of its conference games online, live, and for free. You can read the official announcement from Hockey East HERE. Hockey East provided free streams of its women’s and men’s game last season. Also in the coming days will be an announcement about the 21-22 TV schedule of Hockey East women’s and men’s games on NESN and NESN+.

2022 Olympic Schedule Released, Qualifying Tournaments Up Next… The IIHF announced the women’s hockey 2022 Olympic schedule last week. You can find it HERE. Games are set to begin Feb. 3, 2022 and the Gold Medal Game will be Thursday Feb. 17, 2022. Seven nations have already qualified, Canada, China (host–automatic qualification granted) Finland, Japan, Russian Olympic Committee, Switzerland, and The United States. 3 spots are still up for grabs. These will be determined by 2 qualifying tournaments held below:

Olympic Pre-Qualification Round 2 (7-10 October 2021)

Group FGroup GGroup H
(in Nottingham/GBR)(in Torre Pellice/ITA)(in Bytom/POL)
KoreaItalyNetherlands
Great BritainKazakhstanPoland
SloveniaSpainMexico
IcelandChinese TaipeiTurkey

Final Olympic Qualification (11-14 November 2021)

Group CGroup DGroup E
(in Chomutov/CZE)(in Fussen/GER)(in Lulea/SWE)
Czech RepublicGermanySweden
HungaryDenmarkFrance
NorwayAustriaSlovakia
Q6Q5Q4

OWHA Mandates Vaccines… The Ontario Women’s Hockey Association, in consultation with Ontario health officials, is mandating as a condition of eligibility, all players born 2009 or earlier to be fully vaccinated (2 shots + 14 days after 2nd shot) no later than Nov. 1. You can read there official statement HERE.

Stop & Go Offsides… We mentioned our displeasure about the new USA Hockey offsides rule. Looks like former Pittsburgh Penguin Ian Moran feels similarly – see his tweet below.

Until Next Time…

21-22 Streaming Info

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

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

-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.

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Post #56 – 9/23/21 – Weekend Game Schedule, Sifters

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In This Post…

  • NCAA D-I Weekend Game Schedule |
  • Sifters |

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.

Streaming Info-Updated as of 9-21-21

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

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

-Streams in Hockey East this year can be found HERE. Subscriptions will be necessary to watch games.

-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 D-I Weekend Game Schedule

With a weeks worth of regular season practice under their belts, quite a few NCAA D-I teams are playing games for real now. Some games on the weekend schedule are exhibition games. The new NCAA Stat Site schedule doesn’t reference whether games are Exhibition, Conference, or Non-Conference, which was a nice feature of CHS (collegehockeystats).

Several pre-season USCHO.com Top 10 ranked teams, as well as those just outside the Top 10, are in action this weekend.

Quinnipiac, just outside the Top 10 hosts Maine for a 2-game Friday/Saturday series at home. Clarkson, who is also just outside the Top 10 faces off against Sacred Heart at home for a pair of games Friday and Saturday. #9 Penn State welcomes St. Lawrence for a Thursday/Friday series. #6 Colgate and RIT play a home and home Friday and Saturday. #3 Ohio State hosts new WCHA member St. Thomas Friday/Saturday in Columbus. And #1 Wisconsin travels to North Andover, MA to take on Merrimack for a pair of games.

You can see the full weekend Thursday, Friday, and Saturday schedule below. All times are Eastern Standard Time. Streaming information can be found above.

Thursday, Sept 23rd – New NCAA Stat Site Link

St. Lawrence @ Penn State – 7PM

Friday, Sept 24th – New NCAA Stat Site Link

RIT @ Colgate – 5PM

Maine @ Quinnipiac – 6PM

Sacred Heart @ Clarkson – 6PM

Minnesota State @ Merrimack – 6PM

St. Thomas @ Ohio State – 6PM

LIU @ UCONN – 6PM

RPI @ Mercyhurst – 6:05PM

St. Lawrence @ Penn State – 7PM

Wisconsin @ Lindenwood – 8PM

Saturday, Sept 25th – New NCAA Stat Site Link

Saint Michael’s @ Vermont – 1PM

Sacred Heart @ Clarkson – 2PM

St. Thomas @ Ohio State – 2PM

Maine @ Quinnipiac – 3PM

LIU @ UCONN – 3PM

RPI @ Mercyhurst – 3:05PM

Minnesota State @ Merrimack – 4PM

Wisconsin @ Lindenwood – 4:30PM

Colgate @ RIT – 6PM

Sifters

Updated Coaching Changes… Nichols College has hired former Quinnipiac Head Coach Michael Barrett. Barrett coached the Bobcats from 2002-2008 before moving into an Athletic Department Development role.

Josh Glaser has been hired as RIT’s newest Assistant Coach. Josh has spent time with Vermont, Colgate, and Utica in various roles.

Kate Leary has been hired at Merrimack College as an Assistant Coach. She replaces Stephanie Moberg who is now at Dartmouth College. Leary was a standout at Boston College where she amassed 85 pts in 149 games.

Zoey Pellowitz iis the new Graduate Assistant Coach at Nazareth College. She just completed her playing career at Manhattanville.

Mike Frost is the new Assistant Coach at Johnson & Wales.

Transfers, Where Are They Now… It was quite a year for the transfer. Nicole Haase of USCHO.com has compiled a thorough list of which players have departed certain programs and where they wound up at for the season. You can find her complete list HERE.

Until Next Time…

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.

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Post #31 — 3/3/21 — Conference Tourney Time, Weekly Poll, Scores, sifters

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Recruiting Rule of the day… NCAA Bylaw 13.1.1.1

Off-campus recruiting contacts shall not be made with an individual (or his or her family members) before August 1 at the beginning of his or her junior year in high school.

In This Post…

  • Conference Tourney Time
  • NCAA Weekly Polls
  • Sifters

Conference Tourney Time…

Hockey East – And Then There Were Two… The #1 seed and nations #1 ranked team the Northeastern Huskies will meet #3 seed and the nations #9 ranked team Providence College for the 2021 Hockey East Championship. This tournament began last week with an 9 vs. 8 ‘Opening Round’ game, then four quarter-final games last Sunday, and two Semi-Final games last night. Here are the scores, highlights, and postgame reaction.

#9 vs. #8 Opening Round Game
#9 Holy Cross 0 @ #8 New Hampshire 3 | Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
#6 vs. #3 Quarter-Final Game #1
#6 Boston University 3 @ #3 Providence 4 | Box / Video Highlights & Postgame
# 5 vs. #4 Quarter-Final Game #2
#5 Maine 3 @ #4 Vermont 1 | Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
#7 vs. #2 Quarter-Final Game #3
#7 UCONN 5 @ #2 Boston College 1 | Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
#1 vs. #8 Quarter-Final Game #4
#8 UNH 0 @ #1 Northeastern 7 | BOX / Video Highlights / Postgame
March 3, 2021 Hockey East Championship Semi-Finals
#7 UCONN 1 @ #1 Northeastern 2 | Box / Video Highlights / Postgame
#5 Maine 0 @ #3 Providence 1 OT | Box / Video Highlights & Postgame
March 6, 2021 Hockey East Championship Game
Providence vs. Northeastern| 7:00pm | NESN-TV

ECAC Quartet Set… Only four teams competed in the ECAC this season with all 6 Ivies and Union / RPI cancelling their seasons. It took until the last regular season weekend of the year do determine tournament seedings. Colgate, the nations #6th ranked team, is the #1 seed and will host #4 seed and the nations #10th ranked team Quinnipiac. #2 seed St. Lawrence will host #3 seed Clarkson. SLU had a late start to its season but managed to climb into 2nd place after three straight wins over Clarkson last week. The highest remaining seed will host the Championship game. You can read more on the tournament HERE. The tournament schedule and streaming info is below.

March 5, 2021 – ECAC Hockey Women’s Championship Semi-Finals
#4 Quinnipiac @ #1 (6) Colgate | 5:00PM | ESPN + Stream
#3 Clarkson @ St. Lawrence | 5:00pm | ESPN + Stream
March 7, 2021 – ECAC Hockey Women’s Championship Game
#4 Quinnipiac / #1 Colgate winner VS. #3 Clarkson / #2 St. Lawrence Winner | ESPN + Stream

NEWHA To Host Commissioner’s Cup End of Year Event… The 6-Team New England Women’s Hockey Alliance was not able to have a season. Two teams however, Sacred Heart and second year program Long Island University, were able to play a schedule of non-conference games and a few vs. one another. The NEWHA announced it would host a end of year event for both teams, a 3-game series to win what the NEWHA is calling The Commissioners Cup. You can read the official NEWHA announcement HERE. LIU won the series 2 games to 0 over Sacred Heart.

2021 New England Women’s Hockey Alliance Commissioner’s Cup
Game 1 – Long Island Univ. 3 @ Scared Heart 2 – OT | Box / NO Video Highlights / Postgame
Game 2 – Sacred Heart 2 @ Long Island Univ. 5 | Box / NO Video Highlights / Postgame

College Hockey America Quarter-Final Field Ready To Go… All six teams make the Championship tournament hosted this year by Mercyhurst University at Erie Insurance Arena. The top two seeds, #1 Penn State and #2 Mercyhurst will get first-round byes. Teams will get 60 tickets and a total of 120 fans per game is being allowed. You can read the official tournament announcement HERE. Erie Insurance Arena is also the site of the Women’s Frozen Four March 18-20. The full tournament schedule is below.

March 4, 2021 College Hockey America Tournament First Round
#6 RIT 0 @ #3 Robert Morris 2 | 2:00pm | Box / Video Highlights & Postgame–Scroll down page for video
#5 Lindenwood @ #4 Syracuse | 7:30pm | Box / NO Video Highlights / Postgame
March 5, 2021 College Hockey America Tournament Semi-Final Round
#1 Penn State vs. Syracuse | 2:00pm | Stream Info
#2 Mercyhurst vs. Robert Morris | 7:30pm | Stream Info
March 6, 2021 College Hockey America Tournament Championship Game
Winner Semi-FInal #1 vs. Winner Semi-Final #2| 6:00pm | Stream Info

Top Four In WCHA Set for Final Faceoff… Minnesota’s Ridder Arena will play host to the WCHA’s postseason tournament. This year, only four teams make the field–#1 seed Wisconsin, #2 Minnesota-Duluth #3 Ohio State, and #4 Minnesota. That is a pretty loaded field given Wisco is nationally ranked at #2, Ohio St. #3, Minnesota #4, and Duluth at #5. Schedule and streaming info is below. You can read the WCHA official tournament announcement HERE.

March 6, 2021 WCHA Final Faceoff Semi-Final
Game #1 – #1 Wisconsin vs. #4 Minnesota | 1:07pm CST| Stream Info
Game #2 – MN- Duluth vs. Ohio St. | 5:07pm CST | Stream Info
March 7, 2021 WCHA Final Faceoff Championship Game
Game 3 – Game #1 winner vs. Game #2 Winner| 2:07pm CST | Stream Info

NCAA Weekly Polls…

Weekly polls are out as of March 1.

USCHO.com Top 10 Poll
#1 Northeastern
#2 Wisconsin
#3 Ohio State
#4 Minnesota
#5 MN-Duluth
#6 Colgate
#7 Penn State
#8 Boston College
#9 Providence
#10 Quinnipiac
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10
#1 Wisconsin
#2 Northeastern
#3 Ohio State
#4 Minnesota
#5 MN-Duluth
#6 Colgate
#7 Penn State
#8 Boston College
#9 Providence
#10 Clarkson

Sifters…

USA Hockey Nationals Is A Go… For now anyway. Earlier this week USA Hockey announced it was moving forward with its youth National Championships. You can read their official announcement HERE. The Tier I U14, U16, and U19 Girls Divisions will take place in West Chester, PA. The Tier II tournament will take place in Denver, CO. Dates for both tournaments are April 28 – May 3, 2021.

Canada on the other hand has a national championship at the Midget (U18AAA) age level in the late Spring called the ESSO Cup. That tournament has been cancelled.

The NHLCA Announces Female Coaches Spotlight… The National Hockey League Coaches Association started a female development program last year as the pandemic began. 50 female coaches from across North America took part. Aimed at improving skills development, leadership strategies, communication tactics, and career advancement opportunities, members of the program where available, were paired with their local NHL team to enhance the connection to the local community. You can read the full list of coaches in the program HERE, several of which are coaching at the NCAA.

MN HS Update… High School hockey in Minnesota is in its final month of the regular season. It looks like most teams have played around 12-14 games with some as few as 9-10. The state tournament is one of the great girls high school events around. Minnesota is divided into 8 sections, section winners move on to the state tournament at the Excel Energy Center where the NHL’s MN Wild play. Section tournaments are slated to run from March 15-21 and the State Tournament April 1-3.

Monthly NCAA Zoom Meeting Update… This past Tuesday the NCAA D-I and D-III coaching body along along with conference commissioners and members of the NCAA took part in it’s monthly zoom call. Here is a rundown of what was discussed:

  • D-III National Tournament Cancellation… The D-III National Championship was cancelled due to low numbers of programs participating due to COVID
  • D-I Tourney Selection… The D-I National Tournament Selection Committee has been hard at work watching as many games this year as they are able. The ‘eye test’ will play a more prominent role than ‘the math’ this year due to the lack of inter-conference competition
  • D-I Selection Show Stream… Sunday March 7 at 9PM EST. the NCAA will announce the field of 8 for the National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Championship. The selection show will be streamed by the NCAA live and for free. You can find a link to the NCAA’s D-I women’s hockey page HERE where streaming information should be provided.
  • NCAA Quarter-Final games on ESPN?… Our NCAA partners said ESPN is working on making arrangements to stream all four NCAA quarter-final games on ESPN3. Nothing is final yet. All NCAA tournament games will be streamed on NCAA.org. Last week we learned ESPN entered into a multi-year contract to televise the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four. The first Semi-Final will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the second semi-final and national championship game will be televised on ESPNU.
  • Bracket Integrity… One advantage to every game of the national tournament being held at one location vs. just the Frozen Four, is you can have bracket integrity and a true seeded bracket where #1 plays #8, #2 vs. #7, etc. In prior years, the NCAA would have to take into account geography and travel restrictions which didn’t always allow for a true seeded bracket schedule.
  • A Return to Recruiting… Our NCAA partners on the Zoom call discussed how the NCAA’s D-I Council might handle a return to recruiting come June 1. It is thought the NCAA will 1) not have sport-specific recruiting rules, 2) more than likely allow camps and clinics as part of a first wave of allowable activity for college coaches, and 3) Off-campus recruiting and campus visits could come later in the summer or even latter.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Streaming Info

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

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

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

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

Post #30 — 2/24/21 — NCAA News, Tournament Time, Weekly Poll, sifters

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In This Post…

  • NCAA Dead Period, Championship Attendance, Social Justice News
  • Post-Season Tournament Time
  • NCAA Weekly Polls…
  • Sifters

NCAA News…

There has been quite a bit of NCAA new over the past few weeks, so let’s get to it.

NCAA Dead Period Extended… The NCAA announced it would extend the temporary COVID recruiting dead period until May 31st. last week. You can read the official announcement HERE. As noted in the release, April 15 is the target date for the NCAA to give further guidance on the transition back to recruiting activities after June 1. If we had to guess, some kind of hybrid ‘quite’ and or ‘dead’ period model will be used. Meaning, we’ll probably see something like camps and clinics allowed first with in-person recruiting activities later in the summer. Unofficial and official visits may have to wait until the Fall.

Attendance Policy at NCAA Winter Championships Announced… The NCAA also announced it would allow 25% attendance for all its NCAA Winter sport championships – including the Women’s Frozen Four. This is as long as state and local authorities allow attendance at all. The WFF will be held in Erie, PA March 18-20 at Erie Insurance Arena home to the OHL’s Erie Otters. Capacity for hockey is listed at 6,716 and 25% would be 1,679. The NCAA’s announcement is HERE. We have yet to confirm if the WFF will have fans but if so, I would think 1,679 would be an easy number of tickets to sell out.

College Hockey Comes Together for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion… A special group has formed representing every NCAA Division I women’s and men’s hockey conference in a new initiative called: College Hockey 4 Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. On Feb. 11th Jennifer Flowers, WCHA Vice President, Women’s Commissioner and chair of CollegeHockey4DEI along with 26 other individuals representing student-athletes, coaches, and administrators announced their intentions to make a cultural change within college hockey to be more diverse, inclusive, and equitable. You can watch the press conference announcement HERE and for more information please go to CollegeHockey4DEI.com.

Post-Season Tournament Time…

Conference Post-Season Tournaments Set to Begin… Hockey East began its post-season tournament Thursday with a March Madness hoops tourney style ‘Opening Round Game’ between #9 Seed Holy Cross and #8 Seed UNH with the winner facing off vs. #1 Seed Northeastern on Sunday. You can checkout the Hockey East Tournament press release HERE for schedules and streaming information as well as bios on how each team did this year. The format calls for an opening round game Thursday evening followed by four quarter-final games Sunday Feb. 28 with 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5. Winners moving on to the semi-final round held Wednesday March 3 with the championship game played Saturday March 6.

In the ECAC, just four teams have played conference games this season–Clarkson, Colgate, Quinnipiac, and St. Lawrence. #1 will host #4 and #2 will host #3 in the four-team semi-final format on March 5. The highest remaining seed will host the championship game Sunday March 7. Seedings are still to be determined as any team with the right combination of wins and help from other teams could claim the #1 seed and regular season ECAC title. You can read more on the tournament HERE.

In the College Hockey America, Mercyhurst University along with the Erie, PA Sports Commission will host the CHA’s annual postseason tournament March 4-6, 2021 at Erie Insurance Arena. You can read the official tournament announcement HERE for schedule and streaming info. The CHA still has one weekend left in their regular season which will determine the eventual tourney schedule. Erie Insurance Arena will be the site of the Women’s Frozen Four March 18-20.

Out west in the WCHA, the top four teams will travel to Ridder Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota to play in the WCHA Final Faceoff March 6-7. This a departure from how the WCHA postseason playoffs usually work, where all eight teams made the field and the tournament was held over two weekends. You can read the WCHA official tournament announcement HERE. Wisconsin, MN-Duluth, Ohio State, and Minnesota round out the top four and meet next weekend in Minneapolis to crown the WCHA Champion.

NCAA Weekly Polls…

Weekly polls are out as of Feb. 22.

RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Northeastern
3Ohio State
4Minnesota
5Colgate
6Boston College
7Minnesota-Duluth
8Penn State
9Clarkson
10Providence
USCHO.com Poll
RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Northeastern
3Ohio State
4Minnesota
5Colgate
6Minnesota-Duluth
7Boston College
8Clarkson
9Penn State
10Providence
USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today Poll

Sifters…

Patty Kaz Finalists Named… The 10 finalist for the 2021 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given annually to the top D-I women’s player at the Frozen Four, were announced earlier this week. Wisconsin’s Daryl Watts and Clarkson’s Elizabeth Giguere, both past winners of the award, have been named finalists along with eight other players. Northeastern leads the field with three finalists. You can find the entire list HERE.

ESPN to Televise 2021 Frozen Four… In a major boost to expanding television coverage for D-I women’s college hockey and for our sports signature event the Women’s Frozen Four (WFF), ESPN has announced it has entered into a multi-year contract to broadcast the WFF held in Erie, PA on its family of networks beginning this year. You can read ESPN’s announcement HERE. ESPN3 the online streaming service will carry the first national semi-final while ESPNU, ESPN’s cable and satellite TV college sports provider, will carry the second semi-final as well as the championship game. While not the first time the WFF has been on a well know cable channel and streamed online, this however the first time the event will appear on a network with as much reach as ESPN has.

AHCA Naples Convention… The American Hockey Coaches Association is putting together options for its annual convention held in Naples, FL at the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Resort. A virtual online event and or an in-person event at the resort could take place. Just about every D-I/D-III women’s and men’s program, support staff, school administrators, conferences, officials as well as junior/youth/minor hockey programs and hockey related companies are members. COVID cancelled the convention last year. This year holds a bit more sentiment as the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Resort which has been home to the AHCA Convention for 30+ years, will be closing its doors and re-developing the property. The AHCA acts as the official NCAA hockey coaches association for all NCAA matters.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Streaming Info

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

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

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

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

Post #29 — 2/9/21 — Welcome to women’s college hockey.org

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In This Post…

  • Welcome to Women’s College Hockey.org …
  • NCAA Weekly Polls…
  • Sifters — lots of them…

Welcome to Women’s College Hockey.org

Hello everyone, Grant Kimball here, assistant women’s hockey coach at Yale University and welcome to Women’s College Hockey.org! Many of you started following my Bulldog Pipeline blog back in early October where we kept you updated with news, notes, and insight about our program at Yale as well as across the world of NCAA women’s college hockey. Since then, we’ve heard from many of you saying how much you enjoy our content, especially on the recruiting side with all the changes happening in the NCAA due to COVID.

So, in an effort to better serve and educate prospective players, coaches and fans about NCAA women’s college hockey welcome to your new home – Women’s College Hockey.org. Our new site is more robust which allows for additional content and special features like dedicated pages for advice to help you understand the recruiting process, view video clips of game highlights and coaches post-game reaction, league standings, and so much more. There may even be a podcast in our future!

The Bulldog Pipeline IS NOT GOING AWAY but it will get a new home as well on the official Yale Athletics Women’s Hockey website which can be found HERE–be sure to bookmark it! All previous content specific to our program from bulldogpipeline.com will migrate over.

Now you have two great online sources to keep you up to date with what’s going on in NCAA women’s college hockey AND with your Yale Bulldogs. We’ll continue to send emails of new posts once they go live. If you already signed up to follow the Bulldog Pipeline there is no need to do so again. And if you want to keep up to date with all that is going on in the world of Women’s College Hockey – sign up now and give us a follow so you never miss a post! Just go to the Home Page and enter your email address in the ‘Follow Us‘ box located in the right-hand margin of the page.

Okay… on to some women’s college hockey news! Happy reading everyone!

NCAA Weekly Polls…

Weekly polls are out as of Feb. 8 with no change at all between them except for the #8 and #9 spots.

RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Northeastern
4Ohio State
5Colgate
6-TMinnesota-Duluth
6-TBoston College
8Penn State
9Clarkson
10Providence
USCHO.com Poll
RANKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Northeastern
4Ohio State
5Colgate
6Minnesota-Duluth
7Boston College
8Clarkson
9Penn State
10Providence
USA Hockey Magazine/USA Today Poll

Sifters…

New National Goaltending Award Announced… The Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association announced a new D-I women’s national goaltender of the year award given annually to the top female goaltender. The winner will be announced at this years Frozen Four in March held in Erie, PA. On the men’s side they’ve had the exact same award named after former Wisconsin goalie Mike Richter since the 2013-2014 season. The Hockey Commissioners Association assumed the responsibility for the Richter Award this Fall and felt a women’s equivalent was long overdue. A ‘watch list’ of 21 names was announced last week. You can see who’d on that list HERE.

The Hockey Commissioners Association is made up of the commissioners of each women’s and men’s D-I conferences. They are heavily involved in the administration of NCAA D-I women’s and men’s college hockey as well as serving as a partner with the NCAA and the institutions their conferences represent.

D-III Winter National Championships Cancelled… All NCAA Division-III 2020-2021 Winter National Championships have been cancelled as per the NCAA last week. You can read the official story HERE. The NCAA said the reason for the cancellations were due to low sport participation, meaning there weren’t enough teams in their respective sports to have a bona-fide true National Championship. The NCAA set strict limits on how many teams in each sport must play this season in order to play and national tournament. No word yet on what will happen with Spring championships yet.

NCAA Contingencies for Winter Sports Announced… With the NCAA cancelling D-III Winter championships last week, they came out with a statement on contingencies for D-I Winter and Spring sport national championships. You can read the announcement HERE. Based on the number of teams competing in D-I hockey, a full 8-team field is expected to be selected.

One Site Location for Women’s D-I Championship… The NCAA announced it will hold the entire NCAA Women’s National Collegiate Championship at its Frozen Four site in Erie, PA March 15-21. All 7 games of the tournament, 4 qtr. final, 2 semi-final, and 1 championship game will be played at one site. Normally the 4 highest seeds would host a quarter-final game with the winners moving on to a single-site for the Frozen Four. Of course, this is all done to protect the health and safety of all participants in an environment where the NCAA can control what it wants – namely COVID testing. You can read the official statement HERE.

SAT Testing News… A big change from from The College Board, the company that administers the SAT Test… SAT Subject tests will no longer be offered and the optional Essay on the SAT will no longer be offered after the June SAT dates. You can read the official announcement HERE. Some additional SAT test dates were announced as well.

SAT/ACT Test Optional to Continue? A number of high profile institutions, Cornell and Harvard to name a few, have recently announced its extending test-optional policies beyond the ’20-’21 admissions cycle and into ’21-’22. No word if other institutions will follow suit, but you have to think with all the trouble students across the US and Canada have had to even register for a test date, more schools will go test optional.

Dartmouth and Brown announce Athletic Director changes… The Ivy League athletic director landscape has been upended with the announcements of Brown University Athletic Director Jack Hayes and Dartmouth AD Harry Sheehy will step down from their respective posts. Hayes has been at the Brown helm since 2012 and will move on to explore other opportunities, one of which starts March 1 in a new role with Bruin Sports Capital a private sports, entertainment and media company. Sheehy will depart Dartmouth after 45 years in competitive athletics, the last ten of which he spent with the Big Green. The news comes on the heels of both departments deciding to ‘restructure’ and cut various sport programs last Spring and Summer as the COVID-19 pandemic put a choke hold on college athletics. There has been an alumni groundswell of support as well as lawsuits to bring some of those sports back and some with success.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #28 — 1/19/21 — Weekend Update, Scores and Highlights, COVID Recruiting, Sifters

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In This Post…

  • Weekend Recap…
  • Scores & Highlights…
  • COVID Recruiting Update…
  • Sifters…

Weekend Recap…

To clarify, the first ranking number you see will always be the USCHO.com poll and the second will be from the USA Toda/USA Hockey Magazine Poll.

How The Top 10 fared… Top 10 teams through Sunday’s games went 11-6-1-1-1 (W-L-T-OTW-OTL). #2 Wisconsin swept #1 Minnesota at home in Madison.

#3/4 Northeastern needed OT to beat Maine

#4/3 Ohio State split with #6 Duluth.

#5 Colgate beat #9 Clarkson at home in game one of that series.

#7 Providence swept its weekend series with Merrimack.

#8 Boston College swept its series with Holy Cross.

#10/NR Mercyhurst tied and lost to Robert Morris in OT

#NR/10 Quinnipiac swept its series with LIU.

All scores, game highlights, and postgame reaction can be found below.

COVID Postponements… Due to COVID protocols the Penn State @ RIT and Lindenwood at Syracuse series were postponed.

Conference Standings as of 1/18/21…

Friday Scores & Highlights – 1/15

Holy Cross 2
#8 Boston College 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
#1 Minnesota 0
#2 Wisconsin 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video (MN)
#7 Providence 3
Merrimack 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Concordia-Wisconsin 1
Adrian College 9
Box / NO Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Robert Morris 2
#10/NR Mercyhurst 2
Box / Video Highlights & Postgame Reaction
UCONN 1
New Hampshire 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Bemidji State 1
St. Cloud 3
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Ohio State 0
MN-Duluth 2
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
Penn State @ RIT – PPD
Lindenwood @ Syracuse – PPD

Saturday Scores & Highlights – 1/16

#10/NR Mercyhurst 2
Robert Morris 3 (OT)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Long Island Univ. 0
#NR/10 Quinnipiac 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Minnesota 3
Wisconsin 6
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video (MN)
#9 Clarkson 1
#5 Colgate 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Bemidji 2
St. Cloud 2 (OT) BEMIDJI Wins Shootout 1-0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
#4/3 Ohio State 1
#6 MN-Duluth 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video UMD
Adrian College 4
Concordia-Wisconsin 1
Box / No Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
UCONN 4
New Hampshire 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Penn State @ RIT – PPD
Lindenwood @ Syracuse – PPD

Sunday Scores & Highlights – 1/17

Merrimack 2
#7 Providence 4
Box / Video Highlights & Postgame Video
Maine 2
Northeastern 3 (OT)
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video
#NR/10 Quinnipiac 11
Long Island Univ. 0
Box / No Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up

COVID Recruiting Update… Players & Parents Hang In There!

Recruiting in women’s hockey has been turned on its head and in many respects has come to a standstill for certain age groups. Needless to say, it’s been a bit messy. On March 12th, 2020 the NCAA announced the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Women’s Hockey National Championship due to concerns over COVID. Shortly after that announcement the NCAA announced a temporary ‘COVID’ recruiting dead period which basically meant no off-campus recruiting for D-I coaches nor could recruits and or their families make trips to visit campuses in an official or unofficial capacity. Since then, the COVID recruiting dead period has been extended several times and is currently in effect until April 15, 2021.

As coaches we often tell our players to be patient… things will work themselves out in time. Well… whether you’re a player, a parent, or minor/youth coach reading this, I’d like to offer the same bit of advice – be patient with the recruiting process during COVID.

I’ve spoken to several club and high school coaches since the holidays on how the pandemic is impacting their players. Almost across the board, coaches have intimated their players and parents are on full out freak-out mode relative to their D-I recruiting situations and perceived loss of opportunity–mostly for those who are in grade 11. And the biggest complaint I heard is the lack of information coming from college coaches back to these players and parents. And there is good reason why college programs aren’t providing that info — because they don’t have it themselves, yet.

Part of this angst stems from a recruiting environment we were all used to prior to the pandemic where early commitments and back-and-forth communication was the norm. Players could call coaches on their own and get the info they wanted/needed to make decisions or just to know who had interest in them was nice to know because it meant you might have some options. Since June for those in grades 9 and 10, most of that has been taken away due to NCAA rules. Players in grades 11 and 12 have been subject to a whole new world of college recruiting in the COVID era where coaches won’t know how many spots they’ll need or what there roster could look like in a lot of cases until May or June this Spring. I’ve talked with plenty of college coaches of late, and the sense I get is they want to be patient. Not being able to see players play live doesn’t make for great recruiting decisions. And let’s face it – players haven’t really been able to play. Some yes, but this hasn’t been a normal hockey season of development. Add in a whole class of NCAA players who can come back and play next year and you have a new transfer market college coaches are now taking into account. Trouble is, college coaches won’t know who’s going to transfer in a lot of cases until this Spring.

When I first started coaching in the early 2000’s, coaches wouldn’t even call players for the first time until the summer between a players’ junior and senior year when the rules said we could. Official visits were a real and a vital aspect of the recruiting process which absolutely helped determine who we made official offers to… after the player came to campus. Players would actually take multiple visits to schools before making a decision and for the most part were patient with the process.

Then, all of a sudden the process changed and early recruiting/commitments became the norm. So too did the expectations of players, parents, and their club or high school coaches. Patients in the process went out the window. Enter the pandemic, a NCAA dead period that will last at least 13 months, and NCAA rules allowing current college players an extra year of eligibility… Welcome back to the early 2000’s and programs taking their time to make recruiting decisions.

Here is the reality for a lot of college programs–they don’t even have all of the info they want and need to make recruiting decisions. In part because watching live games of club and high school hockey has been off-limits due to the dead period. And also because the NCAA threw a nice wrench into the mix granting all players on a roster this year an extra year of eligibility. A lot of programs are still trying to hash-out what seniors may come back or transfer elsewhere. Chances are that won’t be known until sometime this Spring after the season is over.

The old saying ‘control what you can control’, really applies here – otherwise you are going to drive yourself nuts over-thinking all of this. You can’t control what the NCAA does nor a college program.

So if you want to be smart, use this time to your advantage and take control of your development. Do what you can to make yourself a better player so when the time comes for coaches to get back out on the road and watch games live, you’re ready and can show them how much you’ve improved. You might have to re-think your approach to your process like taking a gap year somewhere or you might have to consider other schools where you know there is an opportunity for you. Because there are still spots available out there – but you have to be good enough to get one. Case in point… when the Univ. of North Dakota dropped their program in March of 2017, all but a player or two found a home. That meant there had to be space on rosters and scholarship money available to give out – and there was. So, if you’re one of those players who’s in a holding pattern and haven’t heard much from the coaches you were chatting it up with this summer or early fall, take a deep breath, hang in there and be patient as you let this crazy process play itself out. Things will get better but it will take some time.

Sifters…

Transfers Make Debuts… A couple of recent transfers have made debuts with their new teams. Freshman forward Lacey Eden was supposed to suit up for Princeton this year but has found her way to Madison, Wisconsin and is now a Badger. She skated in her first game this past weekend in UW’s sweep in #1 ranked Minnesota. You can read her story HERE. Maureen Murphy suited up for Northeastern this past weekend after spending 2+ years at Providence College. The Hockey East executive committee granted her immediate eligibility beginning this Spring semester. You can read her story HERE.

A Change for the May Quiet Period… There has been talk D-I Coaches will try and request the NCAA to suspend its self-imposed May quiet period this Spring. D-I coaches in women’s hockey have long had what is called the May Quiet Period where from the Monday prior to the American Hockey Coaches Association convention (usually late April) and ending 12:01am June 1, coaches were not allowed to go off-campus to recruit and evaluate or meet face-to-face with perspective players and their families. So, with the NCAA COVID temporary dead period slated to end on April 15, that would give D-I coaches a 10 day stretch to get out and watch players play. Not exactly an ideal amount of time to make recruiting decisions. By April 15, D-I coaches will have gone a year + without being able to watch players live. We’ll keep you posted on future developments.

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #27 — 1/15/21 — mon / tues scores and highlights, ncaa polls and wknd schedule, sifters

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IN THIS POST…

  • Monday/Tuesday Scores & Highlights…
  • Polls and NCAA Weekend Schedule…
  • Sifters…

Monday Scores & Highlights

Lindenwood 5
RIT 1
Box / No Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Long Island Univ. 1
Clarkson 5
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up

Tuesday Scores & Highlights

Long Island Univ. 1
Clarkson 8
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Providence 0
Northeastern 4
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Video

Polls for the Week Jan. 11…

Both polls are out after last weekend’s games and they are identical. We have a new #1 and Penn State debuts at #10 in both polls for the first time this season. Congrats to coach Kampersal and his staff. Penn State is currently 6-1-1.

RNKTEAM
#1Minnesota
#2Wisconsin
#3Ohio State
#4Northeastern
#5Colgate
#6MN-Duluth
#7Providence
#8Boston College
#9Clarkson
#10Penn State
USCHO.COM Top 10 Poll
RNKTEAM
#1Minnesota
#2Wisconsin
#3Ohio State
#4Northeastern
#5Colgate
#6MN-Duluth
#7Providence
#8Boston College
#9Clarkson
#10Penn State
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10 Poll

Weekend Schedule…

Schedule in full swing… Once again we have a packed schedule over the next 5 days–24 games in all from today through Wednesday. NESN Plus will once again provide some televised Friday afternoon hockey at 2pm today with Holy Cross traveling to play Boston College. NESN Plus will also carry game 2 Saturday at 6:30pm. As always, streaming info is at the very bottom of each post. We’ll keep you updated throughout the weekend with scores and highlights if we can find them.

Notable Games… For the first time this year we’ll see the consensus #1 vs. #2 in what is known as the ‘Border Battle’ between #1 Minnesota vs #2 Wisconsin. This will be the 107th meeting all-time between these two programs. Both games will be in Madison and are set for a 3:07pm EST puck drop each day. Friday’s game will air on BTN+ and Saturday’s will also air on Fox Sports North as well as BTN+.

Also in the WCHA, #3 Ohio State travels to take on #6 MN-Duluth.

In the ECAC, #9 Clarkson and #5 Colgate will play a Saturday / Monday home-and-home series. Game one is set for Saturday 4pm at Colgate. Clarkson is coming its first two games of 2021 in a sweep of LIU while Colgate managed a sweep of ECAC opponent Quinnipiac. This will be the 5th and 6th games these two teams play against one another this year already… and 4 more are scheduled for later this year.

In the CHA, Robert Morris travels to play Mercyhurst for two games. Robert Morris is coming off getting swept by Penn State last weekend and the Lakers last played on Jan. 7 beating RIT 4-0.

And in Hockey East, #7 Providence takes its 7-1-1 record on the road to Merrimack Friday. On Sunday, the Friars return home to face Merrimack on the back-end of their home-and-home series.

And for the first time in quite a while we have some D-III hockey action to talk about as Concordia-Wisconsin travels to play Adrian College Friday at 4pm. You can watch that game live HERE. The same two teams will pack-up the busses after Friday’s game and head back to Wisconsin to play the very next day at 5pm CST.

Sifters…

COVID Postponements… Penn State will have to wait at least one more weekend to defend its new top 10 ranking as their next two series with RIT have been postponed beginning with this weekends’ games due to RIT COVID protocols.

Vermont’s series with Maine has been postponed due to COVID protocols within Vermont’s program.

The NHL, it’s back… The NHL began its 2021 season this past week and we saw some fans in the stands!

Streaming Info

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

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

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

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

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

Post #25 — 1/8/21 — WED / THURS RECAP, NCAA POLL AND WKND SCHEDULE, SIFTERS

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IN THIS POST…

  • Wednesday/Thursday Recaps…
  • Polls and NCAA Weekend Schedule…
  • Sifters…

Wednesday Scores & Highlights

RIT 1
Mercyhurst 0
Box / Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
Sacred Heart –
Long Island Univ. –
PPD – COVID – Write-Up

Thursday Scores & Highlights

Mercyhurst 4
RIT 0
Box / NO Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up
St. Cloud State 1
Minnesota 2
Box / NO-Video Highlights / Postgame Write-Up

Polls for the Week Jan. 4…

Both polls are out after last weekend’s games. Some variance between the two towards the bottom.

RNKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Northeastern
4Ohio State
5Colgate
6MN-Duluth
7Providence
8Boston College
9Clarkson
10Mercyhurst
USCHO.COM Top 10 Poll
RNKTEAM
1Wisconsin
2Minnesota
3Ohio State
4Northeastern
5Colgate
6MN-Duluth
7Clarkson
8Boston College
9Providence
10Quinnipiac
USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Top 10 Poll

Weekend Schedule…

It’s a packed schedule as the college hockey schedule is now back in full swing. As you can see below, we do have a few TV games on NESN, 2pm and 4:30pm today Friday. As always, streaming info is at the bottom of each post. We’ll keep you updated throughout the weekend with score and highlights if we can find them.

Sifters…

One More Team Begins Play Soon… St. Lawrence University is back on campus and will take part in the ECAC schedule. Players recently arrived on campus and are going through COVID protocol. If all goes well, SLU will play their first game vs. Colgate Jan. 22.

USA Wins World Junior Tourney… Team USA beat arch rival Canada 2-0 to win the gold medal at the IIHF World Jr. Championships. What a performance from USA goaltender Spencer Knight, he was spectacular. It doesn’t matter how good a team you have in front of you, teams need excellent goaltending if you want to win – as well as goal scoring. Very entertaining game to watch… it looked like the pace Team USA played at was a bit much for Canada to handle at times. And what an advertisement for NCAA college hockey… Congrats to the all NCAA coaching staff of Team USA, including Theresa Feaster, the first women asst. coach at a major men’s IIHF event.

COVID Recruiting… Interesting article about Wisconsin’s recruiting. You can read it HERE. It brings up a topic we posted earlier about – recruiting in the new COVID era for college hockey. This is a topic we are going to pick up again with a more in-depth post. Wisco is not the only school who will ‘wait and see’.

Streaming Info…

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

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

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

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

Until Next Time… Have a great weekend everyone!

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