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, & the NCAA ‘Power 10’|
• The Pairwise & NCAA Tourney|
• COVID Thoughts |
• Sifters… Little tidbits of news and info from around women’s college 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.

As D-I teams are back from the holiday break, most anyway, so too are COVID related scheduling postponements and adjustments as COVID cases pile up within programs. Game status’ seem to change by the hour. It’s reminiscent of what happened last year around this same time. We’ll try to keep you updated on which games are impacted as much as we are able.

The composite schedules of each respective conference will probably have the most up to date scheduling change info – so just click the link for any conference’s composite schedule.

Conference Schedules

Hockey East

ECAC

NEWHA

CHA

WCHA

PPD = Postponed, CNCLD = Cancelled, TBD = To Be Determined

Friday, Jan. 7, 2022

RIT vs. Sacred Heart, TBD

Merrimack vs. Northeastern

Holy Cross vs Maine, Saturday, PPD until Sunday Jan. 9th

Providence vs. New Hampshire

Clarkson vs. Princeton

Minnesota-Duluth vs. St. Cloud State, CNCLD

St. Lawrence vs. Quinnipiac, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Syracuse vs. Minnesota State, CNCLD

Connecticut vs. Vermont

Harvard vs. Colgate PPD to Saturday 1/8

Lindenwood vs. Ohio State

Rensselaer vs. Brown

Union vs. Yale PPD, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Long Island vs. Mercyhurst, TBD

Boston University vs. Boston College, PPD

Dartmouth vs. Cornell PPD to Saturday 1/8

Sacred Heart vs RIT, CNCLD

Saint Michael’s vs. Franklin Pierce, CNCLD

Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022

Holy Cross vs Maine, PPD until Monday Jan. 10

UNION vs. Brown, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Brown vs. RPI (at Brown, RPI designated Home team)

Dartmouth vs Cornell

St. Lawrence vs. Princeton, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Clarkson vs. Quinnipiac

RPI vs. Yale, PPD, Make-up date TBD

Sacred Heart vs RIT, CNCLD

Long Island vs. Mercyhurst, TBD

Saint Michael’s vs. Franklin Pierce, CNCLD

Syracuse vs. Minnesota State, CNCLD

Minnesota-Duluth vs. St. Cloud State, CNCLD

St. Thomas vs. Minnesota

Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022

Dartmouth vs. Colgate

Harvard vs, Cornell

St. Thomas vs. Minnesota

Monday, Jan. 10, 2022

Harvard vs. Colgate

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

Also receiving votes: Harvard 8, Providence 1

January 3, 2022

The second half of the women’s college hockey season is underway, which means it’s time to get right back to the Power 10 rankings. 

Not every team was in action this past weekend, but the matchups of Wisconsin-Quinnipiac and Harvard-Minnesota Duluth were enough to release a fresh batch of rankings. 

One thing to note before we get started is that the “previous” on each section is from the final rankings of the first half and not the rankings of the first half as a whole. 

Let’s get started. 

1. Wisconsin (18-1-2) | Prev: 2 

Wisconsin is back in the saddle as the No. 1 team in the nation, and rightfully so. They took Quinnipiac down, 5-2, in Game 1 on Saturday and then skated to a 1-1 tie with the Bobcats Sunday. 

Sophomore forward Casey O’Brien potted a goal this past weekend, extending league-leading goal total to 21. She also added an assist, which brings her league-leading point total to 38. The sophomore was one of college hockey’s biggest offensive threats through the first half. It doesn’t look like anything’s changed in half No. 2. 

The Badgers are off this upcoming weekend, but will pick play up against Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Jan. 10. 

2. Northeastern (16-2-1) | Prev: 1 

The Huskies didn’t play this past weekend and haven’t since Dec. 5. 

They’ll begin their second half this Friday against Merrimack. 

3. Ohio State (15-3-0) | Prev: 3 

Ohio State also didn’t play this past weekend. It will begin the second half this Friday against Lindenwood. 

4. Quinnipiac (15-2-3) | Prev: 6 

The Bobcats move up two spots in this Power 10 due to their 1-1 tie of Wisconsin in the second game. 

Goalie Corinne Schroeder was the biggest reason why Quinnipiac escaped with a tie. The graduate student turned aside 41 of Wisconsin’s 42 shots. Because of her performance, she won ECAC goalie of the week. Schroeder also owns the country’s second best save percentage (.959) and third-best goals against average (1.07). 

The Bobcats get right back at it this Friday against St. Lawrence. 

5. Minnesota (14-5-1) | Prev: 4 

The Golden Gophers didn’t play this past weekend. They open the second half this Saturday against St. Thomas. 

6. Minnesota Duluth (11-7-0) | Prev: 7 

The Bulldogs opened their second half with two solid wins over Harvard, taking down the Crimson, 5-2, in Game 1 and then, 4-3, in Game 2. 

Senior forward Gabbie Hughes potted four goals on the weekend, bringing her season-tally to 14, which is tied for fourth in the nation. Fifth-year Anna Klein chipped in with a two-goal weekend. 

Next up is a road series with St. Cloud State. 

7. Colgate (15-4-1) | Prev: 5 

Colgate didn’t play this past weekend. It opens the second half this Friday against Harvard. 

8. Yale (10-3-1) | Prev: 8 

Yale also didn’t play this past weekend. It opens the second half on Tuesday against Sacred Heart. 

9. Clarkson (15-2-3) | Prev: 10 

The Golden Knights didn’t play this past weekend. They open the second half this Friday against Princeton. 

10. Harvard (9-5-0) | Prev: 9 

Harvard opened its second half with two disappointing losses to Minnesota Duluth by scores of 5-2 and 4-3. Despite the two losses, Harvard stays ranked this week because the Bulldogs were the team that had the higher rank in their matchup. 

The Crimson get a chance to right the ship on Friday at Colgate. 

USCHO Division I PairWise Rankings

What is the PairWise and why are we including it?

The USCHO.com PairWise Ranking is a system which attempts to mimic the method used by the NCAA Selection Committee to determine participants for the NCAA National Collegiate Women’s hockey tournament. The PWR compares all teams by these criteria: record against common opponents, head-to-head competition, and the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).

For each comparison won, a team receives one point. The final PWR ranking is based on the number of points (comparisons) won against teams under consideration. Ties are settled by the RPI.

The PWR can be reformatted and redistributed by any media outlet or person, provided USCHO’s URL (https://www.uscho.com/) accompanies the results.

COVID Thoughts…

We Need to Figure This Out… Recent numbers of positive cases within college hockey programs have fueled game postponements and cancelations. A lot of people, and rightly so, are on edge. Coaches, players, conference commissioners, and school athletic and health administrators to name just a few. The CDC and now the NCAA have provided new guidance how how to manage life with COVID. The NCAA came out with a statement for winter sports Jan. 6, you can read it HERE.

From a scheduling standpoint, it seems like NCAA hockey is back to where it was last year around this time. No one will know if they are going to play until almost the very last minute. It seems like conference schedules are changing by the hour. But this time around, things are different.

For starters, most within a college hockey program has been vaccinated and or boosted. That was not the case last year. The CDC recently cut its quarantine time in half to 5 days for those who test positive. The new NCAA guidance follows that recommendation. Part of the problem with recommendations – they are just that – recommendations. There is no national NCAA COVID protocol standards forced upon schools. Each school can make up their own protocol how to decide who plays/coaches etc. Last season, if you tested positive, players/coaches/staff were out at minimum 10 days. And until a few days ago, the college hockey season had gone on with every program back playing a normal schedule. Not that there wasn’t the odd game postponement or player out due to COVID protocol. But the year was as normal as any could be with the pandemic still raging on.

Some schools/programs aren’t testing much at all – perhaps only if someone has symptoms. Others are testing all players & staff 2 or 3 times weekly. Different protocols are in place for different schools. At this very moment we’ve heard athletes who test positive at one school are out a min. 16 days while at other institutions it’s only 7 or the NCAA recommended 5 days. As of Friday Jan 7, there were 19 D-I Women’s games alone canceled or postponed, which tells me teams and conferences are getting more cases than their athletic/medical departments feel comfortable with. If D-I women’s and men’s basketball is any indication of how things are going to go for hockey. Most campuses don’t have all of their students back yet. Hockey could be a mess for the next 4-6 weeks before things can get back to normal.

Ultimately, I don’t feel we’ll go a place where the season gets cut short like the Spring of 2020. As with most things in life when there is a great unknown, caution reigns supreme. Science knows little about Omicron. And that means most school administrators/decision makers know just as little.

Sifters…

NCAA COVID Eligibility Update… The NCAA just updated its ‘Eligibility Center FAQ’ for D-I & D-II athletes entering college for next fall. With Schools such as Harvard responding to the pandemic by going ‘Test Optional’ in the admissions process over the next several years, perhaps the NCAA Eligibility Center will take a similar approach or evaluate its criteria on a year-by-year basis? I can’t imagine the NCAA requiring SAT/ACT scores in the future and Harvard and others do not.

You can read the NCAA’s Updated PDF below

Conference POW’s… Usually when you see the ‘POW’ one might think a list of each conferences ‘players’ of the week… not so in this case. Think of this segment as more of a VPOW – or Video Plays Of the Week.

Until Next Time…

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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.

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

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

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

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