Another week of hockey has passed, one week closer to conference tournaments and then the almighty NCAA tournament selection show where the few at-large bids are fought for amongst the non-conference winners (or if you’re in the WIAC). Besides your week 12 recap, we have to discuss something bigger than hockey that unfortunately occurred during a game last weekend involving Gustavus and Saint Benedict.
Gustavus’ Heather Olinger
Last weekend, Gustavus swept Saint Benedict, winning 5-2 & 5-1, however, the bigger story was the disastrous career-ending injury suffered by Gusties Senior Defenseman from Prior Lake, Minn. Heather Olinger. Heather was involved in a hit-from-behind, but the hit, which sent her head-first into the boards, caused a C7 fracture and T4 burst fracture. Her spine had to be fused from T1-T6. Fortunately, to her doctor’s surprise, she was able to move all of her extremities (right after the injury occurred in the hospital) and had zero spinal cord or brain injuries and is now currently at home recovering. She will have to wear a full neck and torso brace for three months, but is expected to make a full recovery.
Heather’s friends set up a GoFundMe to hopefully raise some money to help cover the cost of her medical bills. Well, the power of social media came through and multiple outlets promoted her story on Twitter including @DIIIHockeyNews and @KEYCNewsNow, which helped increase traffic to her story. Before the promotion, she had raised approximately $3,500, after the various promotions, the donations skyrocketed to over $28,000 as of 1/23/23! The power of the hockey community came through once again, with players, coaches, and teams from all across D-III women’s hockey and other sports, donating sums of money to help support Heather’s medical expenses. Donations have come from women’s hockey teams in New York, Maine, Michigan, Atlanta, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Canada, and her home state of Minnesota.
Heather commented on the overwhelming support coming her way: “I was so touched when I saw the amount of different teams donating and showing their support. I have no words to describe how amazing it has been to see how close and caring the hockey community is around the country. I will forever be grateful for all the love, support, and prayers”.
If you would like to donate to Heather’s fund and read more, including updates on her condition, click HERE.
Augsburg’s rollercoaster season
Augsburg has had a wild season, they’ve beaten (ranking at the time of game) #1 Gustavus, #15 St. Norbert, #5 UW-River Falls, and tied #8 UW-Eau Claire, meanwhile, they also lost to Saint Mary’s, which at the time, Saint Mary’s was winless. Sitting at 10-5-2, ranked #15 in the USCHO poll and tied for 16th in the pairwise ranking, the Auggies are right on the cusp of making a MIAC run to possibly challenge Gustavus who remains at the top holding on to a slim three-point conference lead through ten conference games played. Gustavus, seeming unbeatable in the MIAC so far, has only dropped one game (9-1) and now Augsburg is trying to change that come the MIAC tournament.
Most recently, Augsburg split the weekend series with former #1 Gustavus, winning 3-2 in OT and losing 4-0. Earlier that week on Wednesday 1/18/23, the Auggies tied #8 UW-Eau Claire (UWEC won the shootout 1-0). The point leaders over these three games for Augsburg were Emily Kronkhite (1 goal, 2 assists), Katie Flynn (1 goal, 2 assists), and leading the team in goals was Nora Stepan with a pair of goals vs Gustavus. Goaltender Chloe Stockinger played in all three games, recording 90 saves total, only allowing eight goals against two top-ranked opponents.
Augsburg’s next test is a home/away series with Saint Benedict 1/26 (Thursday) & 1/28 (Saturday).
We have a new #1
UW-River Falls (16-2-0) captured 1st place this week in the 1/23/23 USCHO poll after former #1 Gustavus (14-2-0) lost to Augsburg, dropping to #2. UW-River Falls has shown this season they’re deserving of this ranking, in my opinion, UWRF has been #1 for weeks now with Amherst tailing close behind due to the two’s SOS’s (strength-of-schedule). UWRF has played a gauntlet of a schedule including (rank at time of game): #15 Augsburg, #8 UW-Eau Claire, #3 Plattsburgh, #1 Middlebury, and #1 Gustavus (twice). Most recently they swept UW-Superior, winning easily 12-1 & 9-0.
River-Falls has three massive games remaining on their schedule, one being a date with #2 Gustavus on 1/31 (Tuesday) at 7:05pm CT at home. Then they have a two-game series with WIAC rival UW-Eau Claire on 2/17 & 2/18 (Friday/Saturday). It’ll be interesting to see how UWRF fares the rest of the way as the game’s with Gustavus and UWEC will have massive pairwise implications on the line.
Other Notable Scores
#5 Adrian (16-1-0) defeated Finlandia (0-19-0) 11-0 & 19-0 and set various program records.
#8 UW-Eau Claire (14-3-1) tied Augsburg (10-5-2) 2-2 & defeated UW-Stevens Point (8-9-1) 6-1.
St. Norbert (13-3-3) defeated Lake Forest (8-6-3) 2-1 & tied 3-3.
Saint Benedict (9-6-0) defeated Hamline (7-9-1) 4-3 OT & 3-2.
St. Olaf (10-5-2) defeated St. Scholastica (4-10-1) 4-2 & 5-0.
