Another week out west, another week closer to a potential final four out west. Like the east, we’ve seen upset-after-upset out west, which just shows us the parity being at an all-time high as mentioned in this week’s east article. Let’s get into your week 13 west review, recapping the notable events!
Augsburg gets the MIAC upset win over #2 Gustavus
These two teams have had their battles as of late, Gustavus getting the better of the matchup as of late, but Augsburg has been the one team in the MIAC to seem to cause the Gusties issues despite the Gusties winning ways.
Gustavus won the first game these two played on opening night (non-conference) 5-1 back in October, then on Friday 3-1. On Saturday, the Auggies got the massive 5-4 win where overtime was needed to decide the winner. How it happened:
Gustavus got on the board early and often, Emily Olson scored a rapid 26 seconds after puck drop to take the quick 1-0 lead. They’d add another about ten minutes later in the period to double the lead, it was Hailey Holland at 10:39. The Gustie’s led 2-0 entering the 2nd period.
We dropped the puck for the middle frame and Augsburg owned the period. The Auggies cut the lead in half at the near-halfway mark of the period (Emily Cronkhite, 9:43) and then tied it up just over a minute later at 11:12 when Ella Olson fired one in. Gustavus would then retake the lead at 15:59 (Molly McHugh), but the Auggies’ Sydney Rydel netted one on the powerplay in the last minute of the period (19:03.8). We entered the 3rd tied 3-3.
In the final regulation period, each team added a goal, Brooke Power at 7:17, giving her Gusties the lead once again. Then, Augsburg not going away, Kennedy Stein scored just over the midway mark at 11:39, which held up until the end of 60 minutes.
We hit overtime, 3v3, not even two minutes ticked off the clock, Augsburg’s Sydney Rydel scored a brisk 1:44 into the OT period, giving her Auggies the huge MIAC victory as Augsburg continued to roll after the first portion of the season. Winning their last 8 of 9 games, Augsburg is one to watch out for to shock the west and take the MIAC auto-bid come March.
Watch out for the Pipers
Hamline is quietly putting together one of the best records in not just the west, but in D-III. The Pipers are 14-3-0 and on paper, are likely looking at a 16-3-0 record as they get #2 Gustavus for a home/away series on February 2/3.
As mentioned with Augsburg, Hamline’s another team that could potentially take Gustavus off their perch at the top of the MIAC. The Auggies have been the team as of late to blemish the Gusties, but we’ll get to see the Pipers shortly get two shots (no pun intended) at Gustavus who has had recent-success vs Hamline, winning the last five matchups, 17-4-2 all-time.
Most recently, Hamline got the sweep over Saint Benedict, winning 3-1 & 4-1 at home and on the road.
I asked 3rd year Head Coach of the Pipers, Trinity College alum (‘14), Whitney Colbert what’s different about this group than in her previous two years:
“The biggest difference with this group compared to years past is one, our team chemistry, and two, our depth within the lineup. Our team is a strong cohesive unit that truly wants the best for one another and pushes each other to be their very best every single day. With regards to our depth, I credit a lot of our success to having a deep forward and defensive line up as well as having three strong goaltenders on the backend. We really pride ourselves in playing a strong team game and we’ve done a nice job with that so far.”
Since her team went down to Charleston, South Carolina recently for a pair of games vs Bowdoin & Williams (Adrian was the other west team involved), so I wanted to ask how the experience was for her and her group on the ice and off:
“Playing in Charleston was a tremendous experience for our team. Not only was it beneficial for our team to come out with two wins against strong NESCAC opponents, but also being a former player in the NESCAC myself, that really added a special element to it for me personally. We were also able to mix in a couple fun team activities like going to the Stingrays (ECHL) game, checking out the downtown and going to TopGolf which just continued to help build our team camaraderie. Overall, it was a fantastic trip and certainly an important two wins for our program.”
Undefeated Watch
The last point we’ll touch on is the lone undefeated team in Division-III hockey, whether it be men’s or women’s, that’s UW-River Falls who sits atop of pairwise and the WIAC with a perfect 19-0-0 record. Unless the Jills of Northland pull off the upset of the century, the Falcons will be 21-0-0 heading into St. Peter, Minn. to face Gustavus for the third time this season (second time on the road), in which UWRF has won both by scores of 2-0 (home) & 3-2 (away).
River Falls currently features the top-two-point leaders in the country, Maddie McCollins with 47 (24G, 23A) and Megan Goodreau with 36 (12G, 24A). McCollins, the ‘23 USCHO Player of the Year, looks to be on pace to win the Laura Hurd award this season, an award some could claim she should’ve had last season, but nevertheless, she sits eleven points clear of her teammate in second place, and thirteen clear of the River-Falls rival, UW-Eau Claire’s Sophie Rausch, who has 34 (20G, 14A).
Speaking of the Blugolds, they’ll look to hand the Falcons their potentially lone loss of the year when they meet again for some midweek action on February 7 (Wednesday) in River Falls and then ten days later (February 17, 2pm CST) in Eau Claire to end the regular season before the O’Brien Cup opens play three days later on Saturday.
