WCHA season preview: Look to Minnesota
In an Olympic year, the top teams sometimes struggle, but expect Minnesota to battle Wisconsin for the top spot in the WCHA, with the former coming out on top.
In an Olympic year, the top teams sometimes struggle, but expect Minnesota to battle Wisconsin for the top spot in the WCHA, with the former coming out on top.
The conference is more competitive than ever, but Robert Morris is still the favorite, as the Colonials return almost their entire squad from last season’s NCAA tournament team.
Robert Morris forward Jaycee Gebhard has been named the 2016-17 national rookie of the year by the Women’s Hockey Commissioners Association.
After weeks of speculation, the University of North Dakota announced today that it is cutting the women’s hockey program as part of an effort to meet new budget restrictions, which was widely reported to be a $1.3 million shortfall. Also cut were men’s and women’s swimming and diving. According to multiple reports, North Dakota did … Read more
As the impasse between USA Hockey and the U.S. Women’s National Team continues unresolved. USA Hockey reached out to many current and former players at both the D-I and D-III levels to try to find replacement players, but found all women were resolved to support the national team.
National champion Clarkson led the All-USCHO women’s D-I teams with five players, while runner-up Wisconsin placed four players on the teams. Nine schools in total were represented.
She earned many nods during a spectacular rookie season in which only Wisconsin standout and Patty Kazmaier Award winner Ann-Renée Desbiens posted a better save percentage. Princeton goalie Steph Neatby is our rookie of the year in women’s D-I.
She engineered the best single-season turnaround in Minnesota Duluth history, returning the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament and almost getting them to the Frozen Four. Maura Crowell is our women’s D-I coach of the year.
Clarkson’s Cayley Mercer was a Patty Kazmaier Award top-three finalist, and while the award was captured by Ann-Renée Desbiens, Mercer led her team to victory over Desbiens’ in the national championship game. Her clutch play has earned her USCHO player of the year.,
Heading into the women’s Frozen Four, much of the focus around the country centered around the season-long excellence of Wisconsin goalie and 2017 Patty Kazmaier award winner Ann-Renée Desbiens. In the championship game, however, it was the play of another goaltender that stole all the headlines: Clarkson’s Shea Tiley.
Wisconsin senior goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens has been awarded the 2017 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award. The honors were presented to Desbiens Saturday afternoon at the Foundry Art Centre as part of the women’s Frozen Four weekend hosted by Lindenwood University. The award, which is in its 20th year, is presented annually to the top player in … Read more
The Clarkson women’s team returns to the national championship game for the first time since their historic 2014 win. Just five players on the current roster were a part of that win. But Genevieve Bannon isn’t sure there’s much she and her fellow seniors learned that year that will be relevant to their experience on Sunday.
All season long, the goal for Wisconsin women’s hockey senior class has been simple: get to the championship game no matter what it takes. As it turned out, a pair of those seniors willed their team to that goal, although only one of the efforts would have been predicted before the evening began.
For leading Minnesota Duluth to a 25-7-5 record and into the 2017 NCAA tournament, Maura Crowell has been named the CCM/AHCA Division I women’s Coach of the Year. Crowell, in just her second year as a Division I head coach, led UMD into the WCHA championship game before bowing 4-1 to Wisconsin. Her squad reached … Read more
Well, I did well again last week in my postseason picks, going 4-0. In the postseason, I’ve gone 31-12, and on the year, I am 417-104-56. We’ve got three games left. Let’s see how I do. I’ll pick the semis today, and post my picks for the finals Saturday morning. Friday, March 18 Clarkson versus … Read more
A veteran quartet We’re down to four teams, and those four are an accomplished bunch. A week from now, these senior classes will have concluded their careers by collectively playing in 12 Frozen Fours. These programs have also combined to win the last five NCAA Championships. Yes, this will be all new for the freshmen, … Read more