Five teams’ final weekend fight

All too soon, the seemingly endless regular season comes down to one final weekend. Months of work can be decided by a single game, period, or play. The final weekend of the season might not bring a ton of suspense for the top spot in each of the conferences, but there are plenty of battles … Read more

Wednesday Women: Analyzing the races

Genevieve Bannon (Clarkson - 9) plays the puck as Molly Strabley (Princeton - 2) gives chase. ((c) Shelley M. Szwast 2016)

With the conference champions all but decided, Candace and Arlan look at the races for home ice seeding in each conference, possible playoff matches, the races for points leaders in conferences, the announcement of the Patty Kazmaier Award initial list, and why certain programs are always near the top while others languish.

Wednesday Women: Moving toward success

Dana Trivigno (BC - 8), Kelly Pannek (Minnesota - 19) - The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers defeated the Boston College Eagles 3-1 to win the 2016 NCAA national championship on Sunday, March 20, 2016, at the Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire. (Melissa Wade)

Candace and Arlan look at Wisconsin’s Fill the Bowl success, Minnesota-Duluth’s first sweep of Minnesota since 2010, some other puzzling results, like Northeastern getting swept by Maine, what shuffling might occur in the standings, and early favorites for the Patty Kazmaier Award.

St. Cloud building through offense

Taking over a program, installing your systems, and creating a new culture take time. St. Cloud State coach Eric Rud has patience. And the work he and his team have put in since he took over as head coach before the 2014-15 season is starting to show results. Despite heading into the winter break on … Read more

Wednesday Women: Finding confidence

Kassidy Sauve of Ohio State (Tim Brule)

Arlan and Nicole look at teams that had a hit to their confidence, like St. Lawrence and Colgate, and teams that may have gained some confidence from their surprise results, such as Mercyhurst, Providence, and St. Cloud State, as well as some of the favorites and what will happen in the PairWise in the second half.

Santa’s wish list for women’s D-I

It’s the midway point of the season, and all but a few teams are done with their schedule until after the new year. As the students prepare for finals and we all head into the holidays, I’ve prepared a letter to Santa to let him know what I wish for each of the Division I … Read more

Wednesday Women: New records

Grace Harrison (St. Lawrence - 29) made 27 saves and improved to 8-0-1. ((c) Shelley M. Szwast 2016)

Candace and Nicole take a look at Ann-Renee Desbiens setting a new shutout record, the strengths of Wisconsin and Minnesota, what the Boston College-Boston University split portends in Hockey East, St. Lawrence’s continued early success, and the parity in the CHA.

Wednesday Women: Moving on up

Erin Hall of Holy Cross, one of the tri-captains. (Mark Seliger)

Candace and Arlan look at Holy Cross moving up and compare the Crusaders to previous teams that have moved up to D-I, try to make sense of the many contenders in the ECAC, look at whether Boston College is the favorite in Hockey East, ponder whether North Dakota or Minnesota-Duluth has an edge in the at-large bid battle, and also debate the strengths and weaknesses of teams in the CHA.

Wednesday Women: Surprise teams

In the first Wednesday Women column of the year, former USCHO women’s columnist Arlan Marrtila discusses the surprises out West with our new columnist, Nicole Haase. They also look at St. Lawrence, preview this weekend’s big games, and discuss scoring. Arlan will periodically appear going forward, as will women’s editor Candace Horgan.

Women’s WCHA 2016-17 season preview

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The late addition of Amanda Kessel back to Minnesota’s lineup gave the Gophers just the jump they needed heading into the playoffs last season, and they rode that momentum to a sixth NCAA title, defeating Boston College in the final. The Gophers graduated a strong senior class, as in addition to Kessel, they lost scoring … Read more

Wisconsin tabbed as preseason favorite by WCHA women’s coaches

Defending league regular-season and back-to-back playoff champion Wisconsin is the preseason pick of conference coaches to finish atop the women’s WCHA standings in 2016-17. The Badgers edged out defending national champion Minnesota in the poll of the eight WCHA head coaches. In addition, Wisconsin senior goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens was named preseason Player of the Year … Read more

Longtime ORDA executive Million named new WCHA VP, women’s league commissioner

The WCHA on Thursday named longtime New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority executive Katie Million as its next vice president and women’s league commissioner. Million agreed to a three-year contract and will begin her role Sept. 2. She joins the WCHA after a highly-successful 17-year stay in Lake Placid, N.Y., including the last three … Read more

Wisconsin and Minnesota headline top WCHA women’s awards

Seven individual awards, three All-WCHA Teams and an All-Rookie Team were announced on Thursday by the WCHA women’s conference. Wisconsin junior goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens is the Player of the Year and Goaltending Champion after posting 18 shutouts, the all-time NCAA single-season record (women or men) and leading the nation with a .958 save percentage and … Read more