Women's Hockey Roundup 11/27/24
So, I have decided to break women’s and men’s hockey up again and return to tradition. The status of Men’s Hockey Roundup is still in limbo. But, in the meantime, here’s your WoHo needs. In future editions, I hope to write about European leagues as well, but for this first edition, at least, I wanted to keep it a bit light. Without further ado, here’s the grand return of Women’s Hockey Roundup.
NCAA Division 1 (Ranked Teams)
Ranked Team Matches (11/22/24)
(#14) Connecticut vs. (#11) Boston College: The #11 Eagles held off the #14 Huskies, 3-2. The first two periods had the same pattern: Connecticut would score early in the period, and the Eagles would respond later in the period. That would not remain true in the third period, though. There, almost halfway through it, the Eagles scored the sole goal of the period, thanks to Lauren Glaser, which was her second of the night.
Robert Morris vs. (#12) Penn State: The #12 ranked Nittany Lions would win this one 5-0. Grace Outwater got three assists to power her team to the victory and Maddy Christian had two goals. Katie DeSa made 20 saves to get the shutout victory.
(#10) St. Cloud State vs. (#3) Minnesota: The #3 Golden Gophers beat their #10 Huskies rather easily, 5-2. Both goals for the Huskies came on the power play, while Abbey Murphy got a hat trick for the victors. Only one of those three goals came on the power play, and she nearly had a natural hat trick. Ally Qualley of the Huskies prevented that from happening. Ella Huber also had three points in the match, getting a goal and two assists.
(#9) St. Lawrence vs. Yale: The #9 Saints held off Yale, 2-1. The Saints led 2-0 a little more than halfway through the third period, but then, Anna Segedi of the Saints would commit the first penalty of the game (yes, 12:23 in the third period was the first penalty), interference. Just ten seconds into that powerplay, Jordan Ray would cut into the Saints lead. Ten seconds after that, Olivia Muhn of Yale would commit a hooking penalty, destroying any momentum that would’ve come from that goal, though. Abby Hehl had a goal and an assist for the Saints to lead the match in points.
(#8) Cornell vs. (#7) Quinnipiac: This match would end in a 3-3 tie. Quinnipiac had their chances, getting five power plays (Cornell only had three), but only capitalized on one of them. Despite having fewer power plays, Cornell still outshot the Bobcats, 33-29. The Bobcats took a 3-1 lead going into the third period, with Kendall Cooper leading the way with two primary assists. But, the Big Red would score twice in just over two minutes midway through the final period. Gabbie Rud had the primary assists on all three Cornell goals.
(#6) Clarkson vs. Brown: The #6 Golden Knights would secure a 4-1 victory, led by Anne Cherkowski, who had two goals and an assist. Haley Winn had a goal and an assist as well. The sole goal scorer for Brown was Ava DeCoste.
(#5) Colgate vs. Princeton: We have an upset alert here as unranked Princeton defeated the #5 Raiders by a score of 4-3 in overtime. It was a back-and-forth affair as Princeton scored first, Colgate responded, and the cycle continued until overtime, when Princeton ended it, thanks to Issy Wunder (who had an assist on an earlier goal as well). Emerson O'Leary also had multiple points for the unranked team, getting two assists. Meanwhile, for the Raiders, no one had more than one point.
Bemidji State vs. (#4) Minnesota Duluth: This wasn’t even close. The #4 ranked Bulldogs destroyed Bemidji State, 8-1. Shelby Breiland scored the sole goal for Bemidji State. Olivia Wallin had a hat trick (plus an assist) for the Bulldogs and Tova Henderson scored twice as well. Clara Van Wieren had three assists.
(#2) Ohio State vs. Minnesota State: It shouldn’t have been close, but with just 46 seconds left in regulation, the unranked Mavericks had pulled the goalie and forced the match into overtime. From there, Joy Dunne of the #2 ranked Buckeyes would play overtime hero, giving her team a 2-1 win. Alexis Paddington scored the sole goal for the Mavericks and Riley Brengman led the match in points, getting two assists for Ohio State.
St. Thomas vs. (#1) Wisconsin: The #1 ranked Badgers won this one by a score of 6-1. Maddie Brown scored the sole goal for St. Thomas late in the second period. Kelly Gorbatenko and Lacey Eden both had a goal and an assist, while Casey O'Brien had two primary assists.
Ranked Team Matches (11/23/24)
Robert Morris vs. (#12) Penn State: The Nittany Lions would complete the weekend sweep, winning 4-0. Kendall Butze and Tessa Janecke both had a goal and an assist. Katie DeSa made 24 saves to get the shutout victory.
(#11) Boston College vs. (#14) Connecticut: The Eagles may have held off the Huskies the day before, but this time, they’d get upset, losing 2-1. The Huskies scored first, thanks to Maya Serdachny. With just 47 seconds to go in the first period, the Eagles would tie it up, thanks to Keri Clougherty. But, late in the second period, Ashley Allard would score the game-winner for the Huskies. Kyla Josifovic was the primary assist on both Huskies goals.
(#9) St. Lawrence vs. Brown: This time, the Saints wouldn’t be able to hold off their unranked opponent, and this match would end in a 1-1 tie. Abby Hehl scored the first goal of the match, for the Saints, while Jade Iginla scored Brown’s sole goal, just a little less than two minutes later.
(#8) Cornell vs. Princeton: The unranked Tigers were close to getting another upset win, but fell short, 4-3. They came out swinging, scoring the first three goals, all before the halfway point of regulation. Mackenzie Alexander scored once and an assist while Jane Kuehl had two assists. From there, though, it would be all Big Red. Cornell would score four goals, all in the span of eight minutes, in the second period. Karel Prefontaine had a goal and an assist while Alyssa Regalado had two assists.
(#6) Clarkson vs. Yale: For the second time that weekend, Yale would get close to pulling off an upset. This time, they managed to take it to overtime, but the Golden Knights would win, 4-3. Yale scored the first two goals, with Sophia Levering assisting on both. From there, Clarkson would score three straight, taking a 3-2 lead into the third period. But, 13:34 into the final period, Carina DiAntonio would tie up the match and force it into overtime, where Caroline Goffredo would play overtime hero for the Golden Knights. Anne Cherkowski had two assists in the match for Clarkson.
(#5) Colgate vs. (#7) Quinnipiac: The Raiders would get back on track by defeating the #7 Bobcats, 4-1. The only goal scored by the Bobcats was the first goal of the game, scored by Kendall Cooper. After that, it was all Raiders, led by Kristýna Kaltounkova, who scored twice. Neena Brick had a goal and two assists and Elyssa Biederman had two assists.
Bemidji State vs. (#4) Minnesota Duluth: The Bulldogs would pull off the weekend sweep, winning 2-0. Tova Henderson and Olivia Mobley were the two goalscorers, and Tindra Holm made 12 saves to get the shutout victory.
(#3) Minnesota vs. (#10) St. Cloud State: We have an upset! The #10 Huskies beat the #3 Golden Gophers, 3-1. Minnesota’s sole goal was the last goal scored in the game, thanks to Natalie Mlynkova. For the Huskies, both Brieja Parent and Avery Farrell would have a goal and an assist.
(#2) Ohio State vs. Minnesota State: We have another upset alert! The unranked Mavericks defeated the #2 Buckeyes, 4-1. The Mavericks were up 2-0 almost halfway through the third period before Maddi Wheeler scored the Buckeyes sole goal. Madison Mashuga had a hand in all four goals for the Mavericks, scoring the final goal, an empty net goal, herself. Meanwhile, Taylor Otremba had two goals and an assist, while JuliAnna Gazdik had two assists.
St. Thomas vs. (#1) Wisconsin: The Badgers would win this one by a score of 5-2. Casey O'Brien scored twice and had two assists while Laila Edwards would have a goal and an assist for the Badgers. For St. Thomas, Maddie Brown scored both goals.
PWHL
Neutral Sites Announcement
This upcoming season, the PWHL will have nine games at neutral sites. The games, dates, and locations are:
Jan 5, 4 pm EDT: Montreal at Boston (Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle)
Jan 8, 10 pm EDT: Montreal at Toronto (Rogers Arena, Vancouver)
Jan 12, 3 pm EDT: Montreal at Minnesota (Ball Arena, Denver)
Jan 19, 1 pm EDT: Ottawa at Montreal (Videotron Centre, Québec City)
Feb 16, 4 pm EDT: Toronto at Ottawa (Rogers Place, Edmonton)
Feb 23, 4 pm EDT: Boston at New York (KeyBank Center, Buffalo)
March 7, 7 pm EDT: Ottawa at Minnesota (Lenovo Center, Raleigh)
March 16, 7:30 pm EDT: Minnesota at New York (Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit)
March 29, 2 pm EDT: Ottawa at Boston (Enterprise Center, St. Louis)
Preseason Matches
The preseason has come and gone, here’s your brief recap of what transpired. The defending champions, Minnesota Frost, won both of their games, while the runner-up, Boston, went 1-1. Ottawa, Montreal, and New York, also went 1-1. Toronto went 0-2. Sarah Fillier, the first pick overall in this year’s PWHL draft for the New York Sirens, led the preseason in scoring with three goals. All of them came in the final match of the preseason, against the Toronto Sceptres. Another rookie impressed in the preseason, and that would be Mae Batherson of the Minnesota Frost, getting two goals against the Sirens. When it comes to total points in the preseason, the leader was a veteran, unsurprisingly. The veteran who did so was Maureen Murphy of the Montreal Victoire. She finished the preseason with four points (2G, 2A). Three of the points came in a match against the Ottawa Charge.
Rule Changes
The default penalty for an illegal check to the head during play will now be a major and game misconduct. It will trigger an automatic review in the PWHL Central Situation Room.
In addition, head-butting, pulling an opponent’s hair, grabbing an opponent’s chin strap, facial protection, or throat protection, are also a major and game misconduct now.
There is also now a “No Escape Rule”. I’ll allow the PWHL to explain this one:
The new No Escape Rule (Rule 15.5) requires players on a team that take a penalty, which leads to penalty time on the clock, to remain on the ice until after the face-off that resumes action. This requirement, similar to the current No-Player-Change Rule that governs icing the puck, could lead to situations such as teams opening a penalty kill with three forwards and one defender on the ice until an opportunity for substitution arises.
Further, an additional penalty for delay of game will be assessed to a team if it intentionally places too many players on the ice to cause a stoppage of play and create confusion about which players must remain on the ice in the application of the new rule (Rule 70.6).
Other new rules include:
A shot in the attacking zone that’s deflected out of play, no matter the cause or by what team, the face-off to restart play will happen in the attacking zone.
Coaches can now challenge delay of game calls. If they lose the challenge, though, they’ll be penalized for a second delay of game.
If the starting goaltender is removed for medical reasons, the replacement is now allowed a brief warm-up.
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