Women’s DI College Hockey: How freedom and chaos beget success at Colgate →

in ,

It’s impossible to follow the Colgate women’s hockey team without seeing their motto “We Play Free” hashtagged on nearly every social media post. It’s not just a marketing tactic and it’s not tied to the school’s Raider mascot. It’s a directive.

Or better yet, a declaration.

While much of the hockey world is predicated on systems – that is, a firm set of tactics that define how a team plays – the coaches at Colgate teach a system-free approach. When they say “We Play Free,” they mean freedom on the ice to be creative and to make mistakes.

Read More

Women’s Division I College Hockey: It’s time to make a separate Goaltender of the Year award →

in ,

I’m beginning to wonder if it’s time women’s Division I college hockey starts talking about adding more awards, particularly a Goalie of the Year award. 

The men’s game added the Mike Richter Award in the 2013-14 season after just two goalies had ever won the Hobey Baker Award over the course of its-then 34-year history. As the women’s game continues to expand, we probably should start talking about doing the same. 

Women’s DI: Players from non-traditional markets highlight the importance of tournaments like the Country Classic in Nashville →

in ,

In 2010, Minnesota Duluth’s reign was coming to an end and Minnesota’s was just beginning. The Bulldogs won their fifth title to start the decade. The Gophers had just two NCAA national championships when the decade started. Clarkson emerged as a force to be reckoned with and become the only non-WCHA team to win a title.

To only look at the big picture, it looks like not much has changed in the women’s game. At the start of the decade, there were three teams that led the pack – Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth and Wisconsin. As we close it out, there’s still a focus on three programs, with Clarkson having replaced UMD in the top trio.

Read More

NEWHA is driving women’s hockey expansion and could help push for a larger NCAA tournament field

in ,

On Monday, Division II Stonehill College announced that they were adding women’s hockey as a varsity sport. Stonehill was a natural fit for the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance (NEWHA), who’s member institutions Franklin Pierce, Post, Saint Anselm and St. Michael’s all have men’s teams that compete in the Northeast-10 conference against Stonehill’s men’s squad. 

Read More

Wednesday Women: Pondering players taking time away to play international tournaments and the impact their absence has on their college teams →

in ,

But I also think it’s unfair of country federations to use NCAA programs as the primary tool of women’s top tier talent and also not take those programs’ schedules into account. Changing the status quo would require a lot of finagling of the international calendar, but it certainly feels like the federations get the benefit of top tier instruction, training and facilities for their players (that most of those federations refuse to even provide themselves) and also take advantage of the programs providing those things by taking their players for international competition whenever they want. It just seems like this could and should be a bit more of a cooperative relationship. 

Read More

USCHO: USA Hockey finds women all united in support of national team →

in ,

At this writing, at least 37 current, former or future college hockey players have used Twitter to announce that they had been contacted by USA Hockey (USAH) to compete as part of a replacement team in the Women’s World Championships (WWC), which begin March 31, and they had turned them down. In addition, four more players who were a part of the last U-18 squad used Twitter to voice support, but had not explicitly said they had turned down USAH.

Read More

USCHO: Mercer scores pair, Tiley stops all 41 as Clarkson blanks Wisconsin for women’s D-I national title →

in ,

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Clarkson won its second women’s national championship Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 win over Wisconsin.

The Golden Knights last won the title in 2014 and still remain the only team outside of the WCHA to have won the national crown.

Read More

USCHO: Patty Kazmaier winner Desbiens: Coming to Wisconsin ‘a pretty good decision I made’ →

in , ,

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Wisconsin senior goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens was named the 2017 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner Saturday, winning the award that is presented annually to the top player in women’s NCAA Division I hockey.

She is the third goaltender to win the award and the fifth player from Wisconsin. She joins Badgers legends Sara Bauer (2006), Jessie Vetter (2009), Meghan Duggan (2011) and Brianna Decker (2012). Vetter and Brown’s Ali Brewer are the only other netminders to have earned the honor.

Read More

USCHO: Top-ranked Wisconsin gets by Boston College on last-second goal to advance to women’s title game →

in ,

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — The No. 1 Wisconsin women’s hockey team advanced to its first national championship game since 2012 by defeating No. 4 Boston College 1-0 Friday night in the first semifinal at the women’s Frozen Four.

Senior defenseman Mellissa Channell netted the game-winner with just 16.2 seconds left in the third period. Junior Annie Pankowski was down low and pushed it back to Channell at the point.

Read More