Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Women’s Notes: Holiday Week Offers Early Slate of Action

Buckeyes New No. 1; Holm Slamming Door on Long Island

Women's Notes: Holiday Week Offers Early Slate of Action
Vermont hosts Hockey East foe Northeastern on NESN tonight (Photo: Ed Wolfstein).

College hockey fans are treated to a rare early-week helping of games heading into Thanksgiving with five NCAA Division I women’s matchups tonight:

  • Clarkson at Syracuse (non-conference)
  • Harvard at New Hampshire (non-conference)
  • Holy Cross at Assumption (non-conference)
  • Northeastern at Vermont (Hockey East)
  • Sacred Heart at Franklin Pierce (NEWHA)

When play resumes this weekend, the traditional full slate of games will include at least four games featuring teams all ranked in the top 15 nationally, according to the latest USCHO.com poll:

  • #1 Ohio State vs. #6 St. Lawrence
  • #2 Colgate at #9 Minnesota Duluth
  • #4 Minnesota vs. #8 Cornell (DI in DC Tournament, Arlington, Va.)
  • #7 Quinnipiac vs. #11 UConn (at Ingalls Rink, New Haven, Conn.)

Visit the links below for this week’s complete NCAA Division I women’s hockey schedule.

Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

Must Read:

Boston Globe: A pioneer of women’s hockey at Northeastern marvels at the sport’s progress
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin’s Edwards honored to be the first Black women on U.S. team
Montreal Gazette: Caroline Ouellette’s road to Hockey Hall of Fame wasn’t an easy one
NCAA.com: Ohio State women’s hockey stifles Wisconsin offense, sweeps No. 1 Badgers
The Ice Garden: OSU solves the Badgers, UMaine wins two big ones, and more
USCHO: Selfless defender Squires shines off the ice, in the net for Stonehill
USCHO: Weekend wrap

Must Hear:

Inside College Hockey America: Featuring Syracuse senior F Sarah Thompson
Inside ECAC Hockey: Featuring Brown head coach Mel Ruzzi
Inside Hockey East: Featuring UConn senior F Jada Habisch
Pandas on Ice: The story of American’s first women’s college hockey team
The PodKaz: Previewing #1 Wisconsin at #2 Ohio State

Must Watch:

The Hockey News: Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall discusses weekend sweep of Wisconsin

Whoa-hio State:

For the first time this season, there is a new No. 1 in NCAA Division I women’s hockey.

In a rematch of last year’s national title game, Ohio State handed top-ranked Wisconsin its first losses of the 2023-24 campaign, downing the visiting Badgers 3-0 on Friday and 2-1 in overtime on Saturday. As a result, the Buckeyes have taken over the top spot in the latest USHCO.com poll, with UW slipping to No. 3. Colgate slid into the No. 2 spot previously held by OSU.

OSU, now 11-1-0 overall and atop the WCHA standings, got a three-goal weekend from graduate F Jennifer Gardiner (Surrey, British Columbia) – the WCHA Forward of the Week – while fellow graduate F Hannah Bilka (Coppell, Texas) supplied the sweep-clinching OT goal Saturday.

Netminders Raygan Kirk (Sr., Ste. Anne, Manitoba) and Amanda Thiele (Sr., Milford, Mich.) each started one game in the series and combined to limit the high-powered Badgers to just one goal on the weekend. Kirk was named WCHA Goaltender of the Week for her 19-save shutout Friday.

Another top-10 opponent awaits the Buckeyes, with a non-conference series against sixth-ranked St. Lawrence set for Friday and Saturday at OSU Ice Rink.

Holm-Ice Advantage:

Long Island is off to a 10-0-0 start in NEWHA play – good for a three-point lead on Saint Anselm with two games in hand – thanks in large part to the play of junior G Tindra Holm (Skelleftea, Sweden).

Holm has started all 10 of those games – in fact, she’s started all 14 games overall for the Sharks – and leads the conference in goals against average (1.92), save percentage (.948), saves (494) and minutes played (844:24). She’s also tied for the NEWHA lead with a pair of shutouts.

Holm stopped 67 of 68 shots in last weekend’s road sweep of Stonehill, pushing LIU’s winning streak to a program-record 10 games. The Sharks will put that streak on the line Dec. 1 at Post.

Fit To Print:

“I was released from more minor hockey teams than I can remember, but never did my parents blame the coaches or called for injustice. They always kept a positive mindset, encouraging me to continue on my path wherever it led me.”  

NCAA champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist Caroline Ouellette on her hockey journey that culminated in her recent induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame (source: Montreal Gazette)

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Colgate senior F Kristýna Kaltounková (Vlasim, Czechia) has a goal in five straight games, upping her NCAA-leading total to 14 tallies in 14 contests. She’s already halfway to the career-high 28 goals she scored in 38 games in 2021-22 … Minnesota State announced Monday that head coach John Harrington (Minnesota Duluth ’79) will temporarily step away from the team to undergo hip surgery. In his absence, assistant coach Shari Dickerman (Minnesota State ’04) has been elevated to associate head coach and acting head coach … RIT junior G Sarah Coe (Brooklin, Ontario) needs 16 more saves to reach 2,000 for her career … St. Cloud State goalies Sanni Ahola (Sr., Helsinki, Finland) and Jojo Chobak (Sr., Chicago, Ill.) each earned a shutout victory in the Huskies’ sweep of St. Thomas, the NCAA-leading seventh and eight shutouts of the season for SCSU. Clarkson and UConn are next with six each.

CONFERENCE WEBSITES
 CHA | ECAC | Hockey East | NEWHA | WCHA


Did you know? 98% of NCAA Division I women’s hockey players earn their degree!