Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Women’s Notes: Big WCHA Battle On Tap This Weekend

Cornell Fast Out of Holiday Break; Mlýnková’s Faceoff Dominance

A pair of traditional college hockey titans will clash this weekend in a key WCHA matchup.

Top-ranked Ohio State (16-2-0) travels to Minneapolis (16-3-1) for a two-game conference series with the second-ranked Golden Gophers. The Buckeyes sit atop the WCHA standings with 37 points, four points better than second-place Minnesota.

It marks the first road action in more than two months for OSU, which closed out the first half of the season with a 7-1-0 homestand. The Gophers, meanwhile, opened 2024 with a non-conference sweep of UConn last weekend and have just one loss since the start of November.

The Buckeyes and Gophers rank 3-4 nationally in scoring offense, averaging 4.83 and 4.10 goals per game, respectively.

Minnesota boasts the nation’s top-ranked power play (39.3%), led by junior F Abbey Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill.), who has scored eight of her nation’s-best 22 goals on the power play.

Both games can be seen live on B1G+.

Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders

NCAA Women’s Hockey on TSN:

TSN and College Hockey Inc. recently announced the addition of 30 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s hockey games to TSN’s broadcast schedule in January, including 15 women’s matchups. All 15 women’s games will be streamed live on TSN+.

Click HERE for more information, and click HERE for TSN’s entire 2023-24 NCAA Division I hockey schedule to date.

Big Wins for Big Red:

Cornell enjoyed a terrific first half of the 2023-24 season, going 11-3-1 overall with a 6-2-0 mark in ECAC Hockey. However, all three of its losses came over the final four games prior to the Christmas break.

Seeking to put that pre-Christmas mini-skid behind them, the Big Red faced a tall task immediately out of the break: a conference matchup with undefeated – yes, undefeated – Clarkson. The No. 4/5 Golden Knights had taken an incredible 18-0-2 record into the holidays. Cornell responded in dramatic fashion, with junior Lily Delianedis (Edina, Minn.) scoring midway through overtime to make the Big Red the first team to hand Clarkson a regular-season loss since Feb. 4.

There was no letdown the following day, either, as Cornell tacked on a 3-1 victory over 10th-ranked St. Lawrence. The bounce-back weekend from the Big Red further muddled the jam-packed ECAC standings; only five points separate the top five teams, currently paced by Colgate, heading into this weekend’s action.

In the Winner’s Circle:

Vermont’s Natálie Mlýnková (Zlin, Czechia) is known for her scoring prowess. After all, the senior from Zlin, Czechia, leads the Catamounts in points (21), goals (10) and assists (11).

But it was inside the faceoff circle where Mlýnková put on a clinic last weekend, going an incredible 16-for-16 on draws in Saturday’s loss to RPI. The performance gave her a team-leading 178 faceoff wins on the season, tied for fourth-most in Hockey East.

Fit To Print:

“Hopefully, some of these kids may look back on this week as pivotal in ten years’ time. And maybe someday, we’ll have someone from Belfast on our team. That would be really cool.”

— Providence Head Coach Matt Kelly after both the Friars and Princeton visited local schools prior to their Friendship Series in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last weekend (source The Belfast Telegraph)

PWHL Note of the Week:

Playing in front of the largest crowd in women’s hockey history (13,316) Saturday in Saint Paul, former University of Minnesota captain Grace Zumwinkle notched the PWHL’s first-ever hat trick, lifting Minnesota to a 3-0 victory over Montreal at Xcel Energy Center.

Former Minnesota Duluth goaltender Maddie Rooney claimed the shutout in that game, stopping all 24 shots she faced to earn her first PWHL win.

Zumwinkle was a five-year standout (2017-21, 2022-23) for the Golden Gophers and a two-time finalist for the Patty Kamzaier Award. She has four goals through her first two PWHL games.

Rooney starred at UMD from 2015-20 and was the starting goaltender when the United States captured the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:

Princeton swept its two-game Friendship Series with Providence in Belfast, Northern Ireland, last weekend, winning 6-1 and 2-1. Senior F Sarah Fillier (Georgetown, Ontario) had two goals and six points in the series … Stonehill sophomore G Eve Stone (North Billerica, Mass.) registered back-to-back shutouts in the Skyhawk’s road sweep of Post last weekend. All three of Stone’s shutouts this season have come away from home … All 18 Wisconsin skaters to have suited up this season have scored at least one goal.

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

Did you know? 97% of NCAA Division I women’s hockey players earn their degree!