Thursday, January 23, 2025
Women’s Notes: An Early Glance into Postseason Format
Each Conferences Path to Secure an Automatic Qualifier
With just over a month remaining in the regular season, the race to secure postseason positioning is heating up, with conference matchups carrying more weight than ever. Here is how each conference controls its fate enroute to a national championship.
AHA:
The chase for the Robert DeGregorio Cup will feature all six Atlantic Hockey America teams. The postseason begins Feb. 22 with the No. 3 seed hosting the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed hosting the No. 5 seed in the quarterfinal round.
The quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinals, where the lowest remaining seed will visit the No. 1 seed, and the second-lowest remaining seed will face the No. 2 seed in best-of-three series from Feb. 28 to March 2.
The AHA postseason will conclude on March 8, when the semifinal winners meet at the home of the highest-seeded semifinal winner in a one-game final to determine the league’s automatic qualifier.
ECAC:
The ECAC playoffs begin Feb. 22 or 23 with a single-elimination first round, as seeds five through eight host seeds nine through 12. The winners advance to the league’s best-of-three quarterfinals, hosted by the highest remaining seeds from Feb. 28 to March 2.
The ECAC semifinals and championship game are set for March 7-8 at the site of the top remaining seed.
Hockey East:
All 10 programs will compete in a single-elimination postseason tournament for the Bertagna Trophy.
Seeds seven and eight will host seeds 10 and nine, respectively, in the opening round on Wednesday, Feb. 27, while the top six seeds receive a bye to the quarterfinals. After reseeding, the top two seeds will host the opening-round winners, the No. 3 seed will host the No. 6 seed, and the No. 4 seed will host the No. 5 seed. The quarterfinal games are set for Saturday, March 1.
The semifinals will take place Wednesday, March 5, and the championship game will air nationally on ESPNU on Saturday, March 8, at noon ET.
NEWHA:
The league’s top four seeds will host the first-round best-of-three series at campus sites from Feb. 22-24. The winners will advance to single-elimination semifinal games, hosted by the top two seeds, on Saturday, March 1.
The NEWHA championship game is set for Saturday, March 8, at the site of the highest remaining seed.
WCHA:
The WCHA Tournament begins with all eight teams competing in the best-of-three quarterfinal series from Feb. 28 to March 2, 2025, hosted by the top four seeds at their campus sites.
The winners advance to the four-team Kwik Trip WCHA Final Faceoff, held at AMSOIL Arena on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. Teams will be reseeded, with semifinal games set for March 7 and winners playing in the championship game on Saturday, March 8, at AMSOIL Arena.
To read more about postseason conference tournaments, see here.
Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Composite Schedule | Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders
Must Read:
USCHO: College Hockey Weekend Wrap
New England Hockey Journal: Girls MIAA rankings surging Archies re-enters top 10
PWHL: PWHL Weekly Notebook
The Hockey News: Allie Kelley breaks NCAA record for saves
The Hockey News: NCAA weekend notes, big nights for Bouveng and Kaltounkova
The Hockey News: Brooke McQuigge find ways to contribute in Minnesota
The Hockey News: Hockey Canada names February Rivalry Series roster
Clean Sheet Hockey: Women’s Portal Analysis
Must Watch & Hear:
Our Girls Play Hockey: Developing Champions With Cherie Piper
Our Kids Play Hockey: Rethinking Rankings in Youth Hockey
Jocks & Jills: Take Over Tour + Up Close and Personal with Lee Stecklein
The PodKaz: Ep. 33 The Beanpot wraps up, upsets in ECAC Hockey and an early Bracketology
Beanpot, Beanpot, Beanpot:
The Northeastern Huskies completed the three-peat Tuesday night, defeating Boston University 4-0 in the Beanpot Championship before a record-breaking crowd of 13,279 at TD Garden. The victory marked Northeastern’s 20th women’s Beanpot championship since the tournament began in 1979.
The Huskies opened the scoring midway through the first period when defenseman Lily Yovetich (Gr., Los Angeles, Calif.) scored her first goal of the season. The Huskies showed scoring depth with three more goal scorers: junior forward Lily Shannon (Andover, Mass.), graduate forward Jaden Bogden (Edmonton, Alberta), and senior forward Skylar Irving (Kingston, Mass.).
Freshman goaltender Lisa Jönsson (Stockholm, Sweden) posted her sixth shutout of the season, stopping all 30 shots she faced. Jönsson earned both the Joe Bertagna Award for best goaltender in the tournament and tournament MVP honors.
Comeback Kids:
No. 11 St. Cloud State swept Bemidji State last weekend. On Friday night, the Huskies took an early lead and never looked back, shutting out the Beavers 3-0.
On Saturday, Bemidji struck first, taking a 2-0 lead with goals in the first and early in the second. The Huskies responded with three unanswered goals to complete the sweep. The game-winning goal came with just 1:09 left in regulation, when sophomore forward Sofianna Sundelin (Ulvila, Finland) was sprung on a D-splitting breakaway.
The Huskies will travel to face No. 1 Wisconsin this weekend.
Netminder’s Night to Remember:
The Syracuse Orange may have lost Friday night’s match against Penn State, but it was still a memorable night for graduate goaltender Allie Kelley (East Berne, N.Y.), who broke the NCAA all-time saves record.
Kelley made 41 saves in the contest, bringing her career total to 4,176. She surpassed RPI’s Lovisa Selander (2015-19), who held the previous record with 4,167 saves over four years.
Rolling Stone(hill):
The Stonehill Skyhawks secured back-to-back weekend sweeps of conference opponents, both on the road, defeating LIU and Sacred Heart. With a 3-0 win over the Pioneers, Stonehill improved to 8-7-3 in conference play, moving into fourth place in the NEWHA standings.
Freshman goaltender Alexsa Caron (Dracut, Mass.), tied the program record for shutouts in a season with her third, stopping all 32 shots on Saturday.
Wildcat Win:
The New Hampshire Wildcats upset No. 15 Boston University 2-0 Saturday night at the Whittemore Center. The last time UNH defeated a nationally ranked team was Dec. 2, 2023.
Sophomore goaltender Sedona Blair (Eden Prairie, Minn.) recorded her fifth shutout of the season and the 10th of her career. The Wildcats also blocked 10 shots, led by senior defenseman Marina Alvarez (Center Moriches, N.Y.), who had three on the night.
Fit To Print:
“We’re always trying to win, trying to make good decisions with who we put out there on the ice. And I think I said in the locker room, Michaela Hesová has been our secret weapon on the shootout win. So, credit her with her first shutout win of the season and just being the backbone of our program all year long.”
— Dartmouth head coach Maura Crowell credits her freshmen netminder Michaela Hesová (Prague, Czech Republic) on her shutout win Saturday and overall play this season. (Source: Dartmouth Sports)
PWHL Note of the Week:
The PWHL “Takeover Tour” is four games into its nine scheduled neutral-site games for the 2024-25 season. The effort to showcase the game across a wider footprint has paid off as the average attendance for a “Takeover” game this season is nearly 16,000.
Takeover Tour Games:
1. Vancouver (19,038)
2. Quebec City (18,259)
3. Denver (14,018)
4. Detroit (13,736) *2023-24
5. Seattle (12,608)
Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:
Penn State Junior Tessa Janecke (Orangeville, Ill.) set the program record on Friday with 138 (56 G, 82A) … Minnesota Duluth goaltender Eve Gascon (Mascouche, Quebec) recorded a season-best 58 saves on Friday in the Bulldogs 3-1 loss to Ohio State … Colgate senior Hannah Murphy achieved her 16th career shutout in the victory, setting a program record, while securing her 64th career win … Robert Morris erased a two-goal deficit to defeat RIT in OT, 5-4, on Saturday … Holy Cross and Merrimack went into back-to-back shootouts last weekend with Holy Cross taking both games. Crusader defensemen Hannah Deck (Fr., Chestermere, Alta.) netted the game-tying and shootout go-ahead goal … Junior forward Laila Edwards (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) notched nine points in their sweep of St. Thomas. Edwards scored five goals including a natural hat trick on Saturday.
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CHA | ECAC | Hockey East | NEWHA | WCHA
Did you know? 97% of NCAA Division I women’s hockey players earn their degree!