Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Women’s Notes: Frozen Focus, Eyes on the NCAA Tournament
UConn’s Finale Secures No. 1 Seed in Hockey East
The final regular season games have been played as Hockey East, NEWHA and WCHA finalized their standings. Conference tournaments are now fully underway in all five NCAA Division I women’s hockey conferences. Here is a league-by-league look at each:
AHA
Regular Season Champion: Penn State (third in a row)
Syracuse and RIT advanced from the AHA single-elimination quarterfinals to the best-of-three semifinal series. Syracuse sweat out a double-overtime victory over Robert Morris and will now face No. 2 seed Mercyhurst. RIT defeated Lindenwood and will take on three-time defending AHA champion Penn State … Following the best-of-three series, the winners will meet at the highest remaining seed on March 8 for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
ECAC Hockey
Regular Season Champion: Cornell
ECAC kicked off its single elimination play in round last weekend – Quinnipiac, Yale, Princeton and Union advanced to the ECAC quarterfinals … The best-of-three quarterfinal series begin Friday and will feature No. 9 seed Union at No. 1 Cornell, No. 7 Princeton at No. 2 Colgate, No. 6 Yale at No. 3 St. Lawrence, and No. 5 Quinnipiac at No. 4 Clarkson.
Hockey East
Regular Season Champion: UConn (second in a row)
The Hockey East tournament kicks off Wednesday with a single elimination play in game with No. 7 seed New Hampshire hosting No 10. seed Merrimack, while No. 8 Vermont plays host to No 9. Holy Cross. The two winners will advance to the Hockey East Quarterfinals to face either No. 1 UConn or No. 2 Boston University … Two quarterfinal matchups are already known: No. 6 Maine at No. 3 Boston College and No. 5 Northeastern at No. 4 Providence.
NEWHA
Regular Season Champion: Long Island (third in a row)
The NEWHA championship kicks off this weekend with a best-of-three series hosted by the top four seeds: No. 8 Saint Michael’s at No 1. Long Island University, No. 7 Post at No. 2 Franklin Pierce, No. 6 Assumption at No. 3 Sacred Heart, and No. 5 Saint Anselm at No. 4 Stonehill. The winning teams will move to a single elimination semifinal game on March 5 to continue playing for an NCAA auto-bid.
WCHA
Regular Season Champion: Wisconsin
A quartet of best-of-three, first-round series begin Friday, with the four winners advancing to the 2025 Kwik Trip WCHA Final Faceoff at Amsoil Arena in Duluth … No. 1 seed Wisconsin No. 8 Bemidji State, No. 2 Ohio State hosts No. 7 St. Thomas, No. 3 Minnesota welcomes No. 6 Minnesota State, and No. 4 Minnesota Duluth hosts No. 5 St. Cloud State.
Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Composite Schedule | Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders
Must Read:
The Athletic: PWHL 2024-25 playoff chances and projected standings
Clean Sheet Hockey: Move cross-country to pursue Division I dream? You betcha.
Clean Sheet Hockey: Sydney Lamb’s rise to Team USA
The Daily Gazette: Union hockey came of age with Saturday’s ECAC first-round game win
FloHockey: Atlantic Hockey America Women’s First-Round Playoff Preview
The Hockey News: NCAA Playoffs Begin, Wisconsin Looks To Stay On Top
The Hockey News: Caroline Harvey Sets Single Season Points Record For Wisconsin Defenders
The Ice Garden: 2024-25 PWHL Power Rankings: Week 12 (02/14-02/20)
NE Hockey Journal: 8 girls MIAA sleeper teams who could make noise in the playoffs
NE Hockey Journal: MIAA D1 girls hockey playoffs 2025: Full schedule, bracket and results
NHL: From the Front Office: Jessica Campbell
PWHL: Charge sign House to Standard Player Agreement
PWHL: Weekly Notebook: Feb. 25, 2025
Star Tribune: Hill-Murray wins Class 2A girls hockey state championship; Dodge County is 1A champ
USCHO: Weekend Wrap February 24, 2025
Must Watch & Hear:
Decision Makers: Cara Morey, Princeton
Jocks in Jills: Games galore (with a little bit of chaos) + Abby Boreen sets it straight
The PodKaz: Ep. 39 – NCAA committee chair Janine Oman describes the selection process, plus a playoffs
The Ride to the Rink: The Ride To The Rink – Pressure is a Privilege with Coach Vinny Malts
Our Kids Play Hockey: The Power of Mental Performance with Coach Vinny Malts
UConn’s Final Push:
UConn won its first Hockey East title last year, ending the regular season with a sweep of Boston University. It felt like déjà vu last weekend as the same two teams faced off in the final weekend — but this time, the Huskies needed a regulation sweep to overtake the Terriers for the No. 1 spot in Hockey East. They did just that.
Freshman forward Sadie Hotles (Markham, Ontario) led the Huskies to a 4-1 win Friday night with two goals and a plus-three rating. The pressure was on Saturday night, but senior goaltender Tia Chan (Hamilton, Ontario) was up to the task, making 33 saves on 34 shots for her 13th win of the season. Chan surpassed 2,000 career saves to help her team secure the top seed.
Scoring Champs Crowned:
Providence junior forward Reichen Kirchmair (Oakville, Ontario) was the Hockey East scoring leader for the season. In the Friars’ final regular season game, Kirchmair tallied three points putting her conference total to 30 points in 27 games. The surge put her ahead of sophomore teammate Audrey Knapp (F, Stevens Point, Wis.), who finished second with 28 points in 27 games.
In the WCHA, graduate forward Casey O’Brien (Milton, Mass) led scoring with 52 points in 28 games. O’Brien also leads the nation in regular season scoring with 72 points in 34 games.
NEWHA also crowned their scoring champ – Post senior forward Julia Wysocki (Argyle, Texas) tallied 26 points in 33 games played. In February, Wysocki became the all-time and single season scoring leader for the Eagles along with most points in program history.
2024-25 Conference Scoring Champions
AHA: Tessa Janecke, Penn State
ECAC Hockey: Issy Wunder, Princeton & Anne Cherkowski, Clarkson
Hockey East: Reichen Kirchmair, Providence
NEWHA: Julia Wysocki, Post
WCHA: Casey O’Brien, Wisconsin
Fit To Print:
“[At] the beginning of the year, we were just of the mindset of we’re just going to take this week-to-week, month-to-month, and just try to build towards this time of the year. And this group bought into that. Now we’re in a spot where those groups before us have kind of led the way, maybe not so much in the amount of wins, but just the character of the group. The amount of texts I’ve already gotten from alumni and people that have come back and just how proud they are of this group so far this year.”
— Union head coach Tony Maci on what the season has meant to Union program and alumni. The Garnet Chargers won their first playoff game upsetting Brown to move to the ECAC quarterfinals. Senior netminder Sophie Matsoukas (Ottawa, Ontario) stopped all 35 shots for her third shutout of the season. The team also rallied in front of her blocking 23 shots enroute of the upset (source: Daily Gazette).
PWHL Note of the Week:
In the sophomore season of the PWHL, roughly 90% of the players are NCAA alumnae. Among the league’s top 20 goal scorers, the NCAA connection is evident:
| 1. | Marie-Philip Poulin | Montreal | Boston University |
| 2. | Hannah Miller | Toronto | St Lawrence |
| 3. | Tereza Vanišová | Ottawa | Maine |
| 4. | Kendall Coyne Schofield | Minnesota | Northeastern |
| 5. | Hilary Knight | Boston | Wisconsin |
| 6. | Michela Cava | Minnesota | Minnesota Duluth, UConn |
| 7. | Susanna Tapani | Boston | North Dakota |
| 8. | Jessie Eldridge | New York | Colgate |
| 9. | Jesse Compher | Toronto | Wisconsin, Boston University |
| 10. | Alex Carpenter | New York | Boston College |
| 11. | Sarah Fillier | New York | Princeton |
| 12. | Daryl Watts | Toronto | Wisconsin, Boston College |
| 13. | Emily Clark | Ottawa | Wisconsin |
| 14. | Abby Boreen | Montreal | Minnesota |
| 15. | Britta Curl-Salemme | Minnesota | Wisconsin |
| 16. | Alina Müller | Boston | Northeastern |
| 17. | Sarah Nurse | Toronto | Wisconsin |
| 18. | Megan Keller | Boston | Boston College |
| 19. | Ella Shelton | New York | Clarkson |
| 20. | Laura Stacey | Montreal | Dartmouth |
To see full PWHL stats, visit here.
Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:
Freshmen goalie Alexsa Caron (Dracut, Mass.) surpassed the 1,000 save mark for the Stonehill Skyhawks … Union upset Brown in the ECAC play in round, marking the first DI playoff win in program history … Minnesota State graduate Jamie Nelson (Andover, Minn.) notched her 100th career point Saturday in the Mavericks win against St. Thomas … Junior D Caroline Harvey (Salem, N.H) set the single-season school record for points by a defender with 50 this weekend as the Badgers swept Bemidji State. Saturday’s win marks the 30th win for the Badgers, the 11th time Wisconsin has won 30 or more games in a season … New Hampshire goalie Noemi Martinez (So., Glen Ridge, N.J.) matched the program record for saves in a game with a 52-save effort in the 1-1 tie against No. 15/13 Boston College …
Postseason Push:
USA Hockey/The Rink Live’s most recent polls, 2/25/2025:
| Rank | Team (First Place) | Last Week’s Rank |
2024-25 Record |
Weeks in Top 20 |
| 1. | University of Wisconsin, 285 (19) | 1 | 31-1-2 | 22 |
| 2. | Ohio State University, 265 | 2 | 25-6-3 | 22 |
| 3. | Cornell University, 241 | 3 | 20-4-5 | 22 |
| 4. | University of Minnesota, 233 | 4 | 25-9-1 | 22 |
| 5. | Colgate University, 206 | 5 | 27-7-0 | 22 |
| 6. | University of Minnesota Duluth, 194 | 6 | 19-13-2 | 22 |
| 7. | St. Lawrence University, 162 | 7 | 19-10-5 | 22 |
| 8. | Penn State University, 146 | 8 | 28-5-1 | 22 |
| 9. | Clarkson University, 127 | 9 | 22-10-2 | 22 |
| 10. | Quinnipiac University, 116 | T-10 | 21-10-4 | 22 |
| 11. | St. Cloud State University, 111 | T-10 | 15-13-6 | 22 |
| 12. | University of Connecticut, 59 | RV | 21-11-2 | 15 |
| 13. | Boston University, 47 | 12 | 21-11-2 | 14 |
| 14. | Princeton University, 37 | 15 | 18-10-2 | 18 |
| 15. | Boston College, 34 | 13 | 20-12-2 | 15 |
| Others Receiving Votes: Northeastern University, 11; Yale University, 3; Mercyhurst University, 1; Minnesota State University, 1; Providence College, 1. | ||||
CONFERENCE WEBSITES
CHA | ECAC | Hockey East | NEWHA | WCHA
Did you know? 97% of NCAA Division I women’s hockey players earn their degree!