Stick Taps and Snark - October 8, 2024

The good and the bad from the past weekend in women's DI college hockey.

↑ Stellar school communications – Since I was so rough on UConn last week, I want to make sure to highlight how Sacred Heart handled a change in streaming. It's all I was asking for.

↓ The use of "defenseman" and "too many men" during the ESPNU broadcast of the Wisconsin at Boston College game – To be fair, I knew this was inevitable with A. J. Mleczko and John Buccigross on the call. As soon as it was announced I said that I was going to keep a running tally of how many times one of them used "man" when a non-gendered word could easily be used instead. I got distracted by other games at times, but still had more than a dozen marks in my notebook, plus the mention of at least two hockey dads. ( DL stick taps to the folks I've noticed working to make this change. It's been noticed and appreciated)

↑ This dance - on skates - by BU's Ani FitzGerald – I don't know the context but I do know I may have sprained an ankle just watching this. I'm so impressed.

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↓ Any hope of clarity – After a weekend of ranked non-conference games, this week's USCHO poll is ... exactly the same as last week's was.

↑ Milestones – St. Cloud State's Emma Gentry scored the game-winner on Friday. It was also her 50th goal and her 75th point. With a goal and two assists on Saturday, Wisconsin's Casey O'Brien surpassed 200 career points.

↓ The Gopher offense on Friday – This is admittedly nitpicky considering Minnesota swept the weekend and it's possible the only thing we'll remember about this weekend come February is Abbey Murphy's penalty shot - but it's also possible we'll look back at the way they started Friday's game and see it as a sign of things to come. At just about the midpoint of the game, shots were 7-1 in favor of the Gophers. They're a team with far too many scoring threats across both the offense and defense to have struggled as much as they did. Last season Murphy carried the team offensively and this year's roster was supposed to help solve that problem. Minnesota escaped with a win on Friday

↑ Ohio State captain Jenna Buglioni – The Buckeyes went into overtime with St. Lawrence on Friday, but Buglioni wasn't about to let the game go any longer than necessary, scoring :07 into the extra frame. She won the faceoff, picked up the puck and then backhanded it into the net. Masterclass.

(Photo: Flickr/Kevin Duffy)