The good and the bad from the past week in women's hockey
↑ St. Michael's wins! – If you're new to following women's college hockey, you might not understand the importance of the Purple Knights' 1-0 win over Post on Saturday, but I promise you it was big. St. Michael's did not win a game last season. They were 0-35-1. Their last win (one of just two that season) came on February 24, 2022. That's 961 days between wins, or more than two years and seven months. There's a new staff in charge this season and it's exciting to see a win already. And congrats to Julia Chedel on scoring the team's only goal to give them the 1-0 win.
↓ Poll voting – Polls are subjective and don't really matter at the end of the day and it was a weird situation at the end of this weekend's game, but still I'm not sure I can wrap my head around the voting that moved Minnesota Duluth down to fifth after losing games to a team ranked above them in the standings. I'm sure it's an argument about them being 3-3, but they have two wins over the then No. 1 and one over then No. 7. Their losses are to the No. 1 and No. 7 teams. I know it'll all likely shake out correctly as more games are played, but I was truly surprised when the polls were released this week.
↑ Milestones – Ohio State's win on Friday was coach Nadine Muzerall's 200th on the bench. Colgate goalie Hannah Murphy earned her 50th career win with a victory over RIT on Friday. And on Saturday, St. Lawrence's Anna Segedi scored a late game-winner to earn her 100th career point.
↓ Colgate – It's been a bumpy start to the season for the Raiders, who were a Frozen Four team last season and have played in the last four NCAA Tournaments. A split with UMD was an expected outcome, but losses to two AHA teams in Mercyhurst and AHA are uncharacteristic and (no offense to those two teams) really surprising. Saturday's loss to RIT dropped the Raiders in the rankings. They're still scoring three goals a game but have to be stronger on defense, we're they're averaging 2.7 goals allowed per game.
↑ ↓ Wisconsin power play/Minnesota Duluth penalty kill – Kudos to UMD for holding UW to 3-for-10 on the power play because the Badgers' top PP unit is KK Harvey, Laila Edwards, Kirsten Simms, Lacey Eden and Casey O'Brien. That's two Olympic silver medalists, two World Championship gold medalists, four World Championship silver medalists, the last two USA Hockey Bob Allen Women's Player of the Year and two of last season's Patty Kazmaier top three finalists. Watching them move through the zone, pass the puck and unleash shots is something to see.
↑ Woho Bets – Harvard goaltending coach and Wisconsin alumna Cami Kronish posted a picture on Instagram stories today of the Crimson's head coach and UMD alumna Laura Bellamy in Kronish's Badger jersey, complete with Frozen Four patch from Duluth. Kronish's Badgers swept Bellamy's Bulldogs last weekend.
That's on the heels of NY Sirens' Abby Roque and Minnesota Frost's Taylor Heise of the PWHL making a be via Instagram stories over the results of the WNBA Finals between the NY Liberty and Minnesota Lynx. That series is currently tied 1-1. Loser will have to wear the winning WNBA teams' gear walking into a game. Heise has posted pics of herself and Grace Zumwinkle at many of the Lynx postseason games in Minneapolis while Roque has posted pictures and videos at Liberty watch events.
↑↓↓ PWHL Training camp rosters released/Sarah Fillier unsigned/still no schedule – PWHL training camp roster were released on Friday and 155 of the 175 women listed on these rosters played NCAA hockey. The biggest news was that Sarah Fillier, the draft's top pick, remains unsigned by New York. Other unsigned draftees include Mannon McMahon by Ottawa, Anneke Linser, Lauren Bernard and Noemi Neubauerová by Toronto, Shay Maloney, Ilona Markova and Hadley Hartmetz by Boston, Katy Knoll, Brooke McQuigge, Dominique Petrie and Mae Batherson by Minnesota, Emmy Fecteau, Elle Hartje, Gabby Rosenthal and Ally Simpson by New York and Abigail Boreen, Dara Greig, Anna Kjellbin and Anna Wilgren by Montréal.
And while training camp is a good sign, it feels crazy that we still don't actually know when this season will start.
