(Shoutout to Adam Steinbach and Drew Kohrs for providing a new stash of Stick Taps and Snark photos to use - thanks so much!)
↑ Milestones – Penn State's Tessa Janecke became the first player in program history to reach 100 career assists. Wisconsin's Kirsten Simms scored her 200th career point and KK Harvey scored her 43rd career goal, the most ever by a defender in Badger program history.
↓ Consistency – I've really been struck by how much fluctuation we’ve seen from day to day. A team can pot seven goals and win in a blowout on Friday and then be held fully in check by the same opponent the next day. It’s been difficult to parse who’s an actual good team that will be able to string together wins and who’s just showing flashes of brilliance of what could be in the near future. As a certified fan of Chaos, I'm not at all mad at it, but as someone who’s supposed to be able to talk about these things with some authority, I’d like to admit that I feel like I have no idea what’s going to happen from week to week. It’s certainly fun and will make for a compelling season. It feels like things are really wide open.
↑ Saint Anselm – There may be chaos in the NEWHA below them, but the Hawks could not be more unbothered. They just keep winning while the other top teams have been splitting weekend series and now have an eight point lead with most everyone on the same amount of games. And secondary shoutout to Assumption, who now has sole possession of second place. The volatility we’ve seen so far means that even with the big lead I’m not crowning Saint Anselm yet - they’re definitely in the driver’s seat, but I think this is going to be one of the most fun conferences to keep an eye on down the stretch.
↓ Ottawa – If you’re not already familiar, it’s definitely worth your time to read about what’s going on with the City of Ottawa, the Ottawa Charge and plans for a new arena. The gist is the city is planning to build a new arena and downsize the capacity to around 5,800 seats. That jeopardizes things for the Charge, who were selling out the 8,500 seat TD Place that is going to be replaced. PWHL executives Jayna Hefford and Amy Scheer wrote an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen that helps explain their perspective.
“There’s also a deeper issue those in the business of women’s sport recognize immediately. For years, facilities were designed around men’s schedules and men’s teams. Women were told to make do. And now, just as women’s hockey has earned the right to think bigger, the city is planning to think smaller.”
The Ottawa City Council voted 15-10 to approve the new project as proposed, leaving the Charge to wonder what comes next - including the possibility of relocation.
↑ Northeastern – The Huskies won their seventh-straight conference game to open the Hockey East season, setting a new program record. They're alone atop conference standings by a single point, but have two games in hand over second-place Boston College. They are averaging 3.83 goals scored per game, which is sixth-best in the country. The Huskies have really bounced back this season after finishing fifth last season - their worst conference finish since the 2010-11 season. They’re proving so far that last season was the anomaly and how they’re playing now is exactly what we’ve come to expect from them.
↑ PWHL IS BACK – The regular season kicks off on Friday with Toronto at Minnesota at 6:00 p.m. central. The two expansion teams play at 7:00 p.m. pacific (9:00 central/10:00 eastern) as Seattle visits Vancouver. New York at Ottawa is at 7:00 p.m. eastern on Saturday and Montreal at Boston is at 1:00 eastern on Sunday. You can find the full season schedule here.
