Nicole's NCAA Notebook: December 1, 2025

• I apologize to the folks who played at the DI in DC tournament, but the feed made me motion sick and so I did not get to watch a set of really good games. If any readers have some takeaways from that one to share, please do.
• The feed out of Nashville wasn't much better - I think they were both using automatic/motion sensing cameras, which would whip around pretty quickly. On the one hand, I'm glad there were free feeds for people to watch. On the other, let's do away with those cameras.
• The NPI following this weekend is kind of wild, actually. Penn State, Northeastern, Minnesota State are all higher than they've been being voted in the polls. Holy Cross is a team we haven't talked about AT ALL as a top-15 squad. I didn't expect four Hockey East teams

• This is, more or less, the last week of games until the new year. There are games every day for the rest of this week and a handful of team will play one more weekend and some non-conference games between Christmas and New Year's, but functionally, we're at the midpoint of the season with the last full slate of games until January 2.
• The unexpected results continued this week, including an 8-0 win over Clarkson by Ohio State, Vermont defeating Cornell, St. Cloud beating Colgate in overtime, Providence and UNH taking down Brown ...
• Basically I've never felt less equipped to predict the outcomes week to week. I love that nothing and no one feel safe. Fans outside Wisconsin and Ohio have been looking for some shakeups and for the NCAA Tournament to feature new teams and not feel de facto. I don't know if we're there yet, but it sure feels like it because it feels like everyone is beatable, particularly in one-and-done situations.
• I think we can all agree that the situation in Nashville this weekend was less than ideal. I'm not sure what anyone takes away from a game like Wisconsin's 17-2 win over Stonehill or why both teams had to travel over the holidays for the pleasure. I'm not sure what the answer is - I mean, I've heard from players before that getting blown out is a better experience than knowing your opponent just stopped trying.
• On the other hand, the lineup for DI in DC was spectacular and though Ohio State had a couple of big wins, ultimately four ranked teams from different conferences playing each other is exactly what we want out of tournaments like this.
• As mentioned above, I didn't spend a lot of time watching the Smashville Showcase, but I do want to point out that Wisconsin D KK Harvey not only set a new record for points by a defensewoman in the WCHA, but now leads the country in points with 37. Amazingly, she had just nine goals, but has been an absolutely wicked playmaker, putting up 28 assists so far. I suppose that's not really all that surprising, but I just want to take a moment to say that people should really be watching Harvey closely. If you didn't already know, she's the best young defender in the world thanks to her speed, her instincts, her ability to close and pinch and fearlessness in front of the puck. That's been evident in her game since she started with Team USA and Wisconsin. But the part of her game that has really grown and matured is her playmaking. Yes, she's still a threat all on her own. But she's most dangerous with the puck on her stick as she enters the zone or sets things up from up top. She sees the game in a way I'm not sure any of us can comprehend and she uses her clean skating to changes angles, open up passing lanes, draw the defense and generally open up the ice for her teammates. And she has the hands to place a pass and set up her teammates perfectly. Yes, that's fawning, but it's also all correct and I feel like people take for granted how easy it is to watch a truly generational talent play week in and week out.
• Goals of the week:

The moves from Ashley Allard for Connecticut

Danika Botterill with the drag and snipe for New Hampshire

Kiara Kraft's turn and shoot for Providence

Vermont's Ashley Kokavec shows why coaches are always telling players to put pucks on net

There were plenty of Ava Thomas highlights to choose from this weekend.

Sofianna Sundelin did it all on her own this game, scoring all of her team's goals, including the overtime game-winner