↑ Connecticut junior Ellie Markakis – After no points in her first two years, she has three goals and an assist in the first 10 games of this season, including a goal in each of Connecticut’s wins over Boston College this past weekend.
↓ PWHL's timing – I just really, really want the PWHL to be a little more situationally aware of what’s happening in women’s hockey at any given moment. It feels like they just think they’re above everything else and so don’t have to take it into account. Today’s team brand drops came at the exact same time as puck drop of two Women’s World championship games and a day where there are four games total. Worlds only lasts 10 or so days overall, so it’s a specific choice to drop this week as it is - and I don’t mind tying into the momentum of the tournament. But there are a few off days and a few days where there are just two games that day - yesterday, for instance, there were two games and they didn’t start until 1 pm eastern. Why drop today at the same time as two games?
To me this is the other side of the same coin where the PWHL has scheduled things over and on top of key NCAA games, but not ever partnered with or scheduled alongside them. There should have been a PWHL home game scheduled for a nearby team at both the 2025 (Minnesota) and 2024 (Frozen Four at University of New Hampshire). The PWHL has three games scheduled for Sunday, March 21 including a Takeover Tour stop. That was scheduled to be the day of the NCAA Championship game and the schedule was made knowing this. The NCAA has since moved the Frozen Four so that the 21st will be the semifinals and the finals are March 23, so I guess it’s good that the overlap is now on semifinal day instead of championship day, but like, it’s also just all bad. Why would they do this?
Not to put the me in “media” but I think they also forget that few places have a dedicated women’s hockey writer or team beat writer and that the person who covers their news is also likely covering Worlds, for example. There have just been so many instances of information dropping with little to no lead time, press conferences scheduled with short notice and generally a lack of understanding or compassion about what the women’s sports media landscape looks like.
↑ Milestones – Apologies for forgetting to share last week that Ava Lindsay reached 100 points with Minnesota. This week, Cass Turner earned her 250th coaching win.
↓ Czechia Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Minister of Foreign Affairs Petr Macinka – He made some unprompted sexist remarks on Monday when talking about whether or not the country will allow Russia to compete at the U18 Women's World Championships Czechia is set to host in January, calling hockey a man's sport, among other things. I'll allow that I've seen different translations for what he said about the female Russian players, so it may not have been a slur, specifically, but it was still derogatory, hateful and bigoted. The backlash from not just the Czech women's team, but Czech NHL players and others was swift. He has of course issued an apology because the government has PR people, but color me skeptical. My bluesky post below is a whole thread, if you want to know more.
The deputy prime minister of Czechia went on TV today to talk about Russia being readmitted to the IIHF in particular bc Czechia is set to host the U18 Women's World Championship in January And unprompted he said a whole lot of sexist and transphobic bullshit
— Nicole Haase (@nicolehaase.bsky.social) 2026-11-08T16:37:18.489Z
↑ Collegians and commits at Worlds – Through 10 games at the World Championships, NCAA players have been on fire. There have been a total of 52 goals and 74 assists tallied. Current players or those committed to an NCAA DI program have been responsible for 11 goals and 15 assists.
(Photo: Mariah Hewines on Unsplash)
