October 8, 2025 • 39 mins
In this week's edition of the PodKaz, a weekly look at NCAA women's hockey from USCHO.com, hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski discuss a change to the IIHF calendar. The Women's World Championship is moving from April to November during the 2026-27 season, so players could be pulled away from their college teams for national team duty.
Nicole and Todd discuss whether enough consideration was given for the developmental path in making an accommodation for the PWHL to not have to disrupt its schedule.
Then it's a look back at last week's play, which saw important sweeps for Ohio State and Minnesota, a split between Clarkson and UConn and another stumble by St. Lawrence against Mercyhurst. Also: Delaware earned the first-year program's first victory.
We wrap up with a look ahead to games between ranked teams: No. 4 Minnesota Duluth at No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 3 Minnesota in a home-and-home series with No. 10 St. Cloud State and No. 14 Boston University at No. 8 Colgate.
The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email todd.milewski@uscho.com.
Nicole and Todd discuss whether enough consideration was given for the developmental path in making an accommodation for the PWHL to not have to disrupt its schedule.
Then it's a look back at last week's play, which saw important sweeps for Ohio State and Minnesota, a split between Clarkson and UConn and another stumble by St. Lawrence against Mercyhurst. Also: Delaware earned the first-year program's first victory.
We wrap up with a look ahead to games between ranked teams: No. 4 Minnesota Duluth at No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 3 Minnesota in a home-and-home series with No. 10 St. Cloud State and No. 14 Boston University at No. 8 Colgate.
The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email todd.milewski@uscho.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Usc CHO dot com. Welcome back to the podcast. My
name is Todd Bluski. I'm here when Nicole Hosey were
from us c HO dot com. Here talk about NCAA
women's hockey. But first we have a little bit of
the grander game of women's hockey to talk about, in
(00:24):
that there's some news coming out over the last week
or so that we want to make sure everyone's up
to and kind of talk about what it means for
NCAA women's hockey. The ILHF and the PWHL revealed in
the last week or so that the World Championship is
moving to November starting next season. It'll be in Denmark
(00:44):
and run from November sixth to sixteenth. And yes, that
is right in the middle of the NCAA women's hockey season,
So Nicole, let's let's start there. That's a it's it's
a time that already was had an international break, but
this is a lot longer than just a weekend or
(01:05):
a week international break. This is gonna disrupt a lot
more of college hockey the way that it looks to
me anyway.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, absolutely, And just so people understand, we're talking IHF
International Ice Hockey Federation. They're the governing body. They put
on the World Championships, the U eighteen World Championships. They
also are, you know, behind their part of putting on
the Olympics. Right, it's sort of the overreaching governing body.
Normally Women's World Championships are in early April, there have
(01:36):
been for the past several years, and they made this decision.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
It appears mostly.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Based on the needs of the PWHL and their season,
and I think the p WHL was probably asking for
this change, But yeah, it does appear that the decision
was made sort of tunnel visioned in on that one
pro league and not really looking at sort of the
greater women's hockey community. You know, you said to me,
(02:02):
you know before we started the the POH everybody's wanted
this one great lead to succeed, and so you can understand, uh,
sort of again in that maybe like kind of neuro
vision why they're that would be prioritized. But you know,
I've been saying for at least ten years at this
point that the the NCAA is the number one developmental
(02:22):
body for women's hockey across the.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
World, and so.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Generally, you know that IHF doesn't really think about the
NCAA or doesn't take them into account. And I like,
on the one hand, I get that. On the other
I just think you can't get over the you can't
ignore the fact that women's hockey on across the board
at an international level isn't as good as it is
without the NCIA. Like you, you don't have players capable
of playing fufilling eight teams and playing in the PWHL
(02:51):
without the NCAA at this point, not at the level
that they're playing at. Like, that's the group that's developing
players for several nations, you know, not the least of
which are us in Canada.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So yeah, it's hard not to look at it. Like
on the other.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Side, it is a tunnel vision of a college, you know,
of college reporters, and so I yeah, you know, you
talked to Mark Johnson and he expressed that he doesn't
love it. But yeah, I mean I don't see it.
It's one of those where it's like I don't see
it changing.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
The IHF.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Is who they are, and you know, I think whatever
decisions they make, they think they are the best. There's
specific word chosen there for a reason, and I just think, yeah,
it feels like there's a lot of things and a
lot of changes that are happening that everybody else is
kind of heading to shoehorn into. And I feel like
(03:51):
at some point we have to reach like sort of
critical mass on that, right maybe, but like we're all
everything has been every It feels like every women's hockey
decision has hinged on what the PWHL needs and wants,
and I just wonder where where the critical mass of
that maybe comes in.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I think when you look at it from a perspective
of the stakeholders that are involved, the IH or double
HF has a you know, they have a tournament to
put on, or tournaments to put on because it's multiple levels,
but we're really talking about the top level one A
or whatever they call it. Division one. I forget what
(04:32):
all the the letters number combination is there, but it's
they have theirs. The PWHL now has entered with a
desire to not stop their season in April before the
playoffs and basically shut down because their best players are
going to be gone for this ten days, two weeks,
(04:54):
well really longer than that, because you're going to have
a little bit of a camp before that. I would
imagine most so the federations would. So I understand that,
you know, that's some valuable time when you get towards
the end of the season, that's you know, when you're
starting to be in the spotlight. You want you want
your fans to be able to have a continuous season.
(05:16):
So breaking it up and like we saw last year,
I mean, it was okay, it worked, but it definitely
seemed like that was not their preferred avenue. And and
really then it comes down to does college does NCAA
Hockey have any voice in this decision? I would guess not,
(05:37):
because this is a decision that's going to affect them.
But from at least the you know, the all time
winningest women's hockey coach perspective, who you would imagine it
has ties in with USA Hockey pretty strong. If he
thinks it's a bad idea, I would imagine a lot
of people around hockey are not thrilled with this. Around
(06:01):
college hoge, you're not thrilled with the way this is
shaken out.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And you're talking an IHF decision made I assume in
tandem with other national federations, and at this point that
at least US and Canada hockey federations are inextricably tied
with the PWHL like those two. You have sort of
(06:28):
board members on pro teams and on the hockey Federation
like those those interests are being represented. And I don't
know that anybody from the NCAA and and you know,
we could you can probably have a whole separate side
argument and if they should, But yeah, I think it's
very clear that the decision was made here with sort
(06:49):
of one train of thought in mind and sort of
the larger implications or who could or would be affected
were wasn't necessarily on the table or have had their
interests represented or or was talked about maybe even at all.
So it is I think possibly two women's talking overalls
(07:12):
detriment and not to have sort of, as I said,
like tunnel vision done to this one thing, which is
like we have this pro league and how do we
work that in and their interests are the ones that
are sort of their best interest is what being kept
at heart sort of maybe to the exclusion of other stuff.
So yeah, I think that's that's probably pretty fair to say,
(07:33):
maybe taking a step path for people who aren't super familiar.
The IHF puts out all of these tournaments, so there
are only certain windows available for the Women's World Championship
to be had in, and this November window was open.
So that April window that it was in that was theirs,
because there's tournaments that happened before and after that elsewhere
on IHS calendar, whether it's men's, whether it's different levels
(07:55):
of top tier, all the way down. So part of
it you can't just say, like, well, then why don't
they hold it in January? Whatever it is that those
opportunities aren't open. The calendar isn't wide open to us.
This November slot was available. We found out basically that
this was available to women's hockey with the last Olympic
cycle when they and some of the COVID stuff, when
(08:15):
we were trying to find other ways to make sure
the tournaments got played, and so I think ever since
they played once in November, it was like, well, maybe
maybe this is the answer. So just if people aren't
super familiar with IHF sort of behind the scenes, that's
that's why we're talking about it. It kind of has
to be that April or November those are the two
options because those are the open spots in the calendar.
(08:37):
Available to the women's Senior World Championships.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah, I don't. It's yeah, it's just it's not great
for the NCAA.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I can try and take a step back and see
it as good for women's hockey. But Novembers there's so
much happening. You're talking right before the holiday. So in
terms of like fan interest and the ability to maybe
travel and go to these things, that makes it much harder,
you know, for me, like I try to go to both.
I try to go to the U eighteens and Women's
(09:06):
Worlds because they are four months apart and that allows
that now they're not and I can't imagine that I'll
much be able to go to a senior World Championship
because of my commitment to the U eighteen World Championship
at the beginning of January. But I one thing completely
unterlyated what I just said. But what I was thinking
about when you were saying that is one thing that
I've discovered in sort of like reading on social media
(09:27):
or like maybe going looking at the PWHL read it
is there's a ton of PWHL fans that were are
brand new to women's hockey, like they have no affiliation
to the NCAAA.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
They don't even have.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Affiliation to like Olympics or federations or international teams. Like,
there were brand new NHL fans that were genuinely annoyed that,
like they're like, what is this tournament that they're taking
time off for April? Like the World Championships just weren't
even on their radar. So I do think that's just
interesting to note and maybe think about in terms of, like,
we are so inside hockey right here that like, to us,
(09:59):
this is like about all these details. But like for
a good core of Pohl fans, they are they're brand
new to the sport, They're brand new to all of this,
and so they just were like that, this is so
stupid that we're losing players to a World championship. Why
would they do that because they don't have any of
the history. They don't understand that until five years ago,
like that was the only thing any of these players
(10:20):
could play for every four year, you know, more than
every four years and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So I think there's probably a.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Consideration to understanding that maybe the global fan or the
North American women's hockey fan isn't just is it someone
that's willing to watch literally any women's hockey that we
can find a stream for, like you know some of
us that goes. So I do imagine that is part
of the consideration too, is that like growing it isn't
just about like sort of this one one narrow thought process,
(10:49):
but sort of gaining wider fandom and like November is
less busy in terms of other sports happening and other
things that they are competing with for people's attention.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I will say that I don't I think that NCAA
hockey is going to be fine. It's gonna it'll go on.
It'll you know, we'll see teams that take a break
that have that November weekend off anyway, they'll continue to
do that. Uh, We're gonna see that college hockey is
going to get through this February, this January, and February
(11:30):
of the Olympics this season. It's just a little bit
of a you know, the reaction I had at first
was just kind of a really like this is is
this the especially when I was presented as being a
and I want to get this out of the the
(11:50):
press release that went out, it was it was presented
as a growing the women's game, and I think that's
that's true in part. I understand that, but it globally,
and we're talking globally, not necessarily geographically, but all the
levels we're talking about. Doesn't necessarily hit on that promise
(12:11):
when you're when you're disadvantaging nca hockey for UH to
move this to a different part of the calendar, and
I think we're going to have to just see how
it goes once to know what the full extent is.
I mean, USA and Canada they don't necessarily need to
bring in college players for the World Championship. They do,
(12:34):
but they probably don't.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Just because the current coaching US coaching staff right is
high on bringing in a ton of players doesn't mean
that's I mean, that's not how it's always been.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
A lot of the other federations do need to and
will need to take players for Are we talking three weeks,
four weeks, two and a half weeks. I'm not totally
sure what that that length of time is going to be,
but UH, it's gonna be something that we're gonna have
to see how it shakes out and how much of
(13:05):
a disruption it makes to the college game before we
know for sure, I guess what, I guess how much
to overreact. I'm sure there's a little bit of overreacting
going on here, but I don't know how much well.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I mean, my thought is that like as kind of
feels like nobody is thinking or representing the interests of
the NCAA game here. So I feel like that's the
conversation we're having.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Is like.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
When I say critical, I feel like there's got to
be a point where somebody involved with NCAA women's college hockey,
whether that is commissioners, whether that's at the nca level,
like starts pushing for having a voice in this conversation.
And I think that Listen, I've got plenty of problems
with the NCAA is an entity, and we've got there
are plenty of side conversations that could be had. But
(13:56):
I just you cannot deny that that every federal that
the i HF, that every at every level of women's
international ice hockey uses the NCAA as a free development
tool for their players, for their federations, for their countries.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
They're just there, aren't.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Most of the federations don't have the resources or any
of those things to be to regularly developing talent in
their own countries, where Chechia is an internationally relevant metal
contender because their players started coming and playing in the US.
There's just you like, that's that's not a that's a
(14:38):
verifiable statement, Like you cannot deny that. And so it's
not just that federations are sending players here, but they're
seeing results because of it. And so when that is
the case, I think it is probably irresponsible and probably
a little bit I don't know the but like a
little bit of a poke in the nose, shot in
(15:00):
the slap in the face to just completely ignore the
interests of the NCAA and what effects you could have
on it. You know, not centralizing had a huge fact
on the is going to have a huge effect on
the NCAA this year. I think the Olympics is such
a big deal that no university is going to deny
their players that opportunity. But now you're adding onto that
(15:22):
with this world in November, and honestly probably means interrupting
either summer or like the stuff at the beginning of
the years you're heading into it, Like the three weeks
in November. Isn't the only time those teams are gonna
want their players now, right, like there's gonna be so
I just think that there's probably gotta be some balance
that's coming, and at some point I think they'll have
(15:43):
there'll be a tipping point that there needs to be
more conversation ad or there needs to be a representative
or I don't know, I don't know how you want
to say it or look at it, you know, I
don't know, like does the SDHL does Does Sweden's federation
represent the interests of the SDHLA. I would imagine so
they're pretty well, But like where where is all of
that coming from? Because I think it just the nature
(16:05):
of the PWHL and everybody wanting that lead to get
off the ground meant that both federations are just super involved,
and that people who serve at high levels on coaching
stabs and boards at both the us USA Hockey and
Hockey Canada are super involved with different roles within the
PWHL and so just necessarily and like how it came
(16:27):
about those those and just overlap and intertwine with each other,
and so yeah, I don't know. I mean, I maybe
I'm just talking myself in circles, but it just feels
like there there, there's going to become a point, a
tipping point where this conversation, like they're forcing a conversation
or some demands from the NCAA. I think, and you know,
(16:48):
nca teams don't have to be taking the international students.
Like international students certainly help many of these teams be better,
but at some point, does like the NCAA decide that
it's not worth or does a team decide that it's
not worth losing half their players for a bunch of
you know, like again he said, we're catastrophizing to some extent,
but it feels like there has to be there's going
(17:10):
to be consequences of all of this at some point.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Right well, I guarantee you that that is not the
last words we will have on the subject as time
goes on. But for right now, we're going to move on.
We're going to take a break, and then we were
going to come back and look back at last week
a bunch of games that were really interesting and we
will get into them when the podcast returns. Welcome back
(17:38):
to the podcast, Todd Bluski and Nicole Hasey here to
look back at last weekend's games. I feel like we're
getting into a nice rhythm of games involving ranked teams
against each other non conference or in conference, and that's
continuing this coming weekend, which we'll get into a little while.
But last weekend as well, we had a bunch of
games with ranked teams on both ends. The first one,
(18:03):
first series I want to check in on, was Ohio
State at Colgate. Ohio State gets a couple of wins there,
five to three on Friday and then a nine to
four win on Saturday to take a couple of road
winds that are going to look pretty good on their resume.
It does feel like Ohio State's getting contributions offensively from
(18:26):
a number of people so far. It's not just the
joy Dune Show. I can't see if I can say
Joy Dune Show for them. It's it's a bunch of
people who were involved. And I think that that bodes
well for the Buckeyes.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, absolutely, And I think just you know, it's the
names that I talked about in the previews, right, some
of their their international players. That five to three win,
they had two goals from mer Yu Nucker held us
fence and had to assist. Yet Roundeo had to as
like that that line and that group of players is
going to be really impactful. I think too, those were
(19:07):
closer games to a point for Colgate than many the
needy the scores indicate like Colgate had it felt like
was really pushing in Ohio State, and I was like,
this is going to be interesting. And an Ohio State
railed off six goals in like thirteen minutes going into
in the second period, it was like, oh, you know,
(19:28):
Colgate ties it up like it's a three to three game.
It's going to be really interesting. And then man, did
did Ohio State just pull away? And several like unassisted
goals like they just they found another level at that
part of the game.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah. One of the things that's coming into mind here
is we're going to get into some more of these series.
But Nicole was just mentioning the non conference records or
the interconference records between the leagues, and this is something
that's on a page on usho dot com. You can
get to it right from the D one women's menu.
You scrolled down to what is it called? It says
(20:01):
interconference then just pulls up a table of how the
conferences are doing against each other, and right now, there
is one conference that has a above five hundred record
in non conference play, and of course that's the w
c h A, which is twenty four to one against
non conference teams. But I mean for there to not
even be an one other conference that that is has
(20:24):
a winning record right now is telling me that that
the the top heavy or the the w c h
A heavy nature of what's going to be the NPI
is probably gonna be pretty strong again this year and
this maybe maybe is the season where there's a fifth
team from the w CHA that finds its way into
(20:47):
the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah that that loan losses sink Cloud at yukon one
goal loss, So uh yeah, I agree. I mean, you see,
see is close to five, right, they're eleven twelve and one.
But yeah, it's a there's gonna be a whole lot
of quality wind bonus points and boosts that come out
of the w c teams playing each other. Like I mean,
(21:11):
this is it's twenty five games, you know, it's not
like it's a it's a small I mean, I know
it's only been a couple of weekends, but yeah, twenty
four and one for the WCJ it's it's kind of
like the numbers don't lie, right, Yep.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Absolutely. Hockey East ECAC matchup had Clarkson playing at Yukon
last week. Clarkson got a two nothing win in the
opener Holly Gruber with twenty four saves there, but Yukon
came back to split the series with a three to
two win, Brook Campbell a goal and two assists and
Tia Chan making thirty seven saves to get the split there.
(21:44):
And that's a The first one was really important for
Clarkson to get back on the win column or in
the win column. And then the next day Yukon showed
what it's made of and came right back and got
it self back going again. And that's you can say,
(22:05):
both those are really important for each team. But I
know Clarkson would have loved to have a two win
weekend coming out of out of that, Like all.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Of the props to Yukon who were out shot nineteen
to zero in the third frame and doubled up on
shots overall, seriously nineteen to zero in the third and
they held on for the win, Like that's just an
amazing defensive and goaltending performance from the Huskies and got
their coach there is two hundred three wins. So yeah,
(22:37):
that's a huge boost for Yukon. I think even though
they're two split series for the Huskies the last two weekends,
they have to be coming out of them with so
much confidence and just that ability to know that you
can play with teams at the highest level is sort
of you can't get that elsewhere. And like, I just
I think Yukon really proved themselves over the last two
(22:59):
week kends.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And speaking of teams playing at the highest level, there's
Minnesota right now, which keeps going. Uh. You know, Abby
Murphy scores four goals and in the first weekend or
the weekend before is like, yeah, no, not good enough.
Five this this weekend.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
To nine goals, fifteen points.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Not bad for Abby Murphy to start the season. Here,
Minnesota sweeps at BU five nothing and five two. Hannah
Clark got the shutout on Friday and that one, and
that's a it just keeps rolling on for Minnesota here.
That's a a team that's looking pretty formidable through the
(23:38):
first few weeks of the season.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
That's putting it lightly right.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, I just she's evertured three point seven to five
points per game. Like, I get that that's going to
go down, but I just like that is unfathomable. There
are only three other players with more than two points
per game. Yeah, so I just want to point out,
like there are five players of the country that are
averaging two or more points per game. We've got two
(24:04):
or Chris person Sims with two points per game. Ava
Lindsay also from Minnesota, thanks to the ninases that she
has probably all on Abby Murphy goals at two point
twenty five, Jessica McKinnon from Robert Morris at two point five,
and Amy Murphy at three points seventy five points per game.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I feel like we're going to be looking at the
points per game a lot more than we ever have
in the past, just because of some of these players
are not going to be playing every year where they're
going to be out for whatever ten games it is
in February. So when we're looking towards awards season, that
point per game and goal per game count is is
(24:40):
probably going to be a little bit more valuable than
maybe it has in the past. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Absolutely, I agree. That's a really good point.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I mean, I think often we tend to get caught
up on the point totals, but that's going to be
be much more interesting and just quite frankly, it's such
a huge number that like it's going to take a
lot to just like dilute that right, Like she would
have to have several very poor games, which we just
know she's not gonna. What's interesting to me is only
one of those is a power play goal. He wants
an empty network goal.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
So yeah, they are.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I mean, I think we kind of all knew that
looking at their roster and what they were capable of,
But this has got to be the most interesting and
impressive the Gophers have looked in quite a few seasons.
This feels like Gophers of old Gophers of early two thousands, yep,
early to mid two thousands.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah. We had mentioned last week Saint Lawrence needed to
get back going after a tough weekend, and they did
not right away. They lost one nothing to Mercyhurst last Friday.
Julia Perehu's game winning goal early in the first period,
three and a half minutes into the game. Then Magdalena
Luggin twenty five saves. I hope I'm saying that right.
(25:47):
I apologize if I'm not for the shutout for Mercy Heers,
but Saint Lawrence came back with a three nothing win
to split the series. I'm a Sophie Nordstrom with twenty
four saves in that one, that the bouncing up and
down for Saint Lawrence is not gonna do well. That's
that's something that I think we're gonna uh, you know,
(26:08):
we're going to see where they're impacted in the NPI
and the long run for a couple of these losses.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Yeah, i'd agree. I think they're you know, they're going
to see see that come back to haunt them a
little as as things go on, I think. But also,
you know, shout out to Mercy Hurst, who you know,
played the loss of Minnisota to lose in overtime the
very first game in the weekend of the season and
now get splitting this series like they're they're making a point.
(26:37):
I think they play at Penn State this coming weekend,
and I think that will be I'm sorry and no, yes, Friday.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Anyway, I think that'll be really chilling.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yes, I've known, sorry, it'll be really telling serious in
terms of I think that they've made a statement about
like we're a team we're paying attention to and this
isn't Penn State to run away with, but when they
go to head to head is obviously the most important.
And so just yeah, I think I think it'll be
interesting because I feel like theyve mercy Hurst has made
(27:08):
some pretty solid points in their own favor in these
opening weekend games, these opening weekends games.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Last game to mention is a first Delaware getting a
two to one win over Holy Cross on Sunday. Delaware
out shot fifty to eleven in that game, with Charlotte
Payne forty nine saves made twenty stop twenty of twenty
in the third period to lock that down after Caitlyn
Charlton gave the Blue Hens the lead with the powerplay
(27:36):
goal in the second period. So congratulations to Delaware getting
that one in the win column.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
So amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
It's just yeah, four games in it, they've got to win.
That's such good things for their program and where they
can go next.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Absolutely. Okay, we're going to take another quick break and
when we'll come back, we're going to look ahead to
what's coming up this weekend. Stay with us on the podcast.
Back with the final segment of this week's podcast, Todd
Maleski and Nicole Hasey to talk about what's coming up
(28:13):
this weekend, and we have our I believe, our first
top five series of the season. Maybe it seems like
it should be Wisconsin number one at or sorry, Wisconsin
number one host and Minnesota Luth the number four team
in the country at labon Arena Saturday and Sunday, and
the first real big test for both of these seems
(28:36):
in reality, I've gone through some well. Wisconsin's opened up
WHGA play already, but also had a non conference series
against Maine last week. They have three straight five nothing wins.
Dluth has looked pretty good in its non conference schedule
so far. Let's see what happens is kind of the
way I'm looking at it. But there's also the interesting
(29:00):
wrinkle of this week being one of the national team
camp weeks, and so players will be back, but how
much will they have been worked this whole week when
they've been in those national camps. That's that's the unknown
for me going into this series.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, and then at the additional wrinkle that we play
at eleven am on Saturday, a very busy sports weekend
all Saturdays. Yeah, so it's not like they even get
that whole like extra eight hours to recover into like
a seven pm g Like we're having some brunch hockey
in Madison this weekend, and yeah, I this is all
(29:38):
of our questions that we've had about what camps look
like and what it looks like for the teams, Like
we're going to see some of those answers uh this weekend.
And so yeah, I think it's just something to keep
an eye on. I mean, for me, one of the
big keys I think will be Minnesota to loose defense.
You know, I thought they looked a little looser than
I'd have expected in their first weekend. I thought they
(29:59):
looked better in their second weekend. But this is a
huge test. You know, it's just Wisconsin. Even if even
if their top line or there's six Olympians or I
guess five skaters don't play or don't or play limited minutes,
you're still talking like their number three line is still
a really like it's a heavy line that's going to
(30:21):
score goals all season long, and so there's not really
a lot of rest for an opponent. So yeah, for me,
the thing that I'll be watching is Minnesota to loose defense,
just because I thought that that was going to be
a strong suit that and the goaltending. And you know,
as we said when it happened, I'm not going to
hold things that happened in the first weekend against.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Them, but it does.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
It sort of just raises that antenna like it's a
thing to watch out for and see see how they
handle that.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Here. Wisconsin always wants puck possession and they're usually pretty
good at it. Uh the Lutha is one of those
teams that can challenge that though, and I think that's
that's for me is something to keep an eye on
this weekend, is can the lout this rubbed a lot
of those passing lanes and get in the way and
just not let players have the free run up the
ice to to make you know, even if they don't
(31:08):
get a scoring chance, to get zone time and just
kind of make it more difficult the defending just from
a sheer amount of time you're in your own zone.
We've seen where de Luths has you know, really limited
that in the last couple of years, and so that
that could be a really key factor. You've got two
of the best goalies in the game on on either
(31:29):
side here, I've got scoing for Duluth and McNaughton for Wisconsin,
they were they traded off some of the national awards
in reality last year and for for goalies, So that's
that's another part of it. Yeah, should just be a
really really compelling test for both of those teams. Or
(31:51):
as we get into the you know, the more uh
in into the the the middle of October, you start
to see where things are really starting to shake out
a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Right, Yeah, you can't sort of chuck it up to
early season stuff anymore. I think another interesting point is that,
I think to your point of possession is Minnesota Duluth
I think is just a much better offensive team this
season than maybe they've had in the past couple years,
just sort of a more complete and and as opposed
to sort of rushes in the ability to score that way,
I think that they have an offense that is more
(32:24):
capable of possessing the puck in the zone on their
end more than we've seen in the past. And so
how does that How does Wisconsin handle that because teams
generally can't do that very well against them, And also
just how do they like that transition? Transition was so
huge for Wisconsin last year obviously a lot of that
was led by the speed of Casey O'Brien. So now
(32:45):
when we're seeing a team we're like being able to
step up, pick off a puck and go down the ice,
Like what does that look like with a daily shep
of chef of lavova in as the center. So yeah,
I just think there's there's a lot of things that
we should be able to see sort of more clearly.
But also I you know, I thought Maine gave Wisconsin
(33:05):
some trouble and like they came out with the five
a win, but much when we talked about like and
I don't mean this to appease the opponents, you know,
like we were talking about this with BC, Like that
final score I feel doesn't tell the whole story of
of I like Maine, particularly in that first game, really
gave Wisconsin some trouble. It took them a little while
to sort of undo those not and figure out what
they were going to do. And so again, if if
(33:26):
it's not the starters, that's not the top lines, like
can they be patient? Can they can they figure that out?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I was a big fan of after Friday's game. I
believe it's kaya Latin in I don't hope that's the
pronunciation of the main The main goalie stood on her
head a few times, especially on the Wisconsin power plays.
That did a really good job and so that that
was impressive to see. Made a lot of saves over
the weekend, didn't you know, it didn't get much to
(33:56):
show for it. Maine wasn't able to get on the
board but the helper out. But yeah, there was there
was some impress impressive play in the main increase for sure. Also,
I'm sorry, just.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
The improvement of from the main series last time to
this time. I just thought it was I thought there
was a pretty good sort of class and how you
can prefer, you know, differently for a team. And I
think there was probably some things to be learned from
that tape for other players, other teams that are going
to face Wisconsin this year. But I was just impressed
with the improvement in Maine against them from from season
(34:28):
to season as well.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yes, also in the w c h A this weekend
home and home series number three Minnesota and number ten
Saint Cloud State. But I mean we've talked about how
Minnesota has pretty much had the run of things offensively
so far. This will be a pretty good challenge for
(34:53):
Saint Cloud State to to see how they match up
against such a potent offense.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, I mean they have stellar goaltending, which is they're
going to need that, and then yeah, it's how do
you handle that speed? How do you sort of the
same things we're just talking about with like, how do
you break up what they're doing? How do you I
mean the sort of one touch game, the almost soccer
esque one touch game that Minnesota has been able to
play it recently is something that I think teams really
are going to need to prepare for and be willing
(35:21):
to step into those lanes and maybe just disrupt things
a little more, because it was looking far too easy
for Minnesota just to move the puck around and sort
of make their opponents look like they were standing still.
So I think that if there's a defensive team that
can handle it, Saint Cloud is one of them there
at least that has shown in the past the ability
(35:42):
to do that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yep. Back in non conference play, there is a series
between teams that could really use a pick me up,
that being number fourteen Boston University at number eight Colgate.
Those teams both had both suffered sweeps last week to
highly ranked teams. Both need a little, like I said,
(36:04):
a little bit of a pick me up, a little
bit of a bounce back, I'm and so it'll probably
end up in a split. Right, All these things tend
to go is you want those teams both really want
a couple of wins, and makes it really difficult when
they're when they're pretty evenly mashed. Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yes, I think one of the things Colgate and maybe
they didn't anticipate, maybe we didn't all anticipate enough, was
was the loss of their goalie to graduation. And so
I think, you know, as we talked about in the
Hockey East previews that I think scoring is just going
to be at a premium for Hockey East teams. It
just tends not to be that high powered offense. And
(36:42):
so I think, and I say, this is like not
to as a dig on bu but just compared to
Ohio State, who they played last weekend, I think Colgate
could use this opportunity to really find some confidence in
a goaltender and let them sort of get things. When
you're working with a new goaltender in your first two
games against to Higo State, that's a that's a rough
baptism by fire. So just the different style of game
(37:04):
that bu plays and the offense that they have, it
does seem like it could be a good opportunity for
Colgate to just really find that equilibrium and and give.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Some give to their goaltender.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Is a chance to to find some confidence and feel
like they can handle this, because yeah, I think we
talked a lot about, you know, some of the graduation
of the skaters, but it turns out it was a
pretty big deal that they got to start pretty fresh
in net.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Indeed, New HA has a series between Franklin Pearson's Sacred Heart,
Sacred Heart hosting that one. I think that's that's a
couple of teams that you're expecting to be challenging for
the upper spots and so to be playing early in
the season and maybe getting a having one of them
get a get a step above the other could be
(37:51):
really important as we look at it later in the year.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, good for standing's points and also just a good benchmark, right, Like,
I think we'll be able to see where both these
teams are. And it's been a rough start of the
season for new hot teams, and so I think even
just getting you know, seen Anselm I think is the
only one that has their winning records. So just the
ability to get get that winning started and get those
(38:15):
points on the board, I think is going to be
just a huge momentum shift.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Yeah, okay, should be another great weekend. Anything else you're
looking uh looking forward to seeing this weekend or which
games we're going to be paying attention to most.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
I was looking at the North Oh no, I'm sorry
the yeah Northeastern prop p.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
I think Providence is a h in two team that
is better than that that that shows and so. And
I think Northeastern came out with two wins last weekend,
but they were probably closer than they'd imagine with ri
I T and so, I think they're That's just a
good test for both of those two teams, and I
think should give us a little idea of of how
the rest of you know, we're kind of talked about
(38:58):
the top of hockeys, but maybe where that middle part
starts to shake out?
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Right, all right, that's gonna do it for us this week.
For Nicole on Todd, thanks for listening to the podcast.
Usc CHO dot com. Welcome back to the podcast. My
name is Todd Bluski. I'm here when Nicole Hosey were
from us c HO dot com. Here talk about NCAA
women's hockey. But first we have a little bit of
the grander game of women's hockey to talk about, in
(00:24):
that there's some news coming out over the last week
or so that we want to make sure everyone's up
to and kind of talk about what it means for
NCAA women's hockey. The ILHF and the PWHL revealed in
the last week or so that the World Championship is
moving to November starting next season. It'll be in Denmark
(00:44):
and run from November sixth to sixteenth. And yes, that
is right in the middle of the NCAA women's hockey season,
So Nicole, let's let's start there. That's a it's it's
a time that already was had an international break, but
this is a lot longer than just a weekend or
(01:05):
a week international break. This is gonna disrupt a lot
more of college hockey the way that it looks to
me anyway.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, absolutely, And just so people understand, we're talking IHF
International Ice Hockey Federation. They're the governing body. They put
on the World Championships, the U eighteen World Championships. They
also are, you know, behind their part of putting on
the Olympics. Right, it's sort of the overreaching governing body.
Normally Women's World Championships are in early April, there have
(01:36):
been for the past several years, and they made this decision.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
It appears mostly.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Based on the needs of the PWHL and their season,
and I think the p WHL was probably asking for
this change, But yeah, it does appear that the decision
was made sort of tunnel visioned in on that one
pro league and not really looking at sort of the
greater women's hockey community. You know, you said to me,
(02:02):
you know before we started the the POH everybody's wanted
this one great lead to succeed, and so you can understand, uh,
sort of again in that maybe like kind of neuro
vision why they're that would be prioritized. But you know,
I've been saying for at least ten years at this
point that the the NCAA is the number one developmental
(02:22):
body for women's hockey across the.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
World, and so.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Generally, you know that IHF doesn't really think about the
NCAA or doesn't take them into account. And I like,
on the one hand, I get that. On the other
I just think you can't get over the you can't
ignore the fact that women's hockey on across the board
at an international level isn't as good as it is
without the NCIA. Like you, you don't have players capable
of playing fufilling eight teams and playing in the PWHL
(02:51):
without the NCAA at this point, not at the level
that they're playing at. Like, that's the group that's developing
players for several nations, you know, not the least of
which are us in Canada.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So yeah, it's hard not to look at it. Like
on the other.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Side, it is a tunnel vision of a college, you know,
of college reporters, and so I yeah, you know, you
talked to Mark Johnson and he expressed that he doesn't
love it. But yeah, I mean I don't see it.
It's one of those where it's like I don't see
it changing.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
The IHF.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Is who they are, and you know, I think whatever
decisions they make, they think they are the best. There's
specific word chosen there for a reason, and I just think, yeah,
it feels like there's a lot of things and a
lot of changes that are happening that everybody else is
kind of heading to shoehorn into. And I feel like
(03:51):
at some point we have to reach like sort of
critical mass on that, right maybe, but like we're all
everything has been every It feels like every women's hockey
decision has hinged on what the PWHL needs and wants,
and I just wonder where where the critical mass of
that maybe comes in.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I think when you look at it from a perspective
of the stakeholders that are involved, the IH or double
HF has a you know, they have a tournament to
put on, or tournaments to put on because it's multiple levels,
but we're really talking about the top level one A
or whatever they call it. Division one. I forget what
(04:32):
all the the letters number combination is there, but it's
they have theirs. The PWHL now has entered with a
desire to not stop their season in April before the
playoffs and basically shut down because their best players are
going to be gone for this ten days, two weeks,
(04:54):
well really longer than that, because you're going to have
a little bit of a camp before that. I would
imagine most so the federations would. So I understand that,
you know, that's some valuable time when you get towards
the end of the season, that's you know, when you're
starting to be in the spotlight. You want you want
your fans to be able to have a continuous season.
(05:16):
So breaking it up and like we saw last year,
I mean, it was okay, it worked, but it definitely
seemed like that was not their preferred avenue. And and
really then it comes down to does college does NCAA
Hockey have any voice in this decision? I would guess not,
(05:37):
because this is a decision that's going to affect them.
But from at least the you know, the all time
winningest women's hockey coach perspective, who you would imagine it
has ties in with USA Hockey pretty strong. If he
thinks it's a bad idea, I would imagine a lot
of people around hockey are not thrilled with this. Around
(06:01):
college hoge, you're not thrilled with the way this is
shaken out.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And you're talking an IHF decision made I assume in
tandem with other national federations, and at this point that
at least US and Canada hockey federations are inextricably tied
with the PWHL like those two. You have sort of
(06:28):
board members on pro teams and on the hockey Federation
like those those interests are being represented. And I don't
know that anybody from the NCAA and and you know,
we could you can probably have a whole separate side
argument and if they should, But yeah, I think it's
very clear that the decision was made here with sort
(06:49):
of one train of thought in mind and sort of
the larger implications or who could or would be affected
were wasn't necessarily on the table or have had their
interests represented or or was talked about maybe even at all.
So it is I think possibly two women's talking overalls
(07:12):
detriment and not to have sort of, as I said,
like tunnel vision done to this one thing, which is
like we have this pro league and how do we
work that in and their interests are the ones that
are sort of their best interest is what being kept
at heart sort of maybe to the exclusion of other stuff.
So yeah, I think that's that's probably pretty fair to say,
(07:33):
maybe taking a step path for people who aren't super familiar.
The IHF puts out all of these tournaments, so there
are only certain windows available for the Women's World Championship
to be had in, and this November window was open.
So that April window that it was in that was theirs,
because there's tournaments that happened before and after that elsewhere
on IHS calendar, whether it's men's, whether it's different levels
(07:55):
of top tier, all the way down. So part of
it you can't just say, like, well, then why don't
they hold it in January? Whatever it is that those
opportunities aren't open. The calendar isn't wide open to us.
This November slot was available. We found out basically that
this was available to women's hockey with the last Olympic
cycle when they and some of the COVID stuff, when
(08:15):
we were trying to find other ways to make sure
the tournaments got played, and so I think ever since
they played once in November, it was like, well, maybe
maybe this is the answer. So just if people aren't
super familiar with IHF sort of behind the scenes, that's
that's why we're talking about it. It kind of has
to be that April or November those are the two
options because those are the open spots in the calendar.
(08:37):
Available to the women's Senior World Championships.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah, I don't. It's yeah, it's just it's not great
for the NCAA.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I can try and take a step back and see
it as good for women's hockey. But Novembers there's so
much happening. You're talking right before the holiday. So in
terms of like fan interest and the ability to maybe
travel and go to these things, that makes it much harder,
you know, for me, like I try to go to both.
I try to go to the U eighteens and Women's
(09:06):
Worlds because they are four months apart and that allows
that now they're not and I can't imagine that I'll
much be able to go to a senior World Championship
because of my commitment to the U eighteen World Championship
at the beginning of January. But I one thing completely
unterlyated what I just said. But what I was thinking
about when you were saying that is one thing that
I've discovered in sort of like reading on social media
(09:27):
or like maybe going looking at the PWHL read it
is there's a ton of PWHL fans that were are
brand new to women's hockey, like they have no affiliation
to the NCAAA.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
They don't even have.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Affiliation to like Olympics or federations or international teams. Like,
there were brand new NHL fans that were genuinely annoyed that,
like they're like, what is this tournament that they're taking
time off for April? Like the World Championships just weren't
even on their radar. So I do think that's just
interesting to note and maybe think about in terms of, like,
we are so inside hockey right here that like, to us,
(09:59):
this is like about all these details. But like for
a good core of Pohl fans, they are they're brand
new to the sport, They're brand new to all of this,
and so they just were like that, this is so
stupid that we're losing players to a World championship. Why
would they do that because they don't have any of
the history. They don't understand that until five years ago,
like that was the only thing any of these players
(10:20):
could play for every four year, you know, more than
every four years and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
So I think there's probably a.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Consideration to understanding that maybe the global fan or the
North American women's hockey fan isn't just is it someone
that's willing to watch literally any women's hockey that we
can find a stream for, like you know some of
us that goes. So I do imagine that is part
of the consideration too, is that like growing it isn't
just about like sort of this one one narrow thought process,
(10:49):
but sort of gaining wider fandom and like November is
less busy in terms of other sports happening and other
things that they are competing with for people's attention.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I will say that I don't I think that NCAA
hockey is going to be fine. It's gonna it'll go on.
It'll you know, we'll see teams that take a break
that have that November weekend off anyway, they'll continue to
do that. Uh, We're gonna see that college hockey is
going to get through this February, this January, and February
(11:30):
of the Olympics this season. It's just a little bit
of a you know, the reaction I had at first
was just kind of a really like this is is
this the especially when I was presented as being a
and I want to get this out of the the
(11:50):
press release that went out, it was it was presented
as a growing the women's game, and I think that's
that's true in part. I understand that, but it globally,
and we're talking globally, not necessarily geographically, but all the
levels we're talking about. Doesn't necessarily hit on that promise
(12:11):
when you're when you're disadvantaging nca hockey for UH to
move this to a different part of the calendar, and
I think we're going to have to just see how
it goes once to know what the full extent is.
I mean, USA and Canada they don't necessarily need to
bring in college players for the World Championship. They do,
(12:34):
but they probably don't.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Just because the current coaching US coaching staff right is
high on bringing in a ton of players doesn't mean
that's I mean, that's not how it's always been.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
A lot of the other federations do need to and
will need to take players for Are we talking three weeks,
four weeks, two and a half weeks. I'm not totally
sure what that that length of time is going to be,
but UH, it's gonna be something that we're gonna have
to see how it shakes out and how much of
(13:05):
a disruption it makes to the college game before we
know for sure, I guess what, I guess how much
to overreact. I'm sure there's a little bit of overreacting
going on here, but I don't know how much well.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
I mean, my thought is that like as kind of
feels like nobody is thinking or representing the interests of
the NCAA game here. So I feel like that's the
conversation we're having.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Is like.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
When I say critical, I feel like there's got to
be a point where somebody involved with NCAA women's college hockey,
whether that is commissioners, whether that's at the nca level,
like starts pushing for having a voice in this conversation.
And I think that Listen, I've got plenty of problems
with the NCAA is an entity, and we've got there
are plenty of side conversations that could be had. But
(13:56):
I just you cannot deny that that every federal that
the i HF, that every at every level of women's
international ice hockey uses the NCAA as a free development
tool for their players, for their federations, for their countries.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
They're just there, aren't.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Most of the federations don't have the resources or any
of those things to be to regularly developing talent in
their own countries, where Chechia is an internationally relevant metal
contender because their players started coming and playing in the US.
There's just you like, that's that's not a that's a
(14:38):
verifiable statement, Like you cannot deny that. And so it's
not just that federations are sending players here, but they're
seeing results because of it. And so when that is
the case, I think it is probably irresponsible and probably
a little bit I don't know the but like a
little bit of a poke in the nose, shot in
(15:00):
the slap in the face to just completely ignore the
interests of the NCAA and what effects you could have
on it. You know, not centralizing had a huge fact
on the is going to have a huge effect on
the NCAA this year. I think the Olympics is such
a big deal that no university is going to deny
their players that opportunity. But now you're adding onto that
(15:22):
with this world in November, and honestly probably means interrupting
either summer or like the stuff at the beginning of
the years you're heading into it, Like the three weeks
in November. Isn't the only time those teams are gonna
want their players now, right, like there's gonna be so
I just think that there's probably gotta be some balance
that's coming, and at some point I think they'll have
(15:43):
there'll be a tipping point that there needs to be
more conversation ad or there needs to be a representative
or I don't know, I don't know how you want
to say it or look at it, you know, I
don't know, like does the SDHL does Does Sweden's federation
represent the interests of the SDHLA. I would imagine so
they're pretty well, But like where where is all of
that coming from? Because I think it just the nature
(16:05):
of the PWHL and everybody wanting that lead to get
off the ground meant that both federations are just super involved,
and that people who serve at high levels on coaching
stabs and boards at both the us USA Hockey and
Hockey Canada are super involved with different roles within the
PWHL and so just necessarily and like how it came
(16:27):
about those those and just overlap and intertwine with each other,
and so yeah, I don't know. I mean, I maybe
I'm just talking myself in circles, but it just feels
like there there, there's going to become a point, a
tipping point where this conversation, like they're forcing a conversation
or some demands from the NCAA. I think, and you know,
(16:48):
nca teams don't have to be taking the international students.
Like international students certainly help many of these teams be better,
but at some point, does like the NCAA decide that
it's not worth or does a team decide that it's
not worth losing half their players for a bunch of
you know, like again he said, we're catastrophizing to some extent,
but it feels like there has to be there's going
(17:10):
to be consequences of all of this at some point.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Right well, I guarantee you that that is not the
last words we will have on the subject as time
goes on. But for right now, we're going to move on.
We're going to take a break, and then we were
going to come back and look back at last week
a bunch of games that were really interesting and we
will get into them when the podcast returns. Welcome back
(17:38):
to the podcast, Todd Bluski and Nicole Hasey here to
look back at last weekend's games. I feel like we're
getting into a nice rhythm of games involving ranked teams
against each other non conference or in conference, and that's
continuing this coming weekend, which we'll get into a little while.
But last weekend as well, we had a bunch of
games with ranked teams on both ends. The first one,
(18:03):
first series I want to check in on, was Ohio
State at Colgate. Ohio State gets a couple of wins there,
five to three on Friday and then a nine to
four win on Saturday to take a couple of road
winds that are going to look pretty good on their resume.
It does feel like Ohio State's getting contributions offensively from
(18:26):
a number of people so far. It's not just the
joy Dune Show. I can't see if I can say
Joy Dune Show for them. It's it's a bunch of
people who were involved. And I think that that bodes
well for the Buckeyes.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, absolutely, And I think just you know, it's the
names that I talked about in the previews, right, some
of their their international players. That five to three win,
they had two goals from mer Yu Nucker held us
fence and had to assist. Yet Roundeo had to as
like that that line and that group of players is
going to be really impactful. I think too, those were
(19:07):
closer games to a point for Colgate than many the
needy the scores indicate like Colgate had it felt like
was really pushing in Ohio State, and I was like,
this is going to be interesting. And an Ohio State
railed off six goals in like thirteen minutes going into
in the second period, it was like, oh, you know,
(19:28):
Colgate ties it up like it's a three to three game.
It's going to be really interesting. And then man, did
did Ohio State just pull away? And several like unassisted
goals like they just they found another level at that
part of the game.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Yeah. One of the things that's coming into mind here
is we're going to get into some more of these series.
But Nicole was just mentioning the non conference records or
the interconference records between the leagues, and this is something
that's on a page on usho dot com. You can
get to it right from the D one women's menu.
You scrolled down to what is it called? It says
(20:01):
interconference then just pulls up a table of how the
conferences are doing against each other, and right now, there
is one conference that has a above five hundred record
in non conference play, and of course that's the w
c h A, which is twenty four to one against
non conference teams. But I mean for there to not
even be an one other conference that that is has
(20:24):
a winning record right now is telling me that that
the the top heavy or the the w c h
A heavy nature of what's going to be the NPI
is probably gonna be pretty strong again this year and
this maybe maybe is the season where there's a fifth
team from the w CHA that finds its way into
(20:47):
the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah that that loan losses sink Cloud at yukon one
goal loss, So uh yeah, I agree. I mean, you see,
see is close to five, right, they're eleven twelve and one.
But yeah, it's a there's gonna be a whole lot
of quality wind bonus points and boosts that come out
of the w c teams playing each other. Like I mean,
(21:11):
this is it's twenty five games, you know, it's not
like it's a it's a small I mean, I know
it's only been a couple of weekends, but yeah, twenty
four and one for the WCJ it's it's kind of
like the numbers don't lie, right, Yep.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Absolutely. Hockey East ECAC matchup had Clarkson playing at Yukon
last week. Clarkson got a two nothing win in the
opener Holly Gruber with twenty four saves there, but Yukon
came back to split the series with a three to
two win, Brook Campbell a goal and two assists and
Tia Chan making thirty seven saves to get the split there.
(21:44):
And that's a The first one was really important for
Clarkson to get back on the win column or in
the win column. And then the next day Yukon showed
what it's made of and came right back and got
it self back going again. And that's you can say,
(22:05):
both those are really important for each team. But I
know Clarkson would have loved to have a two win
weekend coming out of out of that, Like all.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Of the props to Yukon who were out shot nineteen
to zero in the third frame and doubled up on
shots overall, seriously nineteen to zero in the third and
they held on for the win, Like that's just an
amazing defensive and goaltending performance from the Huskies and got
their coach there is two hundred three wins. So yeah,
(22:37):
that's a huge boost for Yukon. I think even though
they're two split series for the Huskies the last two weekends,
they have to be coming out of them with so
much confidence and just that ability to know that you
can play with teams at the highest level is sort
of you can't get that elsewhere. And like, I just
I think Yukon really proved themselves over the last two
(22:59):
week kends.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
And speaking of teams playing at the highest level, there's
Minnesota right now, which keeps going. Uh. You know, Abby
Murphy scores four goals and in the first weekend or
the weekend before is like, yeah, no, not good enough.
Five this this weekend.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
To nine goals, fifteen points.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Not bad for Abby Murphy to start the season. Here,
Minnesota sweeps at BU five nothing and five two. Hannah
Clark got the shutout on Friday and that one, and
that's a it just keeps rolling on for Minnesota here.
That's a a team that's looking pretty formidable through the
(23:38):
first few weeks of the season.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
That's putting it lightly right.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, I just she's evertured three point seven to five
points per game. Like, I get that that's going to
go down, but I just like that is unfathomable. There
are only three other players with more than two points
per game. Yeah, so I just want to point out,
like there are five players of the country that are
averaging two or more points per game. We've got two
(24:04):
or Chris person Sims with two points per game. Ava
Lindsay also from Minnesota, thanks to the ninases that she
has probably all on Abby Murphy goals at two point
twenty five, Jessica McKinnon from Robert Morris at two point five,
and Amy Murphy at three points seventy five points per game.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I feel like we're going to be looking at the
points per game a lot more than we ever have
in the past, just because of some of these players
are not going to be playing every year where they're
going to be out for whatever ten games it is
in February. So when we're looking towards awards season, that
point per game and goal per game count is is
(24:40):
probably going to be a little bit more valuable than
maybe it has in the past. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Absolutely, I agree. That's a really good point.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I mean, I think often we tend to get caught
up on the point totals, but that's going to be
be much more interesting and just quite frankly, it's such
a huge number that like it's going to take a
lot to just like dilute that right, Like she would
have to have several very poor games, which we just
know she's not gonna. What's interesting to me is only
one of those is a power play goal. He wants
an empty network goal.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
So yeah, they are.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
I mean, I think we kind of all knew that
looking at their roster and what they were capable of,
But this has got to be the most interesting and
impressive the Gophers have looked in quite a few seasons.
This feels like Gophers of old Gophers of early two thousands, yep,
early to mid two thousands.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah. We had mentioned last week Saint Lawrence needed to
get back going after a tough weekend, and they did
not right away. They lost one nothing to Mercyhurst last Friday.
Julia Perehu's game winning goal early in the first period,
three and a half minutes into the game. Then Magdalena
Luggin twenty five saves. I hope I'm saying that right.
(25:47):
I apologize if I'm not for the shutout for Mercy Heers,
but Saint Lawrence came back with a three nothing win
to split the series. I'm a Sophie Nordstrom with twenty
four saves in that one, that the bouncing up and
down for Saint Lawrence is not gonna do well. That's
that's something that I think we're gonna uh, you know,
(26:08):
we're going to see where they're impacted in the NPI
and the long run for a couple of these losses.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Yeah, i'd agree. I think they're you know, they're going
to see see that come back to haunt them a
little as as things go on, I think. But also,
you know, shout out to Mercy Hurst, who you know,
played the loss of Minnisota to lose in overtime the
very first game in the weekend of the season and
now get splitting this series like they're they're making a point.
(26:37):
I think they play at Penn State this coming weekend,
and I think that will be I'm sorry and no, yes, Friday.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Anyway, I think that'll be really chilling.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yes, I've known, sorry, it'll be really telling serious in
terms of I think that they've made a statement about
like we're a team we're paying attention to and this
isn't Penn State to run away with, but when they
go to head to head is obviously the most important.
And so just yeah, I think I think it'll be
interesting because I feel like theyve mercy Hurst has made
(27:08):
some pretty solid points in their own favor in these
opening weekend games, these opening weekends games.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Last game to mention is a first Delaware getting a
two to one win over Holy Cross on Sunday. Delaware
out shot fifty to eleven in that game, with Charlotte
Payne forty nine saves made twenty stop twenty of twenty
in the third period to lock that down after Caitlyn
Charlton gave the Blue Hens the lead with the powerplay
(27:36):
goal in the second period. So congratulations to Delaware getting
that one in the win column.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
So amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
It's just yeah, four games in it, they've got to win.
That's such good things for their program and where they
can go next.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Absolutely. Okay, we're going to take another quick break and
when we'll come back, we're going to look ahead to
what's coming up this weekend. Stay with us on the podcast.
Back with the final segment of this week's podcast, Todd
Maleski and Nicole Hasey to talk about what's coming up
(28:13):
this weekend, and we have our I believe, our first
top five series of the season. Maybe it seems like
it should be Wisconsin number one at or sorry, Wisconsin
number one host and Minnesota Luth the number four team
in the country at labon Arena Saturday and Sunday, and
the first real big test for both of these seems
(28:36):
in reality, I've gone through some well. Wisconsin's opened up
WHGA play already, but also had a non conference series
against Maine last week. They have three straight five nothing wins.
Dluth has looked pretty good in its non conference schedule
so far. Let's see what happens is kind of the
way I'm looking at it. But there's also the interesting
(29:00):
wrinkle of this week being one of the national team
camp weeks, and so players will be back, but how
much will they have been worked this whole week when
they've been in those national camps. That's that's the unknown
for me going into this series.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, and then at the additional wrinkle that we play
at eleven am on Saturday, a very busy sports weekend
all Saturdays. Yeah, so it's not like they even get
that whole like extra eight hours to recover into like
a seven pm g Like we're having some brunch hockey
in Madison this weekend, and yeah, I this is all
(29:38):
of our questions that we've had about what camps look
like and what it looks like for the teams, Like
we're going to see some of those answers uh this weekend.
And so yeah, I think it's just something to keep
an eye on. I mean, for me, one of the
big keys I think will be Minnesota to loose defense.
You know, I thought they looked a little looser than
I'd have expected in their first weekend. I thought they
(29:59):
looked better in their second weekend. But this is a
huge test. You know, it's just Wisconsin. Even if even
if their top line or there's six Olympians or I
guess five skaters don't play or don't or play limited minutes,
you're still talking like their number three line is still
a really like it's a heavy line that's going to
(30:21):
score goals all season long, and so there's not really
a lot of rest for an opponent. So yeah, for me,
the thing that I'll be watching is Minnesota to loose defense,
just because I thought that that was going to be
a strong suit that and the goaltending. And you know,
as we said when it happened, I'm not going to
hold things that happened in the first weekend against.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Them, but it does.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
It sort of just raises that antenna like it's a
thing to watch out for and see see how they
handle that.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Here. Wisconsin always wants puck possession and they're usually pretty
good at it. Uh the Lutha is one of those
teams that can challenge that though, and I think that's
that's for me is something to keep an eye on
this weekend, is can the lout this rubbed a lot
of those passing lanes and get in the way and
just not let players have the free run up the
ice to to make you know, even if they don't
(31:08):
get a scoring chance, to get zone time and just
kind of make it more difficult the defending just from
a sheer amount of time you're in your own zone.
We've seen where de Luths has you know, really limited
that in the last couple of years, and so that
that could be a really key factor. You've got two
of the best goalies in the game on on either
(31:29):
side here, I've got scoing for Duluth and McNaughton for Wisconsin,
they were they traded off some of the national awards
in reality last year and for for goalies, So that's
that's another part of it. Yeah, should just be a
really really compelling test for both of those teams. Or
(31:51):
as we get into the you know, the more uh
in into the the the middle of October, you start
to see where things are really starting to shake out
a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Right, Yeah, you can't sort of chuck it up to
early season stuff anymore. I think another interesting point is that,
I think to your point of possession is Minnesota Duluth
I think is just a much better offensive team this
season than maybe they've had in the past couple years,
just sort of a more complete and and as opposed
to sort of rushes in the ability to score that way,
I think that they have an offense that is more
(32:24):
capable of possessing the puck in the zone on their
end more than we've seen in the past. And so
how does that How does Wisconsin handle that because teams
generally can't do that very well against them, And also
just how do they like that transition? Transition was so
huge for Wisconsin last year obviously a lot of that
was led by the speed of Casey O'Brien. So now
(32:45):
when we're seeing a team we're like being able to
step up, pick off a puck and go down the ice,
Like what does that look like with a daily shep
of chef of lavova in as the center. So yeah,
I just think there's there's a lot of things that
we should be able to see sort of more clearly.
But also I you know, I thought Maine gave Wisconsin
(33:05):
some trouble and like they came out with the five
a win, but much when we talked about like and
I don't mean this to appease the opponents, you know,
like we were talking about this with BC, Like that
final score I feel doesn't tell the whole story of
of I like Maine, particularly in that first game, really
gave Wisconsin some trouble. It took them a little while
to sort of undo those not and figure out what
they were going to do. And so again, if if
(33:26):
it's not the starters, that's not the top lines, like
can they be patient? Can they can they figure that out?
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I was a big fan of after Friday's game. I
believe it's kaya Latin in I don't hope that's the
pronunciation of the main The main goalie stood on her
head a few times, especially on the Wisconsin power plays.
That did a really good job and so that that
was impressive to see. Made a lot of saves over
the weekend, didn't you know, it didn't get much to
(33:56):
show for it. Maine wasn't able to get on the
board but the helper out. But yeah, there was there
was some impress impressive play in the main increase for sure. Also,
I'm sorry, just.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
The improvement of from the main series last time to
this time. I just thought it was I thought there
was a pretty good sort of class and how you
can prefer, you know, differently for a team. And I
think there was probably some things to be learned from
that tape for other players, other teams that are going
to face Wisconsin this year. But I was just impressed
with the improvement in Maine against them from from season
(34:28):
to season as well.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yes, also in the w c h A this weekend
home and home series number three Minnesota and number ten
Saint Cloud State. But I mean we've talked about how
Minnesota has pretty much had the run of things offensively
so far. This will be a pretty good challenge for
(34:53):
Saint Cloud State to to see how they match up
against such a potent offense.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah, I mean they have stellar goaltending, which is they're
going to need that, and then yeah, it's how do
you handle that speed? How do you sort of the
same things we're just talking about with like, how do
you break up what they're doing? How do you I
mean the sort of one touch game, the almost soccer
esque one touch game that Minnesota has been able to
play it recently is something that I think teams really
are going to need to prepare for and be willing
(35:21):
to step into those lanes and maybe just disrupt things
a little more, because it was looking far too easy
for Minnesota just to move the puck around and sort
of make their opponents look like they were standing still.
So I think that if there's a defensive team that
can handle it, Saint Cloud is one of them there
at least that has shown in the past the ability
(35:42):
to do that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yep. Back in non conference play, there is a series
between teams that could really use a pick me up,
that being number fourteen Boston University at number eight Colgate.
Those teams both had both suffered sweeps last week to
highly ranked teams. Both need a little, like I said,
(36:04):
a little bit of a pick me up, a little
bit of a bounce back, I'm and so it'll probably
end up in a split. Right, All these things tend
to go is you want those teams both really want
a couple of wins, and makes it really difficult when
they're when they're pretty evenly mashed. Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yes, I think one of the things Colgate and maybe
they didn't anticipate, maybe we didn't all anticipate enough, was
was the loss of their goalie to graduation. And so
I think, you know, as we talked about in the
Hockey East previews that I think scoring is just going
to be at a premium for Hockey East teams. It
just tends not to be that high powered offense. And
(36:42):
so I think, and I say, this is like not
to as a dig on bu but just compared to
Ohio State, who they played last weekend, I think Colgate
could use this opportunity to really find some confidence in
a goaltender and let them sort of get things. When
you're working with a new goaltender in your first two
games against to Higo State, that's a that's a rough
baptism by fire. So just the different style of game
(37:04):
that bu plays and the offense that they have, it
does seem like it could be a good opportunity for
Colgate to just really find that equilibrium and and give.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Some give to their goaltender.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Is a chance to to find some confidence and feel
like they can handle this, because yeah, I think we
talked a lot about, you know, some of the graduation
of the skaters, but it turns out it was a
pretty big deal that they got to start pretty fresh
in net.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Indeed, New HA has a series between Franklin Pearson's Sacred Heart,
Sacred Heart hosting that one. I think that's that's a
couple of teams that you're expecting to be challenging for
the upper spots and so to be playing early in
the season and maybe getting a having one of them
get a get a step above the other could be
(37:51):
really important as we look at it later in the year.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, good for standing's points and also just a good benchmark, right, Like,
I think we'll be able to see where both these
teams are. And it's been a rough start of the
season for new hot teams, and so I think even
just getting you know, seen Anselm I think is the
only one that has their winning records. So just the
ability to get get that winning started and get those
(38:15):
points on the board, I think is going to be
just a huge momentum shift.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Yeah, okay, should be another great weekend. Anything else you're
looking uh looking forward to seeing this weekend or which
games we're going to be paying attention to most.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
I was looking at the North Oh no, I'm sorry
the yeah Northeastern prop p.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
I think Providence is a h in two team that
is better than that that that shows and so. And
I think Northeastern came out with two wins last weekend,
but they were probably closer than they'd imagine with ri
I T and so, I think they're That's just a
good test for both of those two teams, and I
think should give us a little idea of of how
the rest of you know, we're kind of talked about
(38:58):
the top of hockeys, but maybe where that middle part
starts to shake out?
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Right, all right, that's gonna do it for us this week.
For Nicole on Todd, thanks for listening to the podcast.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.