November 19, 2025 • 53 mins
In the PodKaz for Nov. 19, 2025, hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski discuss the first loss of the season for Cornell and a needed victory for Colgate. A 3-0 shutout for the Raiders last Friday left only Penn State undefeated in NCAA women's hockey.
We also look back at an upset victory for Harvard over Yale and a bounce-back victory for Clarkson after a pair of shutouts.
In the WCHA, St. Cloud State overcame third-period deficits to tie No. 1 Wisconsin in the second game of a series and Minnesota Duluth took care of St. Thomas on the road.
Delaware gained its first Atlantic Hockey America victory by beating Lindenwood last Friday. And Saint Anselm moved eight points ahead of Assumption atop the NEWHA standings with a sweep of Long Island.
Our second segment is about the start of the PWHL season, with new players fresh out of college ready to shine and new rules being put into play.
And we wrap up with a look at this week's games, including a series between No. 3 Ohio State and No. 5 Minnesota Duluth.
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.
We also look back at an upset victory for Harvard over Yale and a bounce-back victory for Clarkson after a pair of shutouts.
In the WCHA, St. Cloud State overcame third-period deficits to tie No. 1 Wisconsin in the second game of a series and Minnesota Duluth took care of St. Thomas on the road.
Delaware gained its first Atlantic Hockey America victory by beating Lindenwood last Friday. And Saint Anselm moved eight points ahead of Assumption atop the NEWHA standings with a sweep of Long Island.
Our second segment is about the start of the PWHL season, with new players fresh out of college ready to shine and new rules being put into play.
And we wrap up with a look at this week's games, including a series between No. 3 Ohio State and No. 5 Minnesota Duluth.
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Usccho dot com. I had welcome to the podcast on
Todd Malusky here when Nicole Hosey. We're from us cho
dot com and we are here to talk women's hockey
with you. We've got a little bit of WHL talk
about as we answered the regular season later this week.
But let's get right into the NCAA weekend that we
(00:27):
saw just a few days ago. Nicole, they the big
series for me was Colgate and Cornell going into the weekend,
and it did deliver. Colgate handing Cornell its first loss
of the season three nothing on Friday, Cornell beating Colgate
in overtime on Saturday after being down two goals in
(00:50):
the second period. I think good, good things on both
sides there. We had talked about Colgate needings to build
something and this being a great opportunities. Well they did
that on Friday, not far away from getting a sweep,
but would have been a really big sweep. But Cornell
the show a bounce back and get right back into
(01:11):
it on the second gay second day.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, I think it's two things right. It was signs
of life from Colgate and like not just with the win,
but it was an okay first period and then they
must have had one heck of an intermission, and they
came out and scored, you know, two goals and seventy
seconds to start the second And that's you know, that's
how you turn the tables, that's how you that's what
you build on all the sort of stuff we've been
talking about sort of hypothetically for teams that need to
(01:35):
get back into it. I felt like Colgate went out
and did, you know, sort of exactly what they want
to do in that game, and then you know, had
a solid game in the second game too, And and
for Cornell it was that ability to fight back and
come back right when you've started off undefeated and you know,
sort of all those cliches, but it's the things that
you that adverse you need to face and you want
(01:55):
to be doing that now in the first half and
before we get to you know, February. So I thought
for both teams, there was just so much to like
about what they did and just to like to keep
showing and building on them. So yeah, for Colgate, I thought, wow, okay,
this is like where has this been? So I don't
know what needed to happen or what had what clicked
for them, If it was that it was that rivalry game,
(02:17):
but it felt like the pieces game together for them
in a different way this weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, I thought so. And that first game, it's not
like that was a fluke or anything. They outshot Cornell
forty four to twenty, so you could say that that
game was definitely in their their their side the whole way.
Brooke Davis made twenty saves for the shutout, and like
you mentioned, Alexis Petford and Emma Gervais Beauchamp got goals
in the first minute ten seconds of the second period
(02:44):
and away they went. After a kind of a seemed
like a little bit of a feeling out first period
and it had had some chances and then it did
go Colgate's direction in the second period. There So, that
being Cornell's first leaves Penn State as the only undefeated
team left in women's hockey. The Penn State is now
(03:06):
fourteen and oher and running away with things in Atlantic
Hockey America as we talked about before, but Cornell Correl
Prefontein and giving the overtime goal in the Saturday game
important for the Big Red there down like I mentioned,
three to one second period to find their way back,
and that's a something that is going to I think payoff.
(03:29):
Throughout the season. You see teams always ask, well, how
do we do when we face some adversity. Well, there
it was, you lost one, you're down by a couple
of goals. Let's see what you've got. And I think
Cornell showed us something there.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, I will say too though, I think maybe the
one sort of question mark or the little wobble is
that everyone in their goals with special teams and so
there's absolutely positive of call your way back and also
taking advantage of the opportunities presented to you, but also
not great that they're not scoring you know, at even
strength there and so it was at even strength a
(04:02):
bit of a struggle for them at times, so you know,
things to build on and learn from, and just overall, yeah,
I felt like both of those teams has to come
away from that weekend pretty happy. I mean, the way
things are going, you know, Cornell probably felt like they
could sweep that weekend and things like that. So there's
some disappointment there, but with the way the games played out,
I think they both come away from that, like the
with the points, but also with the lessons learned and
(04:24):
the stuff that's going to help them for the rest
of the season.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, a couple of other results in ECAC last week
that worth mentioning, Harvard getting a four to one win
against Number ten Yale on Friday, Emily Davidson making forty
three saves for the Crimson There. That's the team we
haven't talked a lot about over the last few years.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
No, they had their worst season in like program history
last season. Like they've struggled, So I assumed that's what
we were going to see more of, right, Like, they
definitely weren't on my radar to be doing what they're
they've been doing so far.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So yeah, even I mean I think early in the
season it's uh, you know, they start later than everyone else.
We've we've talked about that before. But finding finding some
some wins here and there is big for that program
to rebuild. I don't know where they are necessarily in
that or whether you even call it a rebuild given
the way things kind of shift year to year anyway,
(05:22):
but if if you can you can put some some
roots down there in terms of how you're going to
move forward, Uh, that's that's a good way to do it.
Especially against Yale, which we know Harvard and Yale have
a pretty spirited rivalry in all sports.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, I mean there not only are they just like
getting the wins and getting the results, but they're you know,
they're scoring almost a goal more per game, or I
think it's over a goal at this point. They're allowing
a goal fewer per game, like all of those metrics
that you want to see. And and it's just true
too that like winning the gets for their winning, right,
Like if you're when they have their worst record program history,
(06:00):
they're not, it's not great to show recruits, right, So
like when you start getting those wins, it's kind of
some of the stuff we've talked about with Brown and
Dartmouth over the last couple of years. They don't have
the same story history as Harvard, but you gotta you
have to show that work to improvement to pull in
those recruits. So it's this like building process, and I
feel like what Harvard is doing this year is showing
that like that season. I mean, it hasn't been great
(06:22):
for a couple of years, but last season being the
worst like that is the anomaly and not not what
we want this program to be. You know, there's been
a lot of changes there over the last couple of years.
You've you know, you've kind of got your your coach
getting settled and getting her own, you know, her own
stamp on a program that was coached by the same
person for decades. So yeah, I just think like there's
there's nothing but good to see out of what's coming
(06:43):
out of Harvard so far the season.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, Harvard five four and one overall of three four
and one in ACAC play. So yeah, not you know,
not a bad start for a team that, like you said,
had it just a year to forget a year ago
and it seemed like nothing it right. Having having something
go right fairly early an important step there. Also rewinding
(07:08):
a little bit further. Last week, there was a midweek
game number twelve. Clarkson got a six to one win
over Saint Lawrence on Wednesday last week. Uh, that one.
I felt like that was an important one for Clarkson.
You know, midweek games you never really know where you
know what's going to show up sometimes, especially then you
don't play the following weekend. It's you've got a little
(07:30):
bit of time off for Clarkson to come out and
get a big win. In that game. I think it
was impressive, and especially after having just kind of a
really rough stretch of things Tige with Quinnipiac scoreless tie.
(07:50):
I believe it was if I remember it right in
Princeton losing there, we were.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Worry about Clarkson scoring goals, right, like, yeah, really, it's fine,
it's all fine.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah. Six, that's a big one.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, uh yeah, I agree. I think that was a
really important sort of statement bounce back, however you want
to say it, and it's I mean, it's obviously things
were low, but I think just sort of shaking off
what happened before and like you said, making having that
really and that's a big rivalry from them. We talked
about those skills are literally you know, a couple miles apart,
and I think, yeah, that was that's their their daytime game,
(08:26):
and just there's so many good things that happened there
for them to come away with and really sort of
prop up the last few weeks before they head into
the break over.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
In the WHA, we had Saint Cloud State hosting number
one Wisconsin and the first game in a five to
one for Wisconsin, but the Huskies. I was impressed. On
Saturday with the number of times that they rebounded and
responded to Wisconsin goals and getting a four to four tie.
Wisconsin did win the shootout after that, so they took
(08:58):
five or six points, but Amelia Kurico fifty two saves
in that one, returning from injury, kind of showing what
Saint Cloud had been missing a little bit over the
last few weeks. And just for Saint Cloud to we've
talked about this plenty of times, you know, it's it's
tough to to make any headway in the WHA. For
(09:22):
them to get even that kind of resultant show that look,
you know, yeah, whatever has happened happened, but we're not
backing down in our own building. To come back from
two goals down and then caught back up, made three
to three, went down again, but with the power play
goal by Wisconsin and then Maria mckaylien. Sorry I probably
(09:45):
get that wrong.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
She's Russian, so I think it's Mikauelien, but support on.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
The power play three forty six left to make it
four to four. So impressive result, if not the full
result that Saint Cloud would have won.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
For sure, but you could see we've talked in past
and like some of the teams maybe from the bottom
and the half the standings might steal some points. These
weren't stolen points, Like though they honestly probably should have
won that game, Like they made Wisconsin look bad, and
every time Wisconsin, you know, sort of found their depth
and do what they do is one of the top
teams in the country. They were still able to answer.
(10:20):
And I think, like that's such a crucial point to
what happened there. I mean, some of it was teasing,
I think, but I saw some talk on social about
like how I think Saint Cloud is like four four
nine and one something like that, Like how they're still
ranked as high as they are in them It's like,
because look at that game. They're in these really tough games.
They're not getting blown out from them. They're winning the
(10:40):
games they should win, and they're coming close in the
games against teams that are significantly more and better restores
and stronger than they are. You know, I think like
there's really there is a valid conversation to have there
about how much you want to weigh some of that stuff.
I don't think it's a nonsense conversation, but I also
think that people are not if you just look at
(11:01):
that record, like that's not fair to Saint Cloud State either,
and I don't I think a lot of other teams
that are currently raked would not have as good of
a record on Saint Cloud's schedule as Saint Cloud currently has.
And I just kind of want to shout out too,
Like I think I have talked a bunch about some
of the freshmen, especially some of the European freshmen on
Ohio State and Minnesota and some of the other schools.
(11:22):
Maria is someone that has been I think a little
under the radar coming out of Russia, like we're not
getting as much, you know, sort of information or things
like that, and she has been a huge, huge addition
to that roster. She so I was looking up, but
she played a little bit with Nu Ratu at the
krs Vanka Raise and that was the connection to get
(11:45):
her to Saint Cloud and to meet Brian Atulski to
get recruited and just like what a huge, huge addition
for them. She's just she is so dynamic. She impressed
me so many times already so far this season, and
that you know, there are a dozen games in or
whatever it is. So she's someone that I think needs
to be on more radars for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
On the other side of that is a Wisconsin team that,
like you mentioned, there had some stretches where it just
didn't look very good last week coming off of a bye,
you know, a bye when they had you know, five
of their players at the rivalry series. So it's it's
a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
But but they had their full roster for the first
time in weeks, and they looked slow, they looked they
made there was a lot of turnovers, a lot of
defense on the stakes, some of the same stuff we
saw against Minnesota a few weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I don't know, man, it was not it was not
a good look.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
No, And that's uh, you know, it has to be
a little bit of a concern if there's I mean,
I think there's points that you can say, well, look,
this is probably pretty correctable for a lot of the things,
because it was some of it was, you know, there
I think some effort questions. I think there were some
(12:59):
you know, a detailed kind of things that yeah, it's
probably good for them every once in a while to
you know, get callid, you know, to pay the price
and for those things to then mean something and be
able to turn it right back around in practice because
(13:19):
the quality is obviously no lower there than it has been.
So it's a matter of you know, putting it together,
and that's that's really what it comes down to.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, I think the it's not necessarily that it was
a bad game, that's concerning it's for me partly that
it was the second one that we're seeing some of
the same stuff that went poorly against Minnesota and led
told that loss, and then also that it came off
the bye week, and as you said, there are asterisks
to that, but this is a team, you know, Mark
Johnson and even the players we're talking about how important
that weekend off and some of that was. And so
(13:53):
to come out looking like this after that bit was
a little like that's not great, guys. And again, like
we have talked about it as much since the beginning
of the season, but with the Olympic stuff like that,
none of this is getting any easier. And so if
this is what you're doing with your full roster, then yeah,
there's work to be done, right, Like there's there's just
(14:13):
there's a lot of things that you have to be
unhappy with there. So and and also like I think
It's one of those things where they're their own worst
enemy and that they've set their own expectations really high,
Like we know how good they can play, we know
what Mark Johnson expects from them. So when you see
some of the like some of the laziness and the
effort stuff, it's a little like mmmm huh.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
But that being said, I think if that persists, they've
kind of quite the bench and that player. Those players
just won't be on the ice anymore so or won't
be on the ice as much. So Yeah, but the
effort thing is just very strange. But you got to
remember too that they're they're still really young kids, right like,
even though we think of them as professionals and some
of them are gonna be Olympians, you're still talking uh,
(14:57):
developing minds and developing players. So yeah, I think there's
some mastress and also kind of like what you're talking
about with Clarkson, right Like, if that continues, I have concerns.
And Clarkson went out and did not continue it, so
maybe that will happen again. But yes, it's it's one
of those like I'm in a bookmark that and remember
this and think about it in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Right also in the WCHA, Minnesota loose number five team
in the country as of last week, got a sweep
at Saint Thomas number fifteen three to one on Friday,
four to two on Saturday. E f gascon on Saturday
with thirty five saves to complete the sweep. And that's
you know, it feels like you're definitely seeing that division
(15:41):
forming in the WHA between the top four and the
bottom four. There's not a lot of question. That's that's
the way it is. Again.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Absolutely the sort of you know appendix that is that
I thought, you know, those were I thought Minnesota Duluth
dominated the games, they were in control of the games,
but Saint Thomas was in both of the games. And
I think that for them is the thing that they
have to take away from it that it wasn't you know,
again the idea of like they're not sealing goals and
(16:09):
things like that, They're they're holding some possession and making
some really good plays and needing to be able to
put it all together. But those are pretty close results
for Saint Thomas in that situation. And so I think, yes,
we have the dividing line. And also there are you
know positive to see you know what could be coming
as well?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
In Hockey East last week we had a rivalry series
between Boston College and Boston University, and BC got a
sweep of that home and home set, five to two
at home on Thursday, three to two on Friday at
BU at Agaanis Arena. I believe that one was or
what did they play that at Walter Brown we had
to listed as a gain. Yeah, okay, So going to
(16:52):
the third period on Thursday and then BC broke it
open with three goals in the first six minutes on
Friday two two game late in the third and Emma
Connor scores for a three to two lead, and the
Eagles salt that one away to move to seven six
and one overall and sending BU to two and ten.
(17:14):
We've talked before about BU struggling. We've talked before about
BC doing a little bit of a surprising too. I
think were we saw both of those happen on the
same weekend.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah, I mean one of the things that BC has
I think struggled with over the past few seasons is
like sort of that consistency to put up a good
result followed up by more good results and taking advantage
of opportunities in front of them. You know, obviously, I
think Northeastern has really stepped it up there. They set
up program record for consecutive wins to start their conference season.
(17:47):
But BC's hanging with them, and I think, you know
that Northeastern is doing better but isn't where they had
been in the past few seasons. And BC is really
consistently going out and not just win games, but you know,
winning close games. You know, they've had some of those
late goals. It's just sort of all those little things
that we kind of want to see from a team
(18:08):
that that's really going to fight for that that top position.
I just think that they're putting things together really nicely
as opposed to like possibly having one or two good games,
if that makes sense. That it's really sort of building
on each other and stringing stuff together. That's the part
that's impressive impressing me so far this season.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Also, a big crowd there on Friday, it was I
believe that BEU for for a special night there, right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
They set a Home and Hockey East home attendance record
with thirty nine, one hundred and sixty five people. The
previous record was set at Aganas I say it differently
than you, and I don't I assume you know it better,
is it aghanis?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I don't honestly know. No, I don't.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I went from Boston will tell usons. Sure, but that
is eleven hundred more people that had set the record
at this game last season. So obviously not the result
that be wanted, but really cool. We just don't see
those third of crowds at women's hockey in Boston right now.
Just there's a lot of different things that people can
and get themselves entertained with, and so I like seeing
(19:09):
these bigger crowds out there. The players deserve it, and uh,
you know, maybe p WHL's helping that, whatever it is.
I hope we see more of these, you know, multi
thousand crowds out in the Boston area for these teams.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Delaware getting its first Atlantic Hockey victory on Friday, beating
Linden went five to three, Caitlyn fin again scoring two
goals there. So that's two wins now for Delaware. Every
every milestone, you know, means something when you're building a program,
and and so getting a first conference whin I know
has to be has to be big for for for Delaware.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, absolutely, And I just think like we've seen like
it's really hard to start from scratch, and it's like,
you know, Saint Thomas at least was playing NCAA, Like
these guys weren't having weren't even doing that right, like
it was a club team. And so I'm just really
impressed with what they've been able to do in terms
of not just results, but sort of how they're playing
(20:06):
in games and how they're showing out in these very
first few games as a brand new NCAA program. So yeah,
like you said that, that first conference is a big one. Also,
they're all blue jerseys. They're like bright blue jerseys. I
think I said this on social like so good, such
a good look. Uh so you know, always nice to
look nice while you're doing it too.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Absolutely, Uh, Mercy Hearrison rit interesting set of results there
one nothing for one nothing for rit on Saturday. I
guess they were close, Yeah, Magdalena uh Logan Luggan not sure.
Mercy Herris's goalie twenty four saves Friday. Sophia Bolina forty
(20:49):
six says for RT Saturday. So that's and those are
the teams that you were kind of in that race
for second place. So them splitting and stay continuing to
win means now Penn State's sixteen points clear of Mercers,
a top Atlantic Hockey America, so that one that one
could be over by first week in January, second week
(21:11):
in January.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
It's uh yeah, I wanted to point when you mentioned
Penn Cate before two, like, not only are they on
this massive win streak, like they outscored I think it
was what it was like fifty, I don't remember they
outscored the point, it's like seventeen to They had like
an eleven goal game this weekend, and I believe Tessagenik
he had won or had assists. Like it's not again,
they're not just relying on her, like just complete dominance
(21:36):
from the Nitney Alliance. And then I'm sorry, I wanted
to go back with our Merciers. The weird thing is
what we've been seeing a ton in splits is sort
of really like opposite results like a team, I mean
kind of like Wisconsin this weekend too, like you win
five to one, but then you need to win in
a shootout the second game. We're not seeing a lot
of one oh one oh splits. It's been a lot more,
(21:58):
a lot more parody, a lot less instancy.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I was just like looking at at Ri T and like, yeah,
they're you know, their last couple series they lost to
linden Wood on Halloween three nothing and then one seven
to one the next day. Right like they lost to
Syracuse five to two and then one four to one
the next day. Like we're seeing these crazy switches between
the first and second game of the series. So to
me on one O games is actually kind of weird
(22:24):
from what we've been seeing so far this season.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, I want to mention in Neuha, sant Anselm beat
Long Island two one and eight to two to move
eight points ahead of Assumption. Uh, so that that's actually,
you know, the the second biggest lead Penn State, obviously
having the big lead in Atlantic hockey. Uh, sant Ansel
eight points in New Ha. Everything else is within a
(22:50):
point and a half. Sant Ansel pushing ahead here and
it has a big one coming up this week with
a home and home against Assumption, who's in second, So
that could that could really extend that or Assumption can
get right back in.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah, and just shout out Assumption for like solidly in
second place too, again just like not where we thought
the team would be at this point. So going into
this season like they're they're actually think sort of massively
overperforming from what they've done in the past, and they're
doing it consistency, consistently. But yeah, sat anslom is just
on this like they're not splitting their series right, like
(23:26):
they're taking They're taking the points every weekend and that's
what's made this big difference. There's been some great parody
on the rest of the conference where you're seeing these
really interesting, you know, results back and forth over a weekend,
and with st Anselm being able to take all six
points or most of the points every weekend, it's uh,
that's making a huge difference for their lead conference.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Okay, that wraps up our look back at last week.
We will have more of a look ahead at what's
coming this upcoming weekend in a few minutes, but when
we come back in the next segment, I'll look at
the first weekend of pw HL play. Stay with us
on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast, Todd Nicole. Here,
(24:11):
let's talk some p w h L, which gets it's
third season started on Friday with a pair of games
Toronto at Minnesota and the expansion team Seattle at Vancouver.
And I saw that Golden Eye logo on the center
ice at the Pacific Coliseum and that that looks pretty good.
Just just the logo in this in the center and
(24:33):
nothing else that they did. They did pretty well, now
they did.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
And I have to say I had heard the name
ahead of time, and I wasn't so sure, but the
logo and the messaging around it has all been really good.
And like you said, it looks really awesome there at
that at center right. I mean, that's the only team
that has their own home mice, right that isn't sharing it,
so pretty cool for them. Just a good step forward
(24:59):
for the league as well. And then to have it
look so so pretty is just a sort of cherry
on top. Right.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
So two new teams that are playing right away, I
see Ian Vancouver making an eight team league. What kind
of things do we need to be looking out for
this season? As you know, the there's that means there's
more players in the league, but there's also been more
players coming out of college joining the league. So we're
seeing some some player movement that you know, maybe is
(25:30):
a little unexpected.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Right, and also an uncontinued influx of players international players
coming in. So teams have until Wednesday to the nineteenth
to finalize the rosters. They have to be at twenty three.
So teams have been sending out press releases in the
past two days talking about, you know, sort of who
is no longer on the training camp roster, like where
(25:52):
they're staying, how many they have forwards, defenders, coolies. I
think the one that most caught my eye was Elizabeth
Jageer being drug from the training camp roster from Ottawa,
probably the biggest name that I've seen so far. Obviously
plenty of other recognizable talent as well. I saw Olivia Wallen.
I think one of the things that's interesting is I've
(26:12):
seen some people drop from rosters that were drafted last
season too, and so just not something you necessarily expect
or see. But there's all the players that are dropped
from training camp rosters will be eligible to sign for
other teams. That doesn't mean any of these players aren't
going to play this year, but yeah, it's like that's
a player that regularly got ice time right and spent
(26:37):
a lot of time, you know, helping out her team
and someone who we know is really talented, and I
think it was just surprising. So I think that's going
to continue to happen. I think there's a bigger player pool,
there's a lot more talent out there. I think teams
can be a bit more flexible on like, if this
isn't working, whatever it is, whether it's chemistry, whether it's handedness,
(26:58):
whether it's so one not doing as well on faceoffs,
if they'd like, there's a pretty big pool of other
players to try. And so I think that we're going
to see a bit more movement than maybe people have
thought about or maybe prepared for. There was, you know,
so much upwar with the expanse draft and players moving
from where we expected them to be. I mean, I
(27:20):
still am getting surprised at times when I see there's
been some preseason games and some social media updates and
you're like, oh, right, that player is there now. So
I think that's that's something that I think fans are
just going to have to continue to get used to
until if, or until that changes, and we're just going
to keep having an influx of talent to a limited
number of roster spots, you know, I.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Wondered, I guess over the last few years, not just
this year, but you know, what kind of is going
to be the long term relationship between teams in North
America and teams in Europe because there's no real minor
league here, no no call up sending down, nothing like
that in in any way that's going to get them
(28:05):
keep still playing minutes important minutes in games. I don't know,
do you have a good feeling of like what that
is going to be looking like in coming seasons or
even throughout this season of what? Uh? You know, when
when someone loses a spot in the p WHL and
doesn't look like they're going to get another one, are
(28:26):
they looking to Europe? Are they?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
I mean I think so for sure, just because you
want to if you if your goal is to get
back on a roster like you have to be playing.
So I'm not trying to love like the I don't know.
I think it's implied even if you don't mean it
that like sort of the other leagues are our feeder
leagues to the p WHL, And I don't know that
any of them would love being called back right like that.
(28:48):
They would be the minor leagues to the p dub
So I think there's some carefulness there, but without going
on too far of a tangent, like this is has
been an ongoing problem for the w n b A, right,
so there is a bit of a blueprint in terms
of like more seasons of what does this look like
where there's way more talent coming in than there are
roster spots. And obviously the WNBA has slowly expanded, but
(29:11):
like one of the things they've dealt with is there's
a lot of hardship contracts and things like that because
they don't have this minor league system. What they're trying
to avoid is for you to like take a player
and stash her on like your practice roster and not
let anybody else have her, but also not pay her
and things like that. And so, like I said, I
don't want to get too far off topic, but I
(29:33):
do for people that are interested in that, I think
you can find a lot of writing about how the
WNBA has navigated that, not necessarily always well, but what
are some of the pitfalls and the things that can
come up when you have this huge player pool. And
it doesn't make me wonder if we're gonna like could
we be talking about shifting seasons in terms of like
(29:53):
so you could play overseas and you could play here,
you know, like if there's almost like a back and forth,
and so you can like as we were seeing from
w NBA players when they were going overseas or now
they have you know, the three on three league and
their off season. Uh, I don't know. I don't know
what it's gonna look like. Obviously that all of those
comparisons are not direct, but I do think there are some,
(30:15):
if not blueprints, some some ways to look at things
to be to think outside the box and look at
what you can do to try and retain to retain
that talent and make sure that there's not sort of
the loss of players that suddenly don't have anywhere to play.
But yeah, I do assume that if you're I think
I think one of the things that we probably have
(30:36):
to learn more about is like the fluidity of going
between those two leagues right like maybe intermittently to start,
and how open any of them will be, Like are
we gonna see like almost like two week contracts? But
I don't I don't know that the SDHL is uh
super amenable to being tied, uh, because the conversation has
(31:02):
sort of pitted that as the lesser and I don't
I don't think anybody takes kindly to that. And so yeah,
there's a there's this whole Do I have an answer?
Absolutely not. I'd be hopefully getting paid as a consultant
if I did.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, it's it just doesn't feel like that's a real,
like sustainable two way discussion because you've got leagues in
Europe and Sweden specifically that I do not want to
be seen as second class and and and put forth
a lot of effort to be a top tier option.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Right like before the PWHL.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Ever showed up, right, And so yeah, I don't see
that just being like, oh yeah, we'll statue in Europe
for a while kind of arrangement.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I would also say the SHL is very focused on
like developing Swedish talent first. They take that pride in
like this is our home league, and they there are
rules from the federation about how many players and so
there's also some limits to just how many how much
back like how many spots over there there are for
(32:14):
for saying North American players as well, So they still
want to be using that is their big development tool.
For their own international teams and programs, and so that
I think puts a little bit of a hamper on
any of those discussions as well.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
So what players that just came out of college last
year should we be looking for this year? And the
p WHLS has having a chance of you know, putting
on a pretty good show in the opportunities that they
get to play well.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I mean, I think we're both probably a little a
little biased on this one, but obviously I'm a big
case O'Brien fan. First of all, I just think she's
she's super talented and we've seen, you know, sort of
close hand, all of the things she's all the work
she's put in sort of each year she picked a
skill and really like you know, toned it, and I
mean she has put in. She's a naturally talented, very
(33:04):
fastcater that also put in a lot of work to
like round out her game. And New York officially announced
that she assigned a one year contract on Tuesday, So
that's great. And I also think that, like when he
saw some of the preseason games she was playing, even
though she wasn't yet officially contracted or at least had
been announced, she and Sarah Filiate and Culti Cultonkova basically
(33:26):
ran the show like that is a three headed monster
that all can do a lot of really good stuff.
Can you know, have power from distance, can put handle
really well, can win face offs, can go on breakaways,
and so I think Culti and that was such a
master move from the Sirens at that draft to get
both those two players to make that trade and get
(33:47):
that that I can't imagine that. That's not like those
two aren't the two that we're gonna be talking about
and seeing and then you sort of like install them
online with Sarahffiliated, It's like, well, that's seems a little
unfair to everybody else. But of course New York's had
a great roster for two seasons and not produced. So
(34:07):
I think there's always that I am yet to go
all in on the Sirens until I see them, Like
at this point, any Sirens fan is a little burnt
for the last two seasons and worrying but not answering
Rocky question. But the other line that I saw during
creaseson was Abby rock in Montreal, which everyone needs to
remember that's where she is now. But she was on
(34:28):
a line with Laura Cec and Pulan and that is
a lot of not just hockey skill, but a lot
of like spatial and and like with the the rules
in the PWHL with more contact, like those are all
like really heavy players that really fight for space on
the Yeah, like you're not knocking any of them on
(34:48):
their butt real easy. So that is a bit of
a I mean, I don't want to imply that there
is not also skill and like grace, but there's a
bit of a like cannon ball bullet at China Shop.
It is to that and like the best possible way
to that line as well, like they are, I would
not want to be standing between them and what they
(35:09):
want to be doing. And any one of the three
of them can do something magical with the puck to
put it in the back of the net, which that's
another It's another line that if that's what they stick with,
is going to cause a lot of problems. And it's
not as though Montreal has struggled with offense in the
past few seasons.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yes, New York and Ottawa open in Ottawa on Saturday
nights Sunday afternoon. Montreal is at Boston. You can find
where these games are on TV or streaming on the
PWHL website. They've done a pretty good job of giving
where all the opportunities, all the the regional carriers that
(35:51):
are going to be having those games, where you can
find those are available on their website.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Yeah, I noted for US, we sometimes hear in Wisconsin
get Frost games either on the regional network or on
their alternate station, but it seemed to be kind of
hit and miss. I never knew when that was going
to be the case, and so again obviously just talking
from experience, but looking at the schedules this year, there's
a lot more information there about like what secondary or
alternate channels or regional networks might be showing it. I
(36:19):
saw my Facts nine or my Fox nine plus is
going to show more of the Minnesota games, which is
cool too, but also in the US, like it's always
going to be on YouTube and it's always going to
be on PWHL dot com. So it's probably a little
concerning that we're in the third season and not talking
about a national broadcast for the PWHL. You and I
(36:41):
were talking, you know, before we started recording. With the
return of the NPS NBC Sports Network, could we see
something tied into the Olympics and raised interest there. We
don't know, puer speculation, but you know, things like that
make you wonder. But also, all the games are available
free on YouTube, and that I think makes me less
(37:02):
worried about that broadcast. I mean, I think we want
them to get the money from broadcasting a lot of
that sort of stuff, But in terms of like accessibility,
like the games are super easy to see, and.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
That YouTube really hits the demographic that they're looking for
right where they are, but is not the most lucrative, right, Like,
you're not not the highest dollar figure platform.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yeah, both things are true, right.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Like, Oh yeah, that's that's part of having you know,
an emerging league and emerging platform and a very.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Busy sports season. Yes, yeah, like there's just a lot
going on, like football is still happening, and yeah, you know,
like there's just there's so many things on on any
given weekend that I can imagine that it's difficult to
find that. But I also don't think that let's anyone
off the hook. I do think that needs to be
you know, one of the top priorities. Oh, we should
(37:58):
talk about there were two rules changes as well. They
took away coaches challenges, which is super interesting. Interesting there
was on Tuesday that I haven't yet listened to, which
I'm assuming we'll hear more about it from that. I
apologize for talking over you, but yeah, the coaches challenge
thing is fascinating, right.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
It if if it's meant to take it all and
put it all in the hands of a review center,
I get that, but they've got to be tasked and
you know, confident enough to say we're stepping in whenever
we need to step in.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
And has not been consistent in the link for two years,
Like it's probably been the biggest talking point, the inconsistency,
mostly because these are not refs employed specifically by the league.
These are officials that work a ton of different places.
They tried to track I remember the first year. I
mean there were so many officials that did one or
(38:59):
two games all season, Like it's really hard to get
used to the rules and knowing how to call it.
I mean, heck, we're seeing we see bad officiating in
college from the same officials we've been watching for twenty years,
so I can only imagine. But you know, it wasn't
set up for them to succeed. So now changing this
in a situation where we know the officials. I mean
they also created an officials task for us. Who knows
(39:20):
if that means anything worthwhile, But yeah, I don't love
it in terms of that, like knowing how bad the
officiating has been by bad I meaning consistent.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yeah, well, and that is a I'm torn a lot
between the you know, the intent of replay is to
reverse obvious mistakes.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
It's twenty minutes looking at an iPad on a folding table.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Well, not to litigate someone's toe being over a line
or you know, on an offside. I have the biggest
problem with offside challenges, and so seeing those go away,
I'm I'm not upset about that. Yeah, I understand there's
a there's a possibility that you uh uh, you know,
(40:11):
officialized missed an obvious It feels like you went.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
From feast to famine, Like is there no middle ground?
Like I yeah, I don't know. I can't imagine. I
imagine the conversations and that were super interesting, and uh.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
I think it will be one of those where I
guess we'll have to wait and see how that plays out.
But as you said, sort of entrusting it entrusting it
to a center group means that that center group has
to be willing to step in and make the calls.
And I'm guessing part of this conversation is to speed
up the games and stop all the challenges. But like,
does that mean that the people and send the central
(40:49):
are gonna like way you were about, like, is this
a thing? We're stopping the game? You know what I'm saying, Like,
it feels like there need to be some sort of
more hard and fast rules, which at least there were
for coaches.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
So and I'm I'm much more I'm much more in
favor of the NHL way of doing things with coaches
challenges than the college way where in college you if
you have a timeout and you challenge, and you the
call isn't reversed, you just lose the time out. In
the NHL, any challenge that isn't appell or that it
(41:20):
does not result in a reversal is a minor penalty.
And I think that that puts enough on the line
too to slow a lot of the Wow, let's just
challenge because we can, uh so that we see in yeah,
which yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
If you had already used your time out, you would
get a penalty in college, but that we haven't really
seen that come up too much. I don't see a
ton of usage of timeouts except for towards the end
of a game when we're you know, trying to double
double shift and things like that. So yeah, interesting for sure.
That's a wait and see, I think, but certainly something
(41:59):
to watch for. The other was about mandatory third goalie
that can be dressed if someone gets injured, which frankly
just only makes sense. So that one both pretty low
stakes overall. I mean, I think it has a big impact,
but I think everybody looked at that one. Yeah, of course,
but the coaches challenged things certainly raise the eyebrows, and
(42:21):
we'll be something I think we'll talk about as the
season goes on.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Yeah, definitely. Okay, when we come back, we'll talk about
what is ahead this week in NCAA Women's hockey. Stay
with us on the podcast. We're back with podcast Todd
Nicole here to wrap things up this week with a
look at what we've got coming up in This week's
(42:50):
schedule starts with a Thursday night game Saint Thomas at Wisconsin.
But before we get to that, I want to get
there's a top five series Friday and Sat. Day Number
three Ohio State at number five Minnesota Duluth. Uh that
is uh just looking at players on both sides with
(43:11):
a lot of incredible goaltending. We've seen a lot of
uh frankly amazing goal stats being put up on both
sides at certain times of the year. This this one
could be dynamite between these two teams.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Not only that, but had a really good series between
these two teams last season. They were pretty evenly matched
and so didn't U m D go in there to
start the year and get the couple of wins so
they did. Yeah, just sort of a lot of history.
I'm gonna my bold prediction for this is the the
Jersey Saint Martin revenge game. I feel like she's gonna
(43:53):
she's gonna want to show out a little bit against
Ohio State here. Yeah, like you said, there's just so
many things to like about how the gonna match up
and probably one of the tougher tests for Minnesota Duluth.
So love to see how because so much of what's
been great about that team has been some of the
younger players. That's not to say the veterans haven't been
(44:14):
holding it down. But you know, how do how does
Gascone and Caitlin Kramer and all the rookies, how do
they all do in this series? You know, like that
that first one the first week of less year doesn't
not great in terms of telling us how how things
are going to be handled. And you know that was
sort of Creamer's introduction and she played really well. But
now with all that extra experience, that's the sort of
(44:35):
stuff I'll be looking at. And obviously Ohio State rookies
have been some of the best in the country, so
it'll be interesting to see if we're looking at what
the rookies you are if it's the veterans that they carry.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
The day, you know, yeah, absolutely, Saint Thomas at Wisconsin,
I did mention this is Wisconsin that, like we talked
about before, may have a little bit of a chip
on their shoulder, probably had a a interesting week of
practice after talking leads correct, losing those leads at Saint
(45:07):
Cloud last Saturday. I'm interested to see how that team
looks when they come out of the tunnel on Thursday night.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Also just that it's a Thursday Friday series and like
Mark Johnson does not love when his schedule is different
than but that just changes all the prep, right, Like
you're talking about coming they were on the road coming back,
and how like if you're there's stuff you want to
work on and it's a short week and all that
sort of stuff. So that plays into all of it
as well. And you know, I think this is one
(45:42):
of Saint Thomas's opportunities to really show that what they've
done so far this season can be manifested in games
like this. And they've played well and gotten results about
against some of the other top WHA teams, but generally
haven't done that as much against Wisconsin. So I think
for them it's a big opportunity to show who they
(46:05):
are and what they're capable as well as well. I
think for them that's something that's gonna stick in the
back of their head that that this is sort of
one more giant that they're they're looking to slay a
little bit, right.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
You mentioned Mark Johnson there a minute ago. Mark Johnson
got a contract extension recently in the rays of a
nearly one hundred thousand dollars, so he's he's the already
was the highest paid coach as far as we know
in terms of the contracts that are available, but it's
hard to imagine him not being the highest paid coach
(46:40):
in the country right now now up to five hundred
and fifty thousand dollars a year, which is you know,
more on par quite a bit else is making.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Yeah, it's a twofold because it's you know, generally sucks
how little women's coaches get paid, and that you know
he it does generally, not that he does not just
of it, but I want all of the coaches to have,
you know, while paying jobs and also to be closer
to making what their counterparts coaching men's teams are. This
brings Mark modern. I mean, it's still not going to
be closed, but like this brings Mark more in par
(47:12):
and like what what coaches of men teams are making
some coaches and men's teams are making, and I'd like
to see that for more. So I you know, he
was already making six figures more than others, So I
can't say that I feel like this is gonna like
maybe booster or make other teams like be paying their
coaches more. I'm not sure that that's the case. I
(47:33):
would like for that to be the case, but also
like good for Mark and I guess, uh, it's hard
to praise the Wisconsin Athletic Department, but good on them
for for you know, rewarding what he continues to do
with this program.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
It does speak to the difference in resources between sure.
I mean just that.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
His is probably bigger than several salaries.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
It is, and it's the median of the eleven schools
we were able to get when I when I did
this research on it was going back into the summer.
So I did this research over the you know, for
last years eleven uh coaches whose contracts we could get
(48:22):
because they're at public universities or not named Penn State.
The median was somewhere, I believe it right around one
hundred and fifty thousand. So uh, yeah, now that that's
you know, Mark Johnson's The media is better.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
So I hope that helps people negotiate.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
Well, you make the average better. Yeah, the media is
actually who Obviously it has now moved on to the
p WHL, so I don't actually know what it would.
I'll be getting those numbers eventually, yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
So I hope that at least they can point to
an average and help in negotiating for other coaches.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
De uh E C A C. This week, Clarkson we
mentioned before, got back on track with a big win
against Saint Lawrence and this week hosting number twelve Brown
and number fourteen Yale, we've seen where you know, Yale
obviously had had some difficulty last weekend with Harvard. Brown's
(49:30):
been on a you know it has shown some pretty
good signs.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Yeah, I'm true what to know about Yale at this
I'm not I'm not sure what to think.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
Yeah, right, let's see Clarkson against these two teams and
maybe we'll know a little bit more about what what
the see what we're going to see the rest of
the way.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Yeah, Brown plays a slightly unique style to some of
the other teams that Clarkson Hans beat, and they're just
there's a lot more speed and fast break and a
little bit different style than some of the other teams.
And so I think that could just be an interesting
matchup And how both of those teams handle the other
I think could probably tell us a lot about things
(50:15):
going forward. So less the score line and more how
does Clerks and handle you know, sort of the speed
and the style play for Brown, and if the defense
does do really well again, how does Browns often to adapt?
So those are sort of the details that I'll be
watching for those games.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Yep, New Hall leaders Saint Anselm against second place Assumption
in a home and home series Friday and Saturday. We
mentioned that before, but this is a an opportunity for
Saint Anselm to really take a firm grip on first place.
Not that they don't have it already up eight points,
but they even more so kind of says it's it's
(50:56):
gonna be tough to pull back and pull ahead of Hard.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
To say this before Thanksgiving, but it does feel like
Assumption has to take some points here for this to
be like this is a big marker for them. If
they take no points this weekend, I feel like you
kind of have to take them out of serious running
for at least unlessen things treating drastically. It's real early
to be saying that, but Saint Anselm's lead is such
(51:23):
that I think unless they get slowed down a little
here by the team closest to them, I can't imagine
there will be an opportunity to make up that kind
of ground.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
Anything else you're looking forward to this week, A lot
of stuff going on between college and.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
P w H there will be several screens happening in
my living or no, I'm thrilled for the PWHL to
be starting it does you know it gets a little overwhelming,
and from a journalist's side, to try and cover it all,
it's die on impossible. But you know, I'm always happy
for more hockey, and there's just so many things that
have changed in the pub from rosters and the new
(52:01):
teams and all that sort of stuff. So I'm I'm
just typed to see all of that, and I love
how much I'm excited for this weekend. But I love
how much the peed dub plays during the week. I
think there's probably some argument in terms of like how
that affects it like in house attendance, but it's really nice,
like for several nights a week to just be able
to turn on free YouTube top tier women's hockey at
(52:24):
pretty much any given moment. And so I will not
lie about that. That's that's my probably my favorite part
of the league. I'd be sad if they move truly
to only weekend games, but yeah, I the idea that
I can sit down this weekend and just disappear watching
a bunch of hockey will be pretty awesome, and it
helps that Wisconsin series being like the I always have
(52:47):
to get decide between going to Madison to watch the
games in person or to stay home because being outside
of Madison, Like if I go to a game, that's
the whole day and I'm not watching a ton of
other hockey, so that there's day st Thomas means I
get to go watch that really hold this weekend watching
everything else, which will be nice, right all right.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
We hope you enjoy watching the hockey, whichever game or
games they happen to be this weekend, and thanks for
joining us on the podcast. For Nicole on Todd, we'll
talk to you next week
Usccho dot com. I had welcome to the podcast on
Todd Malusky here when Nicole Hosey. We're from us cho
dot com and we are here to talk women's hockey
with you. We've got a little bit of WHL talk
about as we answered the regular season later this week.
But let's get right into the NCAA weekend that we
(00:27):
saw just a few days ago. Nicole, they the big
series for me was Colgate and Cornell going into the weekend,
and it did deliver. Colgate handing Cornell its first loss
of the season three nothing on Friday, Cornell beating Colgate
in overtime on Saturday after being down two goals in
(00:50):
the second period. I think good, good things on both
sides there. We had talked about Colgate needings to build
something and this being a great opportunities. Well they did
that on Friday, not far away from getting a sweep,
but would have been a really big sweep. But Cornell
the show a bounce back and get right back into
(01:11):
it on the second gay second day.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, I think it's two things right. It was signs
of life from Colgate and like not just with the win,
but it was an okay first period and then they
must have had one heck of an intermission, and they
came out and scored, you know, two goals and seventy
seconds to start the second And that's you know, that's
how you turn the tables, that's how you that's what
you build on all the sort of stuff we've been
talking about sort of hypothetically for teams that need to
(01:35):
get back into it. I felt like Colgate went out
and did, you know, sort of exactly what they want
to do in that game, and then you know, had
a solid game in the second game too, And and
for Cornell it was that ability to fight back and
come back right when you've started off undefeated and you know,
sort of all those cliches, but it's the things that
you that adverse you need to face and you want
(01:55):
to be doing that now in the first half and
before we get to you know, February. So I thought
for both teams, there was just so much to like
about what they did and just to like to keep
showing and building on them. So yeah, for Colgate, I thought, wow, okay,
this is like where has this been? So I don't
know what needed to happen or what had what clicked
for them, If it was that it was that rivalry game,
(02:17):
but it felt like the pieces game together for them
in a different way this weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, I thought so. And that first game, it's not
like that was a fluke or anything. They outshot Cornell
forty four to twenty, so you could say that that
game was definitely in their their their side the whole way.
Brooke Davis made twenty saves for the shutout, and like
you mentioned, Alexis Petford and Emma Gervais Beauchamp got goals
in the first minute ten seconds of the second period
(02:44):
and away they went. After a kind of a seemed
like a little bit of a feeling out first period
and it had had some chances and then it did
go Colgate's direction in the second period. There So, that
being Cornell's first leaves Penn State as the only undefeated
team left in women's hockey. The Penn State is now
(03:06):
fourteen and oher and running away with things in Atlantic
Hockey America as we talked about before, but Cornell Correl
Prefontein and giving the overtime goal in the Saturday game
important for the Big Red there down like I mentioned,
three to one second period to find their way back,
and that's a something that is going to I think payoff.
(03:29):
Throughout the season. You see teams always ask, well, how
do we do when we face some adversity. Well, there
it was, you lost one, you're down by a couple
of goals. Let's see what you've got. And I think
Cornell showed us something there.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, I will say too though, I think maybe the
one sort of question mark or the little wobble is
that everyone in their goals with special teams and so
there's absolutely positive of call your way back and also
taking advantage of the opportunities presented to you, but also
not great that they're not scoring you know, at even
strength there and so it was at even strength a
(04:02):
bit of a struggle for them at times, so you know,
things to build on and learn from, and just overall, yeah,
I felt like both of those teams has to come
away from that weekend pretty happy. I mean, the way
things are going, you know, Cornell probably felt like they
could sweep that weekend and things like that. So there's
some disappointment there, but with the way the games played out,
I think they both come away from that, like the
with the points, but also with the lessons learned and
(04:24):
the stuff that's going to help them for the rest
of the season.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, a couple of other results in ECAC last week
that worth mentioning, Harvard getting a four to one win
against Number ten Yale on Friday, Emily Davidson making forty
three saves for the Crimson There. That's the team we
haven't talked a lot about over the last few years.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
No, they had their worst season in like program history
last season. Like they've struggled, So I assumed that's what
we were going to see more of, right, Like, they
definitely weren't on my radar to be doing what they're
they've been doing so far.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
So yeah, even I mean I think early in the
season it's uh, you know, they start later than everyone else.
We've we've talked about that before. But finding finding some
some wins here and there is big for that program
to rebuild. I don't know where they are necessarily in
that or whether you even call it a rebuild given
the way things kind of shift year to year anyway,
(05:22):
but if if you can you can put some some
roots down there in terms of how you're going to
move forward, Uh, that's that's a good way to do it.
Especially against Yale, which we know Harvard and Yale have
a pretty spirited rivalry in all sports.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, I mean there not only are they just like
getting the wins and getting the results, but they're you know,
they're scoring almost a goal more per game, or I
think it's over a goal at this point. They're allowing
a goal fewer per game, like all of those metrics
that you want to see. And and it's just true
too that like winning the gets for their winning, right,
Like if you're when they have their worst record program history,
(06:00):
they're not, it's not great to show recruits, right, So
like when you start getting those wins, it's kind of
some of the stuff we've talked about with Brown and
Dartmouth over the last couple of years. They don't have
the same story history as Harvard, but you gotta you
have to show that work to improvement to pull in
those recruits. So it's this like building process, and I
feel like what Harvard is doing this year is showing
that like that season. I mean, it hasn't been great
(06:22):
for a couple of years, but last season being the
worst like that is the anomaly and not not what
we want this program to be. You know, there's been
a lot of changes there over the last couple of years.
You've you know, you've kind of got your your coach
getting settled and getting her own, you know, her own
stamp on a program that was coached by the same
person for decades. So yeah, I just think like there's
there's nothing but good to see out of what's coming
(06:43):
out of Harvard so far the season.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Yeah, Harvard five four and one overall of three four
and one in ACAC play. So yeah, not you know,
not a bad start for a team that, like you said,
had it just a year to forget a year ago
and it seemed like nothing it right. Having having something
go right fairly early an important step there. Also rewinding
(07:08):
a little bit further. Last week, there was a midweek
game number twelve. Clarkson got a six to one win
over Saint Lawrence on Wednesday last week. Uh, that one.
I felt like that was an important one for Clarkson.
You know, midweek games you never really know where you
know what's going to show up sometimes, especially then you
don't play the following weekend. It's you've got a little
(07:30):
bit of time off for Clarkson to come out and
get a big win. In that game. I think it
was impressive, and especially after having just kind of a
really rough stretch of things Tige with Quinnipiac scoreless tie.
(07:50):
I believe it was if I remember it right in
Princeton losing there, we were.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Worry about Clarkson scoring goals, right, like, yeah, really, it's fine,
it's all fine.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah. Six, that's a big one.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, uh yeah, I agree. I think that was a
really important sort of statement bounce back, however you want
to say it, and it's I mean, it's obviously things
were low, but I think just sort of shaking off
what happened before and like you said, making having that
really and that's a big rivalry from them. We talked
about those skills are literally you know, a couple miles apart,
and I think, yeah, that was that's their their daytime game,
(08:26):
and just there's so many good things that happened there
for them to come away with and really sort of
prop up the last few weeks before they head into
the break over.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
In the WHA, we had Saint Cloud State hosting number
one Wisconsin and the first game in a five to
one for Wisconsin, but the Huskies. I was impressed. On
Saturday with the number of times that they rebounded and
responded to Wisconsin goals and getting a four to four tie.
Wisconsin did win the shootout after that, so they took
(08:58):
five or six points, but Amelia Kurico fifty two saves
in that one, returning from injury, kind of showing what
Saint Cloud had been missing a little bit over the
last few weeks. And just for Saint Cloud to we've
talked about this plenty of times, you know, it's it's
tough to to make any headway in the WHA. For
(09:22):
them to get even that kind of resultant show that look,
you know, yeah, whatever has happened happened, but we're not
backing down in our own building. To come back from
two goals down and then caught back up, made three
to three, went down again, but with the power play
goal by Wisconsin and then Maria mckaylien. Sorry I probably
(09:45):
get that wrong.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
She's Russian, so I think it's Mikauelien, but support on.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
The power play three forty six left to make it
four to four. So impressive result, if not the full
result that Saint Cloud would have won.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
For sure, but you could see we've talked in past
and like some of the teams maybe from the bottom
and the half the standings might steal some points. These
weren't stolen points, Like though they honestly probably should have
won that game, Like they made Wisconsin look bad, and
every time Wisconsin, you know, sort of found their depth
and do what they do is one of the top
teams in the country. They were still able to answer.
(10:20):
And I think, like that's such a crucial point to
what happened there. I mean, some of it was teasing,
I think, but I saw some talk on social about
like how I think Saint Cloud is like four four
nine and one something like that, Like how they're still
ranked as high as they are in them It's like,
because look at that game. They're in these really tough games.
They're not getting blown out from them. They're winning the
(10:40):
games they should win, and they're coming close in the
games against teams that are significantly more and better restores
and stronger than they are. You know, I think like
there's really there is a valid conversation to have there
about how much you want to weigh some of that stuff.
I don't think it's a nonsense conversation, but I also
think that people are not if you just look at
(11:01):
that record, like that's not fair to Saint Cloud State either,
and I don't I think a lot of other teams
that are currently raked would not have as good of
a record on Saint Cloud's schedule as Saint Cloud currently has.
And I just kind of want to shout out too,
Like I think I have talked a bunch about some
of the freshmen, especially some of the European freshmen on
Ohio State and Minnesota and some of the other schools.
(11:22):
Maria is someone that has been I think a little
under the radar coming out of Russia, like we're not
getting as much, you know, sort of information or things
like that, and she has been a huge, huge addition
to that roster. She so I was looking up, but
she played a little bit with Nu Ratu at the
krs Vanka Raise and that was the connection to get
(11:45):
her to Saint Cloud and to meet Brian Atulski to
get recruited and just like what a huge, huge addition
for them. She's just she is so dynamic. She impressed
me so many times already so far this season, and
that you know, there are a dozen games in or
whatever it is. So she's someone that I think needs
to be on more radars for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
On the other side of that is a Wisconsin team that,
like you mentioned, there had some stretches where it just
didn't look very good last week coming off of a bye,
you know, a bye when they had you know, five
of their players at the rivalry series. So it's it's
a little bit different.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
But but they had their full roster for the first
time in weeks, and they looked slow, they looked they
made there was a lot of turnovers, a lot of
defense on the stakes, some of the same stuff we
saw against Minnesota a few weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I don't know, man, it was not it was not
a good look.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
No, And that's uh, you know, it has to be
a little bit of a concern if there's I mean,
I think there's points that you can say, well, look,
this is probably pretty correctable for a lot of the things,
because it was some of it was, you know, there
I think some effort questions. I think there were some
(12:59):
you know, a detailed kind of things that yeah, it's
probably good for them every once in a while to
you know, get callid, you know, to pay the price
and for those things to then mean something and be
able to turn it right back around in practice because
(13:19):
the quality is obviously no lower there than it has been.
So it's a matter of you know, putting it together,
and that's that's really what it comes down to.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, I think the it's not necessarily that it was
a bad game, that's concerning it's for me partly that
it was the second one that we're seeing some of
the same stuff that went poorly against Minnesota and led
told that loss, and then also that it came off
the bye week, and as you said, there are asterisks
to that, but this is a team, you know, Mark
Johnson and even the players we're talking about how important
that weekend off and some of that was. And so
(13:53):
to come out looking like this after that bit was
a little like that's not great, guys. And again, like
we have talked about it as much since the beginning
of the season, but with the Olympic stuff like that,
none of this is getting any easier. And so if
this is what you're doing with your full roster, then yeah,
there's work to be done, right, Like there's there's just
(14:13):
there's a lot of things that you have to be
unhappy with there. So and and also like I think
It's one of those things where they're their own worst
enemy and that they've set their own expectations really high,
Like we know how good they can play, we know
what Mark Johnson expects from them. So when you see
some of the like some of the laziness and the
effort stuff, it's a little like mmmm huh.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
But that being said, I think if that persists, they've
kind of quite the bench and that player. Those players
just won't be on the ice anymore so or won't
be on the ice as much. So Yeah, but the
effort thing is just very strange. But you got to
remember too that they're they're still really young kids, right like,
even though we think of them as professionals and some
of them are gonna be Olympians, you're still talking uh,
(14:57):
developing minds and developing players. So yeah, I think there's
some mastress and also kind of like what you're talking
about with Clarkson, right Like, if that continues, I have concerns.
And Clarkson went out and did not continue it, so
maybe that will happen again. But yes, it's it's one
of those like I'm in a bookmark that and remember
this and think about it in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Right also in the WCHA, Minnesota loose number five team
in the country as of last week, got a sweep
at Saint Thomas number fifteen three to one on Friday,
four to two on Saturday. E f gascon on Saturday
with thirty five saves to complete the sweep. And that's
you know, it feels like you're definitely seeing that division
(15:41):
forming in the WHA between the top four and the
bottom four. There's not a lot of question. That's that's
the way it is. Again.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Absolutely the sort of you know appendix that is that
I thought, you know, those were I thought Minnesota Duluth
dominated the games, they were in control of the games,
but Saint Thomas was in both of the games. And
I think that for them is the thing that they
have to take away from it that it wasn't you know,
again the idea of like they're not sealing goals and
(16:09):
things like that, They're they're holding some possession and making
some really good plays and needing to be able to
put it all together. But those are pretty close results
for Saint Thomas in that situation. And so I think, yes,
we have the dividing line. And also there are you
know positive to see you know what could be coming
as well?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
In Hockey East last week we had a rivalry series
between Boston College and Boston University, and BC got a
sweep of that home and home set, five to two
at home on Thursday, three to two on Friday at
BU at Agaanis Arena. I believe that one was or
what did they play that at Walter Brown we had
to listed as a gain. Yeah, okay, So going to
(16:52):
the third period on Thursday and then BC broke it
open with three goals in the first six minutes on
Friday two two game late in the third and Emma
Connor scores for a three to two lead, and the
Eagles salt that one away to move to seven six
and one overall and sending BU to two and ten.
(17:14):
We've talked before about BU struggling. We've talked before about
BC doing a little bit of a surprising too. I
think were we saw both of those happen on the
same weekend.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah, I mean one of the things that BC has
I think struggled with over the past few seasons is
like sort of that consistency to put up a good
result followed up by more good results and taking advantage
of opportunities in front of them. You know, obviously, I
think Northeastern has really stepped it up there. They set
up program record for consecutive wins to start their conference season.
(17:47):
But BC's hanging with them, and I think, you know
that Northeastern is doing better but isn't where they had
been in the past few seasons. And BC is really
consistently going out and not just win games, but you know,
winning close games. You know, they've had some of those
late goals. It's just sort of all those little things
that we kind of want to see from a team
(18:08):
that that's really going to fight for that that top position.
I just think that they're putting things together really nicely
as opposed to like possibly having one or two good games,
if that makes sense. That it's really sort of building
on each other and stringing stuff together. That's the part
that's impressive impressing me so far this season.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Also, a big crowd there on Friday, it was I
believe that BEU for for a special night there, right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
They set a Home and Hockey East home attendance record
with thirty nine, one hundred and sixty five people. The
previous record was set at Aganas I say it differently
than you, and I don't I assume you know it better,
is it aghanis?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
I don't honestly know. No, I don't.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
I went from Boston will tell usons. Sure, but that
is eleven hundred more people that had set the record
at this game last season. So obviously not the result
that be wanted, but really cool. We just don't see
those third of crowds at women's hockey in Boston right now.
Just there's a lot of different things that people can
and get themselves entertained with, and so I like seeing
(19:09):
these bigger crowds out there. The players deserve it, and uh,
you know, maybe p WHL's helping that, whatever it is.
I hope we see more of these, you know, multi
thousand crowds out in the Boston area for these teams.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Delaware getting its first Atlantic Hockey victory on Friday, beating
Linden went five to three, Caitlyn fin again scoring two
goals there. So that's two wins now for Delaware. Every
every milestone, you know, means something when you're building a program,
and and so getting a first conference whin I know
has to be has to be big for for for Delaware.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah, absolutely, And I just think like we've seen like
it's really hard to start from scratch, and it's like,
you know, Saint Thomas at least was playing NCAA, Like
these guys weren't having weren't even doing that right, like
it was a club team. And so I'm just really
impressed with what they've been able to do in terms
of not just results, but sort of how they're playing
(20:06):
in games and how they're showing out in these very
first few games as a brand new NCAA program. So yeah,
like you said that, that first conference is a big one. Also,
they're all blue jerseys. They're like bright blue jerseys. I
think I said this on social like so good, such
a good look. Uh so you know, always nice to
look nice while you're doing it too.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Absolutely, Uh, Mercy Hearrison rit interesting set of results there
one nothing for one nothing for rit on Saturday. I
guess they were close, Yeah, Magdalena uh Logan Luggan not sure.
Mercy Herris's goalie twenty four saves Friday. Sophia Bolina forty
(20:49):
six says for RT Saturday. So that's and those are
the teams that you were kind of in that race
for second place. So them splitting and stay continuing to
win means now Penn State's sixteen points clear of Mercers,
a top Atlantic Hockey America, so that one that one
could be over by first week in January, second week
(21:11):
in January.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
It's uh yeah, I wanted to point when you mentioned
Penn Cate before two, like, not only are they on
this massive win streak, like they outscored I think it
was what it was like fifty, I don't remember they
outscored the point, it's like seventeen to They had like
an eleven goal game this weekend, and I believe Tessagenik
he had won or had assists. Like it's not again,
they're not just relying on her, like just complete dominance
(21:36):
from the Nitney Alliance. And then I'm sorry, I wanted
to go back with our Merciers. The weird thing is
what we've been seeing a ton in splits is sort
of really like opposite results like a team, I mean
kind of like Wisconsin this weekend too, like you win
five to one, but then you need to win in
a shootout the second game. We're not seeing a lot
of one oh one oh splits. It's been a lot more,
(21:58):
a lot more parody, a lot less instancy.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I was just like looking at at Ri T and like, yeah,
they're you know, their last couple series they lost to
linden Wood on Halloween three nothing and then one seven
to one the next day. Right like they lost to
Syracuse five to two and then one four to one
the next day. Like we're seeing these crazy switches between
the first and second game of the series. So to
me on one O games is actually kind of weird
(22:24):
from what we've been seeing so far this season.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yeah, I want to mention in Neuha, sant Anselm beat
Long Island two one and eight to two to move
eight points ahead of Assumption. Uh, so that that's actually,
you know, the the second biggest lead Penn State, obviously
having the big lead in Atlantic hockey. Uh, sant Ansel
eight points in New Ha. Everything else is within a
(22:50):
point and a half. Sant Ansel pushing ahead here and
it has a big one coming up this week with
a home and home against Assumption, who's in second, So
that could that could really extend that or Assumption can
get right back in.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah, and just shout out Assumption for like solidly in
second place too, again just like not where we thought
the team would be at this point. So going into
this season like they're they're actually think sort of massively
overperforming from what they've done in the past, and they're
doing it consistency, consistently. But yeah, sat anslom is just
on this like they're not splitting their series right, like
(23:26):
they're taking They're taking the points every weekend and that's
what's made this big difference. There's been some great parody
on the rest of the conference where you're seeing these
really interesting, you know, results back and forth over a weekend,
and with st Anselm being able to take all six
points or most of the points every weekend, it's uh,
that's making a huge difference for their lead conference.
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Okay, that wraps up our look back at last week.
We will have more of a look ahead at what's
coming this upcoming weekend in a few minutes, but when
we come back in the next segment, I'll look at
the first weekend of pw HL play. Stay with us
on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast, Todd Nicole. Here,
(24:11):
let's talk some p w h L, which gets it's
third season started on Friday with a pair of games
Toronto at Minnesota and the expansion team Seattle at Vancouver.
And I saw that Golden Eye logo on the center
ice at the Pacific Coliseum and that that looks pretty good.
Just just the logo in this in the center and
(24:33):
nothing else that they did. They did pretty well, now
they did.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
And I have to say I had heard the name
ahead of time, and I wasn't so sure, but the
logo and the messaging around it has all been really good.
And like you said, it looks really awesome there at
that at center right. I mean, that's the only team
that has their own home mice, right that isn't sharing it,
so pretty cool for them. Just a good step forward
(24:59):
for the league as well. And then to have it
look so so pretty is just a sort of cherry
on top. Right.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
So two new teams that are playing right away, I
see Ian Vancouver making an eight team league. What kind
of things do we need to be looking out for
this season? As you know, the there's that means there's
more players in the league, but there's also been more
players coming out of college joining the league. So we're
seeing some some player movement that you know, maybe is
(25:30):
a little unexpected.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Right, and also an uncontinued influx of players international players
coming in. So teams have until Wednesday to the nineteenth
to finalize the rosters. They have to be at twenty three.
So teams have been sending out press releases in the
past two days talking about, you know, sort of who
is no longer on the training camp roster, like where
(25:52):
they're staying, how many they have forwards, defenders, coolies. I
think the one that most caught my eye was Elizabeth
Jageer being drug from the training camp roster from Ottawa,
probably the biggest name that I've seen so far. Obviously
plenty of other recognizable talent as well. I saw Olivia Wallen.
I think one of the things that's interesting is I've
(26:12):
seen some people drop from rosters that were drafted last
season too, and so just not something you necessarily expect
or see. But there's all the players that are dropped
from training camp rosters will be eligible to sign for
other teams. That doesn't mean any of these players aren't
going to play this year, but yeah, it's like that's
a player that regularly got ice time right and spent
(26:37):
a lot of time, you know, helping out her team
and someone who we know is really talented, and I
think it was just surprising. So I think that's going
to continue to happen. I think there's a bigger player pool,
there's a lot more talent out there. I think teams
can be a bit more flexible on like, if this
isn't working, whatever it is, whether it's chemistry, whether it's handedness,
(26:58):
whether it's so one not doing as well on faceoffs,
if they'd like, there's a pretty big pool of other
players to try. And so I think that we're going
to see a bit more movement than maybe people have
thought about or maybe prepared for. There was, you know,
so much upwar with the expanse draft and players moving
from where we expected them to be. I mean, I
(27:20):
still am getting surprised at times when I see there's
been some preseason games and some social media updates and
you're like, oh, right, that player is there now. So
I think that's that's something that I think fans are
just going to have to continue to get used to
until if, or until that changes, and we're just going
to keep having an influx of talent to a limited
number of roster spots, you know, I.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Wondered, I guess over the last few years, not just
this year, but you know, what kind of is going
to be the long term relationship between teams in North
America and teams in Europe because there's no real minor
league here, no no call up sending down, nothing like
that in in any way that's going to get them
(28:05):
keep still playing minutes important minutes in games. I don't know,
do you have a good feeling of like what that
is going to be looking like in coming seasons or
even throughout this season of what? Uh? You know, when
when someone loses a spot in the p WHL and
doesn't look like they're going to get another one, are
(28:26):
they looking to Europe? Are they?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
I mean I think so for sure, just because you
want to if you if your goal is to get
back on a roster like you have to be playing.
So I'm not trying to love like the I don't know.
I think it's implied even if you don't mean it
that like sort of the other leagues are our feeder
leagues to the p WHL, And I don't know that
any of them would love being called back right like that.
(28:48):
They would be the minor leagues to the p dub
So I think there's some carefulness there, but without going
on too far of a tangent, like this is has
been an ongoing problem for the w n b A, right,
so there is a bit of a blueprint in terms
of like more seasons of what does this look like
where there's way more talent coming in than there are
roster spots. And obviously the WNBA has slowly expanded, but
(29:11):
like one of the things they've dealt with is there's
a lot of hardship contracts and things like that because
they don't have this minor league system. What they're trying
to avoid is for you to like take a player
and stash her on like your practice roster and not
let anybody else have her, but also not pay her
and things like that. And so, like I said, I
don't want to get too far off topic, but I
(29:33):
do for people that are interested in that, I think
you can find a lot of writing about how the
WNBA has navigated that, not necessarily always well, but what
are some of the pitfalls and the things that can
come up when you have this huge player pool. And
it doesn't make me wonder if we're gonna like could
we be talking about shifting seasons in terms of like
(29:53):
so you could play overseas and you could play here,
you know, like if there's almost like a back and forth,
and so you can like as we were seeing from
w NBA players when they were going overseas or now
they have you know, the three on three league and
their off season. Uh, I don't know. I don't know
what it's gonna look like. Obviously that all of those
comparisons are not direct, but I do think there are some,
(30:15):
if not blueprints, some some ways to look at things
to be to think outside the box and look at
what you can do to try and retain to retain
that talent and make sure that there's not sort of
the loss of players that suddenly don't have anywhere to play.
But yeah, I do assume that if you're I think
I think one of the things that we probably have
(30:36):
to learn more about is like the fluidity of going
between those two leagues right like maybe intermittently to start,
and how open any of them will be, Like are
we gonna see like almost like two week contracts? But
I don't I don't know that the SDHL is uh
super amenable to being tied, uh, because the conversation has
(31:02):
sort of pitted that as the lesser and I don't
I don't think anybody takes kindly to that. And so yeah,
there's a there's this whole Do I have an answer?
Absolutely not. I'd be hopefully getting paid as a consultant
if I did.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, it's it just doesn't feel like that's a real,
like sustainable two way discussion because you've got leagues in
Europe and Sweden specifically that I do not want to
be seen as second class and and and put forth
a lot of effort to be a top tier option.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Right like before the PWHL.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Ever showed up, right, And so yeah, I don't see
that just being like, oh yeah, we'll statue in Europe
for a while kind of arrangement.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I would also say the SHL is very focused on
like developing Swedish talent first. They take that pride in
like this is our home league, and they there are
rules from the federation about how many players and so
there's also some limits to just how many how much
back like how many spots over there there are for
(32:14):
for saying North American players as well, So they still
want to be using that is their big development tool.
For their own international teams and programs, and so that
I think puts a little bit of a hamper on
any of those discussions as well.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
So what players that just came out of college last
year should we be looking for this year? And the
p WHLS has having a chance of you know, putting
on a pretty good show in the opportunities that they
get to play well.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I mean, I think we're both probably a little a
little biased on this one, but obviously I'm a big
case O'Brien fan. First of all, I just think she's
she's super talented and we've seen, you know, sort of
close hand, all of the things she's all the work
she's put in sort of each year she picked a
skill and really like you know, toned it, and I
mean she has put in. She's a naturally talented, very
(33:04):
fastcater that also put in a lot of work to
like round out her game. And New York officially announced
that she assigned a one year contract on Tuesday, So
that's great. And I also think that, like when he
saw some of the preseason games she was playing, even
though she wasn't yet officially contracted or at least had
been announced, she and Sarah Filiate and Culti Cultonkova basically
(33:26):
ran the show like that is a three headed monster
that all can do a lot of really good stuff.
Can you know, have power from distance, can put handle
really well, can win face offs, can go on breakaways,
and so I think Culti and that was such a
master move from the Sirens at that draft to get
both those two players to make that trade and get
(33:47):
that that I can't imagine that. That's not like those
two aren't the two that we're gonna be talking about
and seeing and then you sort of like install them
online with Sarahffiliated, It's like, well, that's seems a little
unfair to everybody else. But of course New York's had
a great roster for two seasons and not produced. So
(34:07):
I think there's always that I am yet to go
all in on the Sirens until I see them, Like
at this point, any Sirens fan is a little burnt
for the last two seasons and worrying but not answering
Rocky question. But the other line that I saw during
creaseson was Abby rock in Montreal, which everyone needs to
remember that's where she is now. But she was on
(34:28):
a line with Laura Cec and Pulan and that is
a lot of not just hockey skill, but a lot
of like spatial and and like with the the rules
in the PWHL with more contact, like those are all
like really heavy players that really fight for space on
the Yeah, like you're not knocking any of them on
(34:48):
their butt real easy. So that is a bit of
a I mean, I don't want to imply that there
is not also skill and like grace, but there's a
bit of a like cannon ball bullet at China Shop.
It is to that and like the best possible way
to that line as well, like they are, I would
not want to be standing between them and what they
(35:09):
want to be doing. And any one of the three
of them can do something magical with the puck to
put it in the back of the net, which that's
another It's another line that if that's what they stick with,
is going to cause a lot of problems. And it's
not as though Montreal has struggled with offense in the
past few seasons.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Yes, New York and Ottawa open in Ottawa on Saturday
nights Sunday afternoon. Montreal is at Boston. You can find
where these games are on TV or streaming on the
PWHL website. They've done a pretty good job of giving
where all the opportunities, all the the regional carriers that
(35:51):
are going to be having those games, where you can
find those are available on their website.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Yeah, I noted for US, we sometimes hear in Wisconsin
get Frost games either on the regional network or on
their alternate station, but it seemed to be kind of
hit and miss. I never knew when that was going
to be the case, and so again obviously just talking
from experience, but looking at the schedules this year, there's
a lot more information there about like what secondary or
alternate channels or regional networks might be showing it. I
(36:19):
saw my Facts nine or my Fox nine plus is
going to show more of the Minnesota games, which is
cool too, but also in the US, like it's always
going to be on YouTube and it's always going to
be on PWHL dot com. So it's probably a little
concerning that we're in the third season and not talking
about a national broadcast for the PWHL. You and I
(36:41):
were talking, you know, before we started recording. With the
return of the NPS NBC Sports Network, could we see
something tied into the Olympics and raised interest there. We
don't know, puer speculation, but you know, things like that
make you wonder. But also, all the games are available
free on YouTube, and that I think makes me less
(37:02):
worried about that broadcast. I mean, I think we want
them to get the money from broadcasting a lot of
that sort of stuff, But in terms of like accessibility,
like the games are super easy to see, and.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
That YouTube really hits the demographic that they're looking for
right where they are, but is not the most lucrative, right, Like,
you're not not the highest dollar figure platform.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yeah, both things are true, right.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
Like, Oh yeah, that's that's part of having you know,
an emerging league and emerging platform and a very.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Busy sports season. Yes, yeah, like there's just a lot
going on, like football is still happening, and yeah, you know,
like there's just there's so many things on on any
given weekend that I can imagine that it's difficult to
find that. But I also don't think that let's anyone
off the hook. I do think that needs to be
you know, one of the top priorities. Oh, we should
(37:58):
talk about there were two rules changes as well. They
took away coaches challenges, which is super interesting. Interesting there
was on Tuesday that I haven't yet listened to, which
I'm assuming we'll hear more about it from that. I
apologize for talking over you, but yeah, the coaches challenge
thing is fascinating, right.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
It if if it's meant to take it all and
put it all in the hands of a review center,
I get that, but they've got to be tasked and
you know, confident enough to say we're stepping in whenever
we need to step in.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
And has not been consistent in the link for two years,
Like it's probably been the biggest talking point, the inconsistency,
mostly because these are not refs employed specifically by the league.
These are officials that work a ton of different places.
They tried to track I remember the first year. I
mean there were so many officials that did one or
(38:59):
two games all season, Like it's really hard to get
used to the rules and knowing how to call it.
I mean, heck, we're seeing we see bad officiating in
college from the same officials we've been watching for twenty years,
so I can only imagine. But you know, it wasn't
set up for them to succeed. So now changing this
in a situation where we know the officials. I mean
they also created an officials task for us. Who knows
(39:20):
if that means anything worthwhile, But yeah, I don't love
it in terms of that, like knowing how bad the
officiating has been by bad I meaning consistent.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Yeah, well, and that is a I'm torn a lot
between the you know, the intent of replay is to
reverse obvious mistakes.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
It's twenty minutes looking at an iPad on a folding table.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Well, not to litigate someone's toe being over a line
or you know, on an offside. I have the biggest
problem with offside challenges, and so seeing those go away,
I'm I'm not upset about that. Yeah, I understand there's
a there's a possibility that you uh uh, you know,
(40:11):
officialized missed an obvious It feels like you went.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
From feast to famine, Like is there no middle ground?
Like I yeah, I don't know. I can't imagine. I
imagine the conversations and that were super interesting, and uh.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
I think it will be one of those where I
guess we'll have to wait and see how that plays out.
But as you said, sort of entrusting it entrusting it
to a center group means that that center group has
to be willing to step in and make the calls.
And I'm guessing part of this conversation is to speed
up the games and stop all the challenges. But like,
does that mean that the people and send the central
(40:49):
are gonna like way you were about, like, is this
a thing? We're stopping the game? You know what I'm saying, Like,
it feels like there need to be some sort of
more hard and fast rules, which at least there were
for coaches.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
So and I'm I'm much more I'm much more in
favor of the NHL way of doing things with coaches
challenges than the college way where in college you if
you have a timeout and you challenge, and you the
call isn't reversed, you just lose the time out. In
the NHL, any challenge that isn't appell or that it
(41:20):
does not result in a reversal is a minor penalty.
And I think that that puts enough on the line
too to slow a lot of the Wow, let's just
challenge because we can, uh so that we see in yeah,
which yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
If you had already used your time out, you would
get a penalty in college, but that we haven't really
seen that come up too much. I don't see a
ton of usage of timeouts except for towards the end
of a game when we're you know, trying to double
double shift and things like that. So yeah, interesting for sure.
That's a wait and see, I think, but certainly something
(41:59):
to watch for. The other was about mandatory third goalie
that can be dressed if someone gets injured, which frankly
just only makes sense. So that one both pretty low
stakes overall. I mean, I think it has a big impact,
but I think everybody looked at that one. Yeah, of course,
but the coaches challenged things certainly raise the eyebrows, and
(42:21):
we'll be something I think we'll talk about as the
season goes on.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
Yeah, definitely. Okay, when we come back, we'll talk about
what is ahead this week in NCAA Women's hockey. Stay
with us on the podcast. We're back with podcast Todd
Nicole here to wrap things up this week with a
look at what we've got coming up in This week's
(42:50):
schedule starts with a Thursday night game Saint Thomas at Wisconsin.
But before we get to that, I want to get
there's a top five series Friday and Sat. Day Number
three Ohio State at number five Minnesota Duluth. Uh that
is uh just looking at players on both sides with
(43:11):
a lot of incredible goaltending. We've seen a lot of
uh frankly amazing goal stats being put up on both
sides at certain times of the year. This this one
could be dynamite between these two teams.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Not only that, but had a really good series between
these two teams last season. They were pretty evenly matched
and so didn't U m D go in there to
start the year and get the couple of wins so
they did. Yeah, just sort of a lot of history.
I'm gonna my bold prediction for this is the the
Jersey Saint Martin revenge game. I feel like she's gonna
(43:53):
she's gonna want to show out a little bit against
Ohio State here. Yeah, like you said, there's just so
many things to like about how the gonna match up
and probably one of the tougher tests for Minnesota Duluth.
So love to see how because so much of what's
been great about that team has been some of the
younger players. That's not to say the veterans haven't been
(44:14):
holding it down. But you know, how do how does
Gascone and Caitlin Kramer and all the rookies, how do
they all do in this series? You know, like that
that first one the first week of less year doesn't
not great in terms of telling us how how things
are going to be handled. And you know that was
sort of Creamer's introduction and she played really well. But
now with all that extra experience, that's the sort of
(44:35):
stuff I'll be looking at. And obviously Ohio State rookies
have been some of the best in the country, so
it'll be interesting to see if we're looking at what
the rookies you are if it's the veterans that they carry.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
The day, you know, yeah, absolutely, Saint Thomas at Wisconsin,
I did mention this is Wisconsin that, like we talked
about before, may have a little bit of a chip
on their shoulder, probably had a a interesting week of
practice after talking leads correct, losing those leads at Saint
(45:07):
Cloud last Saturday. I'm interested to see how that team
looks when they come out of the tunnel on Thursday night.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Also just that it's a Thursday Friday series and like
Mark Johnson does not love when his schedule is different
than but that just changes all the prep, right, Like
you're talking about coming they were on the road coming back,
and how like if you're there's stuff you want to
work on and it's a short week and all that
sort of stuff. So that plays into all of it
as well. And you know, I think this is one
(45:42):
of Saint Thomas's opportunities to really show that what they've
done so far this season can be manifested in games
like this. And they've played well and gotten results about
against some of the other top WHA teams, but generally
haven't done that as much against Wisconsin. So I think
for them it's a big opportunity to show who they
(46:05):
are and what they're capable as well as well. I
think for them that's something that's gonna stick in the
back of their head that that this is sort of
one more giant that they're they're looking to slay a
little bit, right.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
You mentioned Mark Johnson there a minute ago. Mark Johnson
got a contract extension recently in the rays of a
nearly one hundred thousand dollars, so he's he's the already
was the highest paid coach as far as we know
in terms of the contracts that are available, but it's
hard to imagine him not being the highest paid coach
(46:40):
in the country right now now up to five hundred
and fifty thousand dollars a year, which is you know,
more on par quite a bit else is making.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Yeah, it's a twofold because it's you know, generally sucks
how little women's coaches get paid, and that you know
he it does generally, not that he does not just
of it, but I want all of the coaches to have,
you know, while paying jobs and also to be closer
to making what their counterparts coaching men's teams are. This
brings Mark modern. I mean, it's still not going to
be closed, but like this brings Mark more in par
(47:12):
and like what what coaches of men teams are making
some coaches and men's teams are making, and I'd like
to see that for more. So I you know, he
was already making six figures more than others, So I
can't say that I feel like this is gonna like
maybe booster or make other teams like be paying their
coaches more. I'm not sure that that's the case. I
(47:33):
would like for that to be the case, but also
like good for Mark and I guess, uh, it's hard
to praise the Wisconsin Athletic Department, but good on them
for for you know, rewarding what he continues to do
with this program.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
It does speak to the difference in resources between sure.
I mean just that.
Speaker 2 (47:55):
His is probably bigger than several salaries.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
It is, and it's the median of the eleven schools
we were able to get when I when I did
this research on it was going back into the summer.
So I did this research over the you know, for
last years eleven uh coaches whose contracts we could get
(48:22):
because they're at public universities or not named Penn State.
The median was somewhere, I believe it right around one
hundred and fifty thousand. So uh, yeah, now that that's
you know, Mark Johnson's The media is better.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
So I hope that helps people negotiate.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
Well, you make the average better. Yeah, the media is
actually who Obviously it has now moved on to the
p WHL, so I don't actually know what it would.
I'll be getting those numbers eventually, yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
So I hope that at least they can point to
an average and help in negotiating for other coaches.
Speaker 1 (49:08):
De uh E C A C. This week, Clarkson we
mentioned before, got back on track with a big win
against Saint Lawrence and this week hosting number twelve Brown
and number fourteen Yale, we've seen where you know, Yale
obviously had had some difficulty last weekend with Harvard. Brown's
(49:30):
been on a you know it has shown some pretty
good signs.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Yeah, I'm true what to know about Yale at this
I'm not I'm not sure what to think.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
Yeah, right, let's see Clarkson against these two teams and
maybe we'll know a little bit more about what what
the see what we're going to see the rest of
the way.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Yeah, Brown plays a slightly unique style to some of
the other teams that Clarkson Hans beat, and they're just
there's a lot more speed and fast break and a
little bit different style than some of the other teams.
And so I think that could just be an interesting
matchup And how both of those teams handle the other
I think could probably tell us a lot about things
(50:15):
going forward. So less the score line and more how
does Clerks and handle you know, sort of the speed
and the style play for Brown, and if the defense
does do really well again, how does Browns often to adapt?
So those are sort of the details that I'll be
watching for those games.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
Yep, New Hall leaders Saint Anselm against second place Assumption
in a home and home series Friday and Saturday. We
mentioned that before, but this is a an opportunity for
Saint Anselm to really take a firm grip on first place.
Not that they don't have it already up eight points,
but they even more so kind of says it's it's
(50:56):
gonna be tough to pull back and pull ahead of Hard.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
To say this before Thanksgiving, but it does feel like
Assumption has to take some points here for this to
be like this is a big marker for them. If
they take no points this weekend, I feel like you
kind of have to take them out of serious running
for at least unlessen things treating drastically. It's real early
to be saying that, but Saint Anselm's lead is such
(51:23):
that I think unless they get slowed down a little
here by the team closest to them, I can't imagine
there will be an opportunity to make up that kind
of ground.
Speaker 1 (51:36):
Anything else you're looking forward to this week, A lot
of stuff going on between college and.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
P w H there will be several screens happening in
my living or no, I'm thrilled for the PWHL to
be starting it does you know it gets a little overwhelming,
and from a journalist's side, to try and cover it all,
it's die on impossible. But you know, I'm always happy
for more hockey, and there's just so many things that
have changed in the pub from rosters and the new
(52:01):
teams and all that sort of stuff. So I'm I'm
just typed to see all of that, and I love
how much I'm excited for this weekend. But I love
how much the peed dub plays during the week. I
think there's probably some argument in terms of like how
that affects it like in house attendance, but it's really nice,
like for several nights a week to just be able
to turn on free YouTube top tier women's hockey at
(52:24):
pretty much any given moment. And so I will not
lie about that. That's that's my probably my favorite part
of the league. I'd be sad if they move truly
to only weekend games, but yeah, I the idea that
I can sit down this weekend and just disappear watching
a bunch of hockey will be pretty awesome, and it
helps that Wisconsin series being like the I always have
(52:47):
to get decide between going to Madison to watch the
games in person or to stay home because being outside
of Madison, Like if I go to a game, that's
the whole day and I'm not watching a ton of
other hockey, so that there's day st Thomas means I
get to go watch that really hold this weekend watching
everything else, which will be nice, right all right.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
We hope you enjoy watching the hockey, whichever game or
games they happen to be this weekend, and thanks for
joining us on the podcast. For Nicole on Todd, we'll
talk to you next week
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