Wrapping up the 2024-25 season with USCHO's awards and storylines we'll remember

Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com wrap up the 2024-25 NCAA women's hockey season on this episode of the PodKaz.

The All-USCHO teams and individual awards are out, and Nicole explains the process and how this year's winners were chosen.

Then we take a look back at some big storylines from the season, including Wisconsin winning its eighth NCAA championship, Boston University going from unranked at the start of the season to Hockey East playoff champion, Cornell getting back to the Frozen Four and more.

And we wrap up with a look at some of the entries in the transfer portal, where teams can remake their roster in the offseason.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for our mailbag? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [e-mail].

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Usccho dot com. Hi, everyone, Welcome to the podcast on
Todd Maleski here with Nicole Hasey, and we are here
for our season.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Wrap up episode.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
The twenty twenty four or twenty five season has come
and gone a six month journey, well add to it
preseason and everything like that, and eight months feels like
more like it. We're going to get into some of
the highlights of what we've seen this season. We're going
to get into some of the departures that we're seeing

(00:38):
through the transfer portal. But first, Nicole, I want to
start our episode today with the uscho dot Com Awards,
which you have so dutifully put together again this season
and you can find those on the website on uscho
dot com. The Division one women's side, this is something

(01:00):
and I know you put a lot of work and
a lot of thought into every year, because I mean,
no one watches more games in NCAA women's hockey than
you do. But I know that you don't take that
for granted, and don't just take it as that you
You you put a lot of work into what these

(01:21):
you know, the first, second, third team, the rookie team,
the player there coaching their Rookie of the Year, all
these things. Mean, can you maybe just kind of give
us an idea of what you go through and how
you do this?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Sure? Thank you. That's so it's such a weird I mean,
I do. I do watch a lot of hockey, and
I do that on purpose because you know, like a
lot of the awards are voted on by people that
don't and I don't necessarily that's not necessarily a bad thing,
like coaches and things like they only get to watch
so much, but it's really hard to get a like

(01:54):
a mac review of everything. And so yeah, it's one
of the reasons I don't go to the rink as
much as I used to is because I realized how
much I can stay home, or how much I can
watch When I stay home. It's always better to see
in person. I hate, especially because some of the bad
streams like you just don't get the same impact. But still, yeah,
so for me, I mean, it's funny you ask because

(02:14):
in this year we kind of like went with what
the national folks went with. But in general, I just
try to take a look at things more than just
the statum lines, or at least more than just scoring
that it's not just about you know, how many points
somebody puts up. You know, we were we were voting
for talking about Sophie Jake's you know, the year before

(02:36):
she won it, right, we were talking about Casey last year.
Just trying to look at overall and really get a
holistic picture of Yes, you know, Wisconsin could still be
a very good team if you took off one of
these scorers. Right, Yes, you know the top teams have
multiple talented players, but like not having that negate who

(02:58):
the people are and just really trying to look at overall,
who are the impact players, Who are the players that
are absolutely making a difference for their team. Yeah, I
don't know what does that answer your questions. It's embarrassing
to think, like like I don't want all that power,
but yeah, I just really try to think about it
in terms of what I've seen throughout the year, how

(03:18):
I see people progress, and to some extent even looking
at you know, maybe like one of the things I
remember thinking about or talking about with Danielle Sir Daphney
was like the way her role changed and through her
time at Colgate, and to me, that really showed what
a strong player she was, that she could play. She
could be the leading scorer, she could be you know,
the person that was was really supporting the rest of

(03:39):
the offense. And to me, that like spoke to the
breath of her game and how talented she really was,
for example. So yeah, I just I don't know, try
to go beyond just the stat lines.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
That is true, but there's also something that's say for
when the set lines are when you're thinking about a
player of the year, when the set lines are what
they ended. Yeah, and I think that was the case
with Casey O'Brien from Wisconsin, who is the USCHL player
there for.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
The second straight year.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Last season, last season she was up there in terms
of scoring at the top and second in the country,
and this year she.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Blew away everyone else.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
It was if you take out her scoring, it looks
a lot closer of our scoring race. But then there's
Casey O'Brien, what ended up seventeen points ahead of everyone else,
set the Wisconsin single season records, set the Wisconsin career
record for points. It just it felt like everything was

(04:44):
pointing that direction, especially going you know, from mid season on,
we knew she had a really good start of the season.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
It was gonna be does she come back after the.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Break and continue that on it And I felt like
she maybe even surpassed it a but what she had
the bar she had set with what she did in
the second half against some really good teams when she
played them.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Right and as the sort of target on Wisconsin back
kept getting bigger and bigger right as that, Like, you know,
they didn't get their first loss till January, and so
I mean, it's not that people didn't know they were
going to be good, but I think the longer that
season went on, the more it was like, we want
to be the team to knock them off. And so, yeah,
she they were getting it. There was no surprises. You
knew that you were going to face this team that

(05:31):
was really, really good, and she was still managing to
do all of those things. And I think too, you know,
it's none of these are meant to be like career awards.
And yet also you can't deny that, like looking again
looking at that bigger picture of like what makes this
like the best player in the country, it's knowing what
she's been able to do sort of over the course

(05:52):
of a season and knowing that she's getting you know,
everybody's best defense, and knowing the work that she's put
on different parts of her game to like keep getting better.
I think all of those things play into it. But yeah,
I don't know that as much as like the other
three top players and her teammates and all the like,

(06:12):
I don't I don't know that you can make a
compelling argument that comes close to what you could make
for Casey this year. Like sometimes I think there are
really good you know, there would be no bad choice
sort of thing, and like I said, certainly no negatives
against KK or Laila or literally any of the other
top ten. I just think in this case, it was
it was pretty cut and tried.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, And I mean we're gonna be talking about Wisconsin
a lot here in this segment because it was. It
was a dominant season by Wisconsin. I mean, thirty eight
one and two end up winning the National Championship, won
the WCHAO both regular season and playoff. We're so far
ahead of everyone in the pair wise. I think that

(06:53):
gets you know, forgotten too, that they end up what
like seven points or an NPI I had of Ohio State,
and then like the gap between first and second was
the same between second and like fourteenth, fifteen something like that.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
I mean they were locked in as the number one
overall seed, like with several weeks.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
To play very early.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, So I mean that's going to come out in
a lot of these awards just because they you know,
I think we saw before the season there was potential
for a team of this caliber and they just did it.
And so that's where we get to talk about Coach
of the year. There there are a few names in
consideration here, but Mark Johnson saw this through from putting

(07:37):
this team together to keeping them on track to getting
you know, the the last win of the season, And
I wonder if you want to talk about what, you know,
what put him over the top for Coach of the
Year in your mind?

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, I think it's it's kind of the same thing
I said with Casey, which is that like there was
that target that everybody knew what was coming, and there
was a lot of pressure on this team, and there
were times when this team was absolutely like sort of dominating,
and they still basically they did everything they set out
to do in really tough circumstances and did it with

(08:19):
the team still all liking each other at the end
and being happy with their coach and sort of all
of that sort of stuff. I mean, this is a
team that handled sort of all the pressure all the like.
They didn't lose that focus, and I think that is
really an underrated part of like kind of any team.
I mean, it would be really easy to go out
there and be like sort of lose, be sloppy and

(08:41):
not stick with what you're supposed to be doing in
these situations. I think like there needs to be credit
given to the fact that like sort of every game
they went out and executed the game plan and there
were bumps in the road, and there was a lot
of distractions and there were things that definitely started to
go wrong, and you know, I think it's really telling
that after a really easy season for them in terms

(09:04):
of not a ton of pumps in the road, you know,
really like leading from start to finish, Like they came
from behind in several games to close out the season.
And I think that says a lot about who they
are as a team, about their culture, about the way
that they were coached. I don't know. I for me,
we talked about Doug Darra at Cornell. We talked about
Tara Watchhorn at BU and I think both are you know,

(09:27):
at the very least honorable mention? If not, like, you know,
how else do you want to look at it? But yeah,
I think part of me in choosing, like last year
we chose Chris Wells at Saint Lawrence because that was
a team that was below five hundred the year before, right,
and like the way that he brought that team together.

(09:48):
But generally, I don't know, I felt like, I don't know,
I just I felt like the fact that Wisconsen sort
of hit bumps in the road, came from behind. But
mostly it's just knowing that you're going to have a
really spectacular team and getting that team to come together
and be better than the sum of its parts and

(10:08):
accomplish that goal. I think it's probably a pretty underrated
thing that Mark did, and I think everybody kind of
saw what kind of coach Mark is with that who
wants it thing?

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Right?

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Like that just feels like that put the exclamation mark
on like what makes him a good coach on why
his players respond so well to him. The fascinating thing
about that to me is that afterwards Mark was like, well,
I wouldn't have wanted it, and he was telling that
to everybody and I just like, it's fascinating to me
to have the confidence in your players to ask them

(10:43):
who wants it? Well, no, and you you wouldn't want
to be in the position of hearing that question from
your coach. The psychology bit of that is fascinating to me.
But yeah, I don't do you Do you have any thoughts?
I mean, you talked to Mark more often than I do.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
I think that Mark.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
This had to be one of his better coaching jobs,
and from the not necessarily from the you know x's
and always getting the skill players to do their things,
but from making sure everyone was, like you referenced before,
on the same page and working towards the same goal
throughout a six month plus season, because like I mentioned,

(11:23):
everyone thought this was a possibility of being a super team,
of being a team of you know stars that we're
going to be seeing in the Olympics next season. But
that doesn't always mean you're going to be able to
pull that together and go towards the one common goal
of the here and now. But I think he did

(11:45):
a pretty good job of of you know, understanding what
he has in the room, letting the room take care
of itself when it needed to.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
And then you know, just kind of being the guiding
hand on the shoulder sometimes. And that's.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
A big part of coaching we always hear is you know,
understanding what you're working with and not trying to.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Force your you know, you're you know, pre.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Ordained thoughts on on on the way a team is
to kind of let them be who they are and
then just kind of adjust yourself to that. And I
think he had to do that at some points this season,
and the results were, you know, obviously really strong, and
like you mentioned, they did it's kind of the difficult

(12:33):
way down the stretch of falling behind in a lot
of games and and and finding the way to come back.
So yeah, I mean it's I don't know that there's
gonna be a lot of disagreement on this one. We
heard from Nadine Mazarral at the Frozen Four that she
had Mark on her first on her ballot for a
Coach of the Year, and I don't think, uh, there
would be a whole lot of people saying, no, that's

(12:55):
a terrible pick.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
It's for a guy in championship. Yeah, I think.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Both Mark having like very little ego in terms of
like understanding that he doesn't need to be the person
in the room. And then also just like managing and
controlling ensuring that the egos of his team didn't get outsized.
I think like that was That's just a really important
part of of what happened in that locker room this year.
I mean, like I remember asking Casey about like the

(13:22):
team playing free and loose and having fun. And when
I had asked Layla about, like, Jesus, you made that
looks like, uh so easy, and she was, and Laila
had said to me, like, it is easy. I'm not
worried about anything. I can play like that because I
trust my teammates and we're so good right now and
we're so deep that if I make a mistake, somebody
else is gonna like pick that up. And she didn't

(13:45):
mean it flippantly, but when I asked Casey about it,
she was like, yeah, but we just need to be
careful that we're still playing our game the Badge way,
like not losing our you know, our habits and all
that stuff that like even when things are going really well.
This was right after the Minnesota, the big Minnesota win
that the team should have been on cloud nine, and
Casey's thought was like, let's make sure that it doesn't

(14:06):
get you know, go to our heads kind of thing,
and that that you know shows in the good leadership
down from the coaching to the captains. And I don't know,
I just to me that was really telling about the
mindset of this team and like what they were talking
about in the locker room and like what their focus was.
That that should have been a big ego boost, right,

(14:27):
that should have been something that really like fluffed them up.
And in Casey and the coaches, we're talking about like, okay,
but you know, still play our games still, do you know,
still stick with your habits, Still make the right passes,
the right choices with the puck, all that sort of stuff.
And so that's you know of those moments that during
the year just made me think like, Okay, this team
like there's something more here again, Like the sum is

(14:49):
better than the really good parts when they came together,
and it wasn't just the skill, but like sort of
all of that, the trust, the coaching, the leadership, all
of that, Like that they were something special to watch.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Of the year. This is an award that.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
You know, before the season, everyone has thoughts on who
were going to be the best rookies based on you know,
they're what they did and maybe the U eighteen level
or uh, you know, have done at the prep school level.
I wonder where you had Kate Kramer coming into the season.
Is this something that you thought was was going to

(15:24):
be a Rookie of the year kind of season for
the Minnesota to look forward.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
Maybe not rookie of the year, But I did have
high expectations from her. But I also have been lucky
enough to watch her for several years at the U
eighteen level, like in person, right, Like I was able
to see what she could do with that team, and
so I had high expectations and I wanted to see
I thought, I think she fits really well in the
w c h A. I mean, I said my write up,

(15:51):
but you know, I think she's still got to find
her balance of how to be physical without drawing all
the penalties. But I just thought that her style of
play really lends itself well. And we're gonna come We're
gonna talk about the transfer portal. But I feel like
umd's in this really great position now, like they brought
in Josie s Martin and and have Caitlyn and like
that's a team that has been sort of defensive and

(16:12):
then offensive by committee. And I feel like they're in
a really interesting position right now to be to be
sort of more offensive and more forward, more forward focused.
And so yeah, I don't know if I thought she
was going to be I mean she didn't. You know.
Their first weekend they went and beat Ohio State. At
Ohio State, they swept them, and she had two goals

(16:33):
and assist in the second game, her second ever collegiate game,
And so it was like, you have those instincts and
you think someone's gonna play well and like so to
see and you know that young players often have transition difficulties,
and when she did that first weekend, I was like, Okay, then,
so this is where we're at. But yeah, I to
some extent, yes, I did have high expectations for I
just I like her style. I like how she uses

(16:54):
her size and her strength. She's got a great shot,
She's got really she's just really smart. She's got really
great hockey iq and instincts, and so she's also like
I mean, I have the pleasure of often talking to
teenagers when I do you eighteen right, So like anywhere
from from fourteen to eighteen year olds, and often they're
not very great in front of the media. Often it's

(17:15):
sort of their first time in front of it. And
Caitlyn has always been just really composed and really capable
of talking about her game and her team in a
way that I didn't often see from other younger players.
And so that to me, that always just sort of
like shows, you know, sort of how they're processing the game.
And even in college, we often don't get like the
best answers to like tactical questions, and she she was

(17:37):
always able to answer those, and so that, you know,
I think there's just like a maturity to the way
that she thinks about the game. And I think it'll
be really good for Minnesota Duluth to get other players
that process that same way around her. And I think
the well, it's gonna be a little scary, but yeah,
Caitlyn's just she's just really cerebral about and really like

(17:58):
open about what she needs to work on or what
she thinks. You know, her are her faults as much
as her her positives, and so uh yeah, I just
I was impressed prior at you eighteens, and I thought,
you know, it was you know, we last year's rookie
the year was Joy Dunn and you know, she scored
the goal in the National championship game. Like, I don't
think that we had a rookie that was quite you know,
that big of a splash the year before. We had

(18:20):
tested Janicky and KK Harvey. You know, I don't think
we had one rookie that that was the outstanding, like
huge impact player this year. But I do think that Caitlin,
you know, she led the nation and goals by a rookie,
And yeah, I think she's she's a player I think
is only going to keep getting better. I think she's
just got this huge ceiling and so that's what makes

(18:44):
her fun to watch.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Yeah, it's gonna be fun to see where her career
goes from here. And really the rest of the rookie
team that you put together, Lindsay Avar of Cornell, Monique
Lyons of Brown also at forward, Tuva Kandell and l
Primorano from Northeastern and Minnesota respectively at defense, and Lisa
Johnson the goalie. I mean, that's that's a group that

(19:07):
I think we can expect pretty big things from for
for the next few years.

Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, like it's stand out players and names, right, Like,
like Chloe Premorano on that list is not surprising to anybody,
but you know what we saw from you know, the
group at Brown this year, and she really like led
a lot of that charge, right Like, she was an
important part. Monique was part a big part of some
of those big games. And so I just like, I

(19:33):
like that we have some of these names, like Chloe's
gonna be at World Championships, but we can we also
have players that, like I think we're gonna see help
build up their programs, and I think that's a lot
of fun. I think it's fun that like Lisa Johanson
didn't start in net for Northeastern to start the year,
but like was also in the Goalie of the Year
conversation by the end of it, So she's just a
fun player. Like I don't know, I don't know how

(19:53):
you can't look at that and be excited about what's coming.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
You know, Yeah, it's gonna be uh good to see
that group continue on. You also picked the first, second,
and third team for the All us c Cho Awards.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
Any thoughts on those.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
I mean, that's a tough thing to do to draw
the lines between first and second and second and third
and third.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
And not on the list sometimes I.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Don't indeed, I mean that was that was we saw
in the National Awards where those were all over between
the Goalie of the Year and the first team All
American then second team, and it was just.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Kind of all over the place there.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, Ultimately, I think I kind of went with my
gut here I actually had. So we have Kelly Kelley
Doyle from Quinnipiac as the thirteen goalie, and she was
on I think we talked about this a little bit
the goalie balloting. We made a top three and submitted that,
and then that was tallied and then the top three
were chosen and given back to us and we numbered

(21:00):
those three, and Kaylee was on my top three that
I submitted. I just think she had spectacular numbers in
the face of a lot of traffic in front of
her and on a team that wasn't like super supporting,
you know, with tons of offense and things like that.
So I thought she just had an outstanding season and
I really wanted to make sure she got on here.
That's not to say that I don't think that Amily's

(21:22):
Bergmann is also a really good goalie, like that was
a tough one trying to choose. Like you said, there
were you know, quite a few really good ones. But
I just thought I really wanted to point out in
Kelley's numbers, like wohlden't we get the Goalie of the
Year voting, we get sort of you know, the list
of their stats, and just looking at what she had
for sort of support, and it makes me think of
like like pictures who don't get run support, right, Like

(21:46):
that's where I felt where Kaylee felt fit in. And yeah,
my gut said I had to go with ev. I
just think she she had an outstanding season, and the
same with Ava. I know that people will think that
Wisconsin could have done what they did without a better
without a you know, like the sort of any goal

(22:07):
anyone's standing in the net could have done that. But
I think first of all, she had some hug just
like I said, the Badgers had to come from behind
quite a bit. She came up with some huge sages
there towards the end of the season. And also just
like the way that her team is, like, no way
would we be like would we feel as comfortable doing
what we do? All of that sort of stuff without
her in front of them. So yeah, tough decisions to

(22:27):
make there, for sure. But I think it's clear that
that Ever really had a crazy outstanding season, and she's
you know, sort of the only goalie in the mix
that had to face the Gophers, the Badgers and and
Ohio State. Like that's that's just to face all of them.
That's minimum six games, right, I'm saying that, no minimum

(22:49):
twelve games to home to away. Yeah, so she just
she you know, she faced the best of the best
and still came up with really amazing numbers.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
All Right, we'll check out all of those stories and
the list of first, second, and third team on usho
dot com. Nicole has done a great job with those again.
When we come back, we will look back on the
season as a whole and what we're taking away from it.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Stay with us on the podcast. Welcome back to the podcast.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Todd Milltskain, Nicole Hasey with you looking back at the
twenty twenty four to twenty five season. I wanted to
start this segment with a look back at the preseason
poll and how things changed between that and the postseason rankings.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
A span of more than six months.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Between those two and it's always kind of fun to
remember back to what we were thinking back in September.
A lot of it wasn't too far off the preseason poll.
Heead Ohio State at one, Wisconsin two. They finished in
the reverse order, and as they've gone back and forth
with the championship game in the last three years, a

(24:07):
couple teams made some moves up compared to the preseason rankings.
So Minnesota was in third, Colgate fourth, Clarkson fifth, Cornell
sixth in the preseason rankings, and Cornell finished third plus
three spots in postseason rankings, dropping Minnesota and Colgate down
one each, and then Minnesota d Luth moved up from

(24:31):
seventh in preseason the sixth and postseason. We saw Clarkson
go down from fifth and preseason to ninth. We also
saw Yukon go down from ninth to thirteenth. But the
teams that moved up that I think need to be
recognized as kind of some of the stories of the
season here. Penn State was picked for twelfth and ended

(24:52):
up in eighth. BU was not in the top fifteen
to start the season and ended up as eleventh and
got into the NCAA Tournament as Hockey East postseason champions.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Those are the.

Speaker 1 (25:05):
Teams that kind of jump out to me as having,
you know, seasons that I think are going.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
To be.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
Remembered as as important in possibly important building blocks. And
we've seen that before from Penn State, where they they're
just kind of continuing the trend here. Boston University needed
a season like this to get back on the map
in some ways.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
I mean, They've got a lot of things going for them.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
They just had the renovation of Walter Brown Arena during
the season, finish up during the season.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
What are you thinking about as I.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Guess those two teams specifically Penn State and BU, how
maybe they can use this season as a maybe it's
not a starting point necessarily, especially in the case of
Penn State, but somewhere where they can launch into bigger
things ahead.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
We want to come back at you with a question
about Penn State, so I'm going to start with BEU.
I think yeah, I think, you know, we asked about
this at the postgame press conference with with Tara Washorn.
I think that there is just sort of more of
an excitement. I mean, we saw student reporters drive out
to come from Boston to Madison to cover the game.

(26:21):
I think there's just particularly on you know, sort of
a smaller campus, a campus that's not you know, hugely
known for other D one sports, Like, there's just really
an opportunity for for them to grow and get attention
and build community and bring in fans. And I think
the other thing is that it's it's about bringing in
the right recruits as well. And for a while they

(26:43):
were doing the building block thing and having to convince
people to come and be a part of that. And
I think when you break through to the tournament and
when you do what they did this year, like then
you're it's a different approach that you get to have
and you get people paying attention differently. So and the
other thing is that we as we talked about so
much as that hockey used to so wise open and
has been for for a couple of seasons now, and

(27:03):
so just the opportunities to really sort of like we
saw what Northeastern was able to do for a few
years running, right, I think it was like six years
to really sort of plant your flag and be that
very best team in your league and make waves, you know,
play in a national championship game, all that sort of stuff.
So it just feels like, particularly because they're in Hockey East,
there's this huge opportunity. You know, we've talked about how

(27:26):
hard it is to be like the four, five and
six teams in the ECAC and the w c J
and break through the top, and that's just not the
case for them. They're they're really in an opportunity to
place themselves as you know, the best program in their league.
And so yeah, I think there's just a there's a
lot of belief in that room, which I think is huge.
I think they needed this, like the program and the

(27:48):
players and and sort of everybody there needed this run
and to pull off what they pulled off and be
able to you know, they missed out on that regular
season championship and that didn't like stamp in them, right,
and they were able to win that conference tournament and
with overtime games and all that sort of stuff. And
so I think there's just there's now a like you sometimes,

(28:10):
no matter how many times you say it or how
much you tell yourself, like you have to do the
thing to really you know, get the proof and really
really believe it and buy it. And I feel like
at this point the buy in's there and that gives
Terror and the rest of her staff really like massive opportunities.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
You said you had a question come back on Penn State.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
Well, my question is what else do you think Penn
State can do? Because they were a one loss conference team,
they continue to schedule great non conference opponents, they have
made the tournament. To you, like, what is at this point?
I don't think it's about building los. I think that
they're there, So what do you think they can do
to get past that? Because I would argue they're kind

(28:51):
of doing They've done everything right this far, and like
is it just a limitation of like the league that
they're in and how much they're able to grow when
you're when you're dominating your your league so much. I
don't know. I just am curious if there's if you
think there's something else that can be done here, because
I mean, I'd argue that they they've done all the
right things and it's sort of now it's two losses

(29:13):
in a row in the church, Like what what what's
the next thing they can do to get over that hump?

Speaker 1 (29:17):
So I think back to I don't know, fifteen years ago,
ten years ago, whenever it was that Mercyhurst was the
force there right and and getting not only getting to
the tournament, but getting into the Frozen Four, getting in
the championship games, and you know, yes, it was it
was player drive.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
It was you know, star player driven.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
Sure, and like like we're I think we're seeing a
little bit right now with with Penn State. So I
don't know, it's tough to compare those eras though, of
you know, because that well also was an era when
you know, maybe the w c h A obviously was
really good but wasn't as dominant, still winning all the championships,

(30:00):
but there were a lot more other teams getting into
the Frozen Four in those you know, thinking you know
the two thousand and you know, eight to thirteen kind
of range.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
I mean, there's just so much more depth on every
team now, so like one individual player or one individual
line can't make the impact that they did ten years ago.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
So I feel like we're seeing this on the men's
side a little bit right now. Penn State getting into
the Frozen Four or the men's Frozen four, is it
was that next barrier for that program. They'd been in
that regional final a few times, had been able to
get the win. I think one Penn State needs to

(30:46):
get to that regional final that needs to be you know,
that step of saying we're not just happy being in
this and they're not. We've seen that last couple of years.
They're not just like here to be here. They wanted
to get past that. And so yeah, I don't know
that they are incredibly far away from that. But that

(31:14):
is a massive hurdle.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
I mean it just yeah, but I just.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
Don't know what else. I mean, they that this is
a team that I thought would have a better shot
in their tournament game this year than they ended up having.
And and yeah, I just like they did everything right.
They have this great team. They you know, they like
I said, they're scheduling the non conference games like within
the bounds of what they're doing, like they put themselves.
They were they didn't need to win their tournament like

(31:39):
they were. They earned a bid based on their MPI
and then they still went and lost their game and
sort of looked like they weren't maybe ready to be there.
And so it's like for me, I'm wondering, what are
the what are the things that they can Yeah, I
don't know, I don't know if there's an answer, But
I just I was surprised. I mean, I just I
feel like, so they need to do something to take

(32:03):
another step in their own healent it's not the right word,
but like the level so that they're prepared to play
in that NCAA game and win it. And I don't know,
I kind of feel like they might be at the
ceiling of what they can do where they are.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
I don't know, maybe that's maybe that's the case. We'll
find out over the Yeah, there's.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
Right, as as it then becomes a couple of years
a non test Janicke team after she graduated.

Speaker 3 (32:31):
Yeah, and you know, it could have just been a
bad game this year. Like it's it's a really small
sample size. We're saying all this out of right. It's
looking at two games and being like, okay, they're they're
big goal is to get to the tournament. Now they
can't win the tournament game. But yeah, I think it's
mostly just that I was surprised at their showing this year,
and so it makes me wonder.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah, taker picture.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Questions, right, I think there's a there's a path for
them to get into the second round and maybe then
eventually into the Frozen four.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
It's gonna be about attracting more.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
Star players to state college I mean that's really going
to come down to is more people will follow the
path of Tessa Janicky right, And as.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
I said, I mean just that there are more players,
more talented players, and like it's a great time to
be in women's college hockey. But it does mean that
like every team, like you just can't you can't take
over a game in the same way they used to
be able to write with like having the one right recruit,
the one right line, and so it can't just be Tessa, right.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
I think about now kind of expanding everything to you know,
what we saw throughout the entire season. I it really
you know, we've talked about Wisconsin a lot because they've
been a team that's just been on a roll throughout
the entire season. Lost once in the November and didn't

(34:01):
lose again. I had a tie in January at Regular
Field in Chicago, which is, you know, one of those
amazing kind of moments for women's hockey to be on
that uh that stage again, outdoor game in front of
you know, twenty thousand people and on Big ten network,
and and but.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
You know, Wisconsin.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
Is ends up being the national champion this season, like
we've talked about before because of that group of stars,
and I want to spin it towards next season.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
Yeah, I guess I just want to interject and say,
like I hope people understand, Like I know that we
get crap because we're both in Wisconsin and Todd's job
is to cover Wisconsin, but like, I hope people appreciate
and know that, like this was a very special season
of hockey and that was a really special team and
like in the grand scheme of things, in a few years,
we're going to look back at that and be like,

(34:55):
holy crud, those are the players that were on that team,
or even the number of players that we're in that
national championship game. And so I hope people appreciate and
understand that, like, yes, we talked about them a lot,
but like that was a that was a generational team,
Like that's we haven't seen anything quite like that maybe
since like even the people that were around Minnesota for

(35:16):
that unbeaten squad looked at this Wisconsin team and went
holy crap. So yeah, like I just I hope that
people appreciate and understand that, like aside from who we
are and where we live and what we cover, like
we're this is a team that like really did something
special and really was something special. And I hope that
if you're anti Wisconsin or anti WCCHA or whatever it is,

(35:39):
which I can appreciate and understand that you get sick
of hearing about the same teams, but also that was
that was something special and it's something you know, I
feel like we're gonna be old people talking about remember when.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
Yeah, right, But you look towards next season, they've got
a lot of those pieces coming back. Obviously Casey O'Brien
is has is graduating or is out of eligibility, but
there's a lot of that group that can come back,
and I believe is coming back to try and run
this back again.

Speaker 3 (36:12):
And then we have the Yeah, and we have the
added wrinkle of it being an Olympic here and several
of those players are going to take time. As we
understand it right now, there will be no centralization. The plan,
I believe is for USA Hockey to do once a
month camps, and so there's going to be a one

(36:33):
weekend every month that those players are not available to
the Badgers and then the what month to six weeks
in February, January and February when they'll be, you know,
in Italy at the Olympics. So to me, that's like,
we can't talk about next year, And that means that's
the same for Abbie Murphy Minnesota. That's the same for

(36:53):
joint Done at Ohio State. That's the same for Testagianikiy
at Penn State. Like you can't talk about what next
season's going to look like without sort of dealing with
the fact that we have no idea to some extent
what it's going to look like with those players coming
and going.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Yeah, yeah, that does make it really difficult. And I
think that's gonna to some degree for some weekends.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Even the playing field next season of yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
It should make it pretty fun and wide open.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
It can be harder to have a super team quote
unquote next season when you're going to miss those players
for what's it going to be twelve fourteen games. We
don't know what that number is yet, but just for
or if.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
For house scheduling will adjust for any.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
Of that, right, I don't know if you can completely
adjust scheduling for that many weekends plus the entire February,
you know, stretch leading into the Olympics, which by the way,
comes right at the close of the regular season of
conferences and leading in the postseason. So yeah, a lot

(37:58):
that we hear kind of bits about here and there
of well we think it's gonna be this and this
that we're going to need to hear a this is it,
this is the way it's going to be at some
point as as teams, leagues, you know, everything, playing for
what that's gonna be next season.

Speaker 3 (38:17):
Yeah, And I feel like even once we have, even
if somebody definitely told me today what the plan is,
I still feel like we don't know how that is
going to play out, like what it's going to actually
look like and mean for the individual teams. I will
say I think overall, this is an absolute season upcoming
of opportunity. And I mean that both for individual players

(38:37):
and for teams. I think, you know, we've talked, I
talk all the time about wanting players and or teams
to step up, like there's an opportunity there and like
you got to take it. That means like the Wisconsin
current third and fourth liners are going to get more
ice time, that means they're fresh, their incoming freshmen are
going to get more ice time. But that's the same
thing at other schools too, Like who is going to

(38:57):
tech step up and play a bigger role in tell
to Janikee's absence. Who is going to be the driving
force for Ohio State when Joey Dunn's not there. So
I think there's a chance for players that like may
be playing secondary or tertiary roles to really like show
what they're capable of, which is really exciting. And we're
talking right now about sort of the US players, but like,

(39:18):
you know, you've got players from all over Europe, you know,
like one of You've got incoming freshmen that are like
several teams have European incoming freshmen, big names coming in
that are going to be gone. And yeah, so it's
certainly not just those US players that it's going to
impact in their teams. But yeah, I just I think
for me, it's about the opportunity. It's that, like you said,

(39:40):
the playing field, even the little and we just like
we just talked about with bu like sometimes you have
to get those wins and you have to make the
push to believe it. And so if a team is
able to make a bigger step this season. Like, I
think that just makes a huge difference in their confidence
and their capability and in their momentum and like what
they would be able to do in the future and
maybe close some of those gaps based on like the

(40:01):
opportunities available this season.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Continue to kind of look around the country for this
season that we.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
Just finished up. ECAC was a conference that a lot
of teams had a chance to win, and we saw
that kind of through the second half of you know,
there there was some bounces for a few teams. They
would go up, they come back.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
Down, and Cornell is the team that ends up on
top of things there. I think that's and for that program,
that was an important step to make to get back
there and to get back into the Frozen four, and
these these kind of things that kind of tell you that, yes,
Cornell is still a force and can be a force

(40:50):
in women's hockey.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
We know, how.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
You know, disappointing that wasn't twenty twenty when they were
number one going into the tournament and had the recanceled.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
Yeah, I'm sorry to interrupt, I just I thought I
thought Doug Darra talked really well about that and his
pressors at the Frozen four. And I think maybe even
I hadn't quite thought about like how far reaching like
that it took a good it took this whole five
years to really rebuild, because players, because of the because

(41:23):
of being an IVY League school. And it made me
think of it in the wider case of all of
the IVY leagues in terms of maybe certain recruits leaving
and going somewhere else, or players you know, aging out,
and the IVY League is really sticking to those four
years and all that sort of stuff that like, it
really did take a full five years for Cornell to
even like be in a position to be fighting this

(41:43):
battle again. And I think I hadn't really grasped that
full discussion until Doug talked about it.

Speaker 1 (41:55):
Yeah, I think there's a you don't know it until
you're actually going through it and you you see like
the repercussions of what happened and how a season off
me what that all, what that means to recruiting into uh,
to all of those kind of trickle down things of well,
you know we're not playing this season, Well, okay, that

(42:18):
that means we're going to lose not only this season,
but potentially you know, some of our best players for
coming seasons after that, and uh yeah, So to see
uh Cornell get back to that point was I know
important for them as a program, but really it it
you know, it adds to the uh the ECAC just

(42:45):
kind of the feeling that you know, there's so many
teams that can jump in there and be a champion
and be even when you're talking about you know, the
couple weeks of trying to be a playoff champion that
was that felt pretty open sometimes of who was going
to jump in and win that one.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
So I think that's exciting. I think that's something that
ECAC will have for a while.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
I mean, that's just the nature of things there is
that there are a lot of teams that are rotating
through around the top there, and all of them having
a chance to jump in and win a championship is.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
A pretty cool thing going forward.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
And for excitement and for being able to build something
with those teams of like, hey you can you can
come here and put us.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
Over the top.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
Well, I think too. The I mean, maybe volatility isn't
the right word, but you think, like Yale was a
frozen four team just a couple of seasons ago, like
Princeton was in the conversation and like those are teams
that finished what six and seventh that I'm countess, Yeah,
like the there's a lot of room for movement there,
and like the idea that Brown finished just below Princeton,
Like they're they're definitely like my feel good team of

(43:49):
the year, right, Like they're the team that I'm like
pulling for in terms of like underdogs and making huge
strides this year going from below five hundred and yeah,
I think, you know, one of the things I hear
from people so often is that they're sick of seeing
the same teams over and over again. And like I
do get that, though I you know, nobody seems to
be saying that about football and all looks the same,
so I don't know, but I like that what is

(44:11):
happening in the ECC is that, like, you know, just
getting that right combination of players can make a huge difference.
And like that's like what we saw with Yale making
that frozen four run. So we saw Cornell this year
and and I hope that it, you know, all is
more sustained and it's not just one or two years run.
But I think it's really good for the game and
good for that conference that like you can you can

(44:34):
you know, it's not just flags planted at the top
and everybody else trying to get there.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
We saw this year where the New Haw was a
kind of a grab bag towards the end, it was like,
who's gonna figure out how to get to the finish line.
It was Long Island that that got there, but the
Sharks weren't able to to complete the job and and
get to the NCAA Tournament through the automatic bid in

(45:04):
in New Ha. I don't know if there's like a
epiphany here out of what we saw in New Ha
this season, other than you know, this is gonna be
something where a few different teams have a chance at
this going forward.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
Yeah, I think it seeks to the parody and the
I mean generally those are programs especially like but that's
where all the new programs have been going. And so
the fact that we're seeing this from teams that like
have don't have all this history, don't have you know,
haven't had tons of time to do this. But also
you know, I like it was so cool to see
this sort of resurgence from Sacred Heart, right, and I

(45:43):
think it's just it's a lot of feel good stories.
It's a lot of showing the parody of the game
and like what the future can look like in the growth.
I mean, we talked about upsets and underdog sort of
way more this season than I feel like we have
any other year. There were a lot more there just
was the gaps fell bigger or smaller. The gaps felt smaller.
It felt like we were talking them more often about

(46:05):
you know, teams that were at the bottom parts of
the standings, like really giving giving it to the teams
at the top part of the standings, And so that
to me is just like sort of the lasting one
of the lasting things I have about this season is
knowing that like at any point, you know, we just
we saw those last couple of weekends of the regular
season where where teams that were who knew their season
was basically over, we're out there impacting the postseason. And

(46:27):
I think that's that's so amazing and says so many
great things about what is coming.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Well, we will, uh well, turn our attention to twenty five,
twenty six, not too long from now. Frozen four next
season is in state college again at Pagola Ice Arena.
I I don't want to like like jump into this
too soon. But we've talked about how the Olympics and

(46:55):
that is going to impact things. We're gonna talk a
little bit, uh in a little bit about how the
transfer portal is again impacting things. But is there something
you you look towards next season with, you know, maybe
a renewed excitement for or anything like that of that

(47:16):
women We feel like women's hockey has taken a lot
of steps in like you talked about before in depth
and having more quality players on these rosters.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
H I we all want to see that continue on
and grow.

Speaker 1 (47:35):
I'd love to see some kind of like tangible result
of that soon.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
And I wonder what that is. And I'd love to
hear from readers too.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
You know, there's ways of contacting us in our you
can find those in our show notes. You know, what
would you like to see in terms of that that
next big step for women's hockey and and and it
would be great for it to happen soon, but maybe
it's not possible to happen as quickly as we want
it to be.

Speaker 2 (48:04):
But I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
I thought it was great that we got number like
ESPN PR let us know like that they bothered to
even talk about the numbers, about what happened with the
National Championship game and the growth of viewership that's new.
I mean, we need to see the whole Frozen four
and really the whole tournament on television. The thing is

(48:28):
is like Olympic years are always such an opportunity. What
I would like to see is, I mean, my friend
Tony used the term and I think it really worked,
was women's college hockey broke containment with that National Championship game.
Like everybody was talking about it. Like we're both on
social media, tweeting and using blue Sky to share what's
going on with the game, so we're seeing the conversations happening.

(48:51):
And early in that game, my feed was not all
women's scholar hockey, and there was a point when literally
everybody I follow was talking about that game, and that
was just really cool to see. I use it for sports.
My fault by my feet is all sports, and they
were talking about other sports for a while and then
they were talking about that game. I want that momentum
combined with the Olympic year momentum where people pay attention

(49:11):
to women's hockey in a way that they haven't before,
and I think combined with the pedum, I think there's
just a lot of opportunity. And for the most part,
the college game has been left out of some of
that growth or most of that growth, And so I
don't know if that beings better marketing, better collaboration. I
don't you know, we could do a whole set of
podcasts just about the things that I think those all

(49:33):
those things could be doing together with the NCAA and
PWHL and the national teams. But I just what I
know is that we're the opportunity is there. I feel
like that National Championship game and the weekend as a whole,
it was just such great hockey. It really got people excited.
It's a shame that that was the end of it
and there was nothing for people to sort of like
dig right into between that and what just comes was

(49:53):
a natural boost from an Olympic year. It feels like
there's there's something there and we need to be talking
about like what comes next from that, and the very
basic is that it all needs to be televised.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
I will continue to harp on that we need more
PWHL college collaboration.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
It's ridiculous that there was no collaboration with the Frost
when we were in Minneapolis. I will yeah say that
to me, half the player, half the Frost was in
the building, right, Taylor Heisei dropped the puck. I just
like the lack of cohesion there is just fascinating to me.
There had to have been something that could have been done,
as simple as a signature or a skate with the

(50:33):
player anything. They're just the complete lack of cohesion between that.
I mean, we did see the Fleet do a college
hockey night, but they did it the week leading into
the Frozen four, and so I was like, I mean,
I like, I, you know, none of the local teams.
I guess we're in it, so that's okay, but it
was like they're they're just I felt like it was
a miss of like understanding the greater women's college hockey

(50:56):
landscape to do that college hockey night then, so yeah,
I don't there just needs to be more. There's we're
seeing this massive growth. Women's hockey is going to get
a bump from the Olympics. Let's make sure NCAA women's
hockey is part of that.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
I would love to see some of these games that
the pter BHL is doing in different sites also have
a college component to them. I mean, it's tougher as
you get into February in March because you know you're
getting in the postseason then. But if you're going to
do that in uh, you know, December or January, if
you're going to take a game to Saint Louis, let's
have there be a linen would.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
Against you know, yeah, do a doubleheader, yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
Against someone part of that as well, let's let's bring
in some some big rivalries into, uh, into those buildings.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
Let's let's organically the players have their rivalries, right, like
we see stuff like when I mean it happened in
the National Championship game, but it also happened all year
long that when teams would play each other, you could
tell the players had bets and one of them would
have to wear something in for blockins. Like, it's organically
there and it needs to be tapped into.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
All Right, we could go on and on and on
and on and about that, and we well, I'm sure
another point, but for right now, we're going to take
a quick break. When we come back, we will look
at the transfer portal, who's in there, who's going new places,
and what that might mean.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Stay with us on the podcast.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Lusky and Nicole Hasey
here with you. On our last segment, we're going to
talk about the transfer portal, which opened a few weeks ago,
when has had some interesting names going. More than one
hundred are in since, well about one hundred since the
end of the season, and well there's been a few

(52:49):
that have gone in before the end of the season.
The rules on this are weird and getting weirder, and
you know, you can go in if you're a graduate's early,
you can go in early, if there's a coaching chain,
and so a lot of these these things open up.
But as usual, some of the most interesting potential moves

(53:10):
here are at goalie, which is a position that is
really hard to recruit because you only get a couple
of bites at the apple, uh and if you you
miss on that, you're as a team, you're you're in
some trouble.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
But now with the portal.

Speaker 1 (53:25):
Adding a new dynamic of that, you get a little
bit more another chance at landing someone uh higher quality.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
I've I've seen it and I should say we're off
the battom. Using the the list that's kept by Gopher
Puck Live.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
They do a great job of following, you know, all
areas of the portal, the men's and women's D one
and D three, and so they they've kind of you.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
Know, gotten a lot of that on on a list here.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
But seeing some of the goalies in this nicole, I'm
really interested to see how this can kind of change
around potentially some team's fortunes right away next season.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Yeah. Well, I'm one of the things that the goalies too,
is that sometimes you can see that like a team
is maybe filling a gap where either someone got injured
or they have a recruit on the horizon and they're
looking to get to that point. And so there are
several goals in here with multiple years of eligibility left,
but sometimes the one year can just be a difference

(54:29):
maker as well. And so yeah, I think the maybe
the most interesting name is m A. Sophie Nordstrom, the
Saint Lawrence goalie. She's a Danish national. She's got a
year of eligibility left, but she is she's a difference maker.
She keeps them in games, she gives them opportunities. She
was huge last year in their overtime win in the
NCAA Tournament. Yeah, I feel like she's probably the biggest

(54:50):
name out there and somebody that is maybe too looking
to bridge a gap till a recruit coming in or
you know, really take advantage of a senior class before
they graduate. She's She's a big name that's out there.
But Skyler Vetter, who has been huge at the University
of Minnesota but was injured and didn't do much this
last season, is out there as an opportunity. But several

(55:12):
players with extra several years like Adrianna Ducett, who was
Clarkson's backup as three years left. Ella Willoughby, who was
in the Sophie Nordstrump's backup, is also on this list,
So yeah, there's some opportunities. Cala Frank who has long
been a really good goalie and has you know taken

(55:33):
her hits, spending, you know, facing a ton of shots
in the w c h A. She's someone that I
think could could really make a change for somebody as well.
So yeah, the goalie is there an interesting interesting lot
this year.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
Yeah, and we've seen some not a ton of it's
tough to see the commitments that happen without really paying
really close attention on multiple different platforms. But one what
we've seen through Gopher Punk Live porting this Jamie Nelson
from Minnesota State man Cato to the University of Minnesota,

(56:05):
and that's an interesting I think probably from Minnesota a
depth forward possibility and maybe there's you know, an opening
there to move up into a top six kind of role.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
If she has a good start to the season.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
Yeah. I mean she's been in US national team camps
and she's been sort of on the edges of their radar,
so I think it's a really good opportunity for her
to to sort of step up her game and show
out on sort of maybe a bigger platform and with
with a little bit more skeletoned group around her. But
that feels like, yeah, a really big pick up from Minnesota.
You know, Emma Connor went into the portal for them,
so you maybe maybe seeing a little bit of a

(56:46):
switch out there, but played some role, you know, when
Abby Murphy was wrapped up and as somebody that stepped up.
So I think there is we know that the Gophers
need more depth on their offense and to be able
to get more production from further down the line, and
I definitely think Jimmy's somebody that can really help them
with that.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
The highest scorer in the portal as of right now
as we're recording this on April third, I should mention
that because this will change is is a twenty goal
scorer Julia Pelleran from Boston College. That's a potential big
pickup for for a program to get a proven scorer.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
Yeah, and two years of eligibility left right.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
And those aren't you know, that's not always what you're
getting out of the portal. Sometimes you're getting depth of
the portal. But this is a possibility to add a
scorer and that's a gonna be a coveted thing in
the portal this year.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
Yeah. And clutch. She she was huge for them down
that stretch down the end of the season. She was
the one scored except of those those big time goals
with overtime or forcing you know, forcing over time. She's
just she's a she's a clutch player, and she's someone
I think is going to be a really important pickup
for someone. The other I would say is they had

(58:03):
Johansson from Mercy Hears. She had sixteen goals twelve assists
this year and it's been a really big impact player
for them since she was a freshman. And so when
I saw her in there, I thought, oh, that's that
could be a really interesting pickup for another team as well.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Yeah, this.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
It's fascinating to watch how roster construction happens, and it's
going to be even more interesting this offseason because of
the the schools that are opting into the House settlement.
The framework of that brings a roster cap of twenty
six players, and for some schools that's not a big

(58:43):
deal they are under twenty six anyway. For some schools
there that might mean a difference of a player too
off of their roster. And so that's where some of
these you know, portal additions might be coming from, is that,
you know, well, maybe I don't have a spot on
this team next season, I have to find somewhere else.

(59:03):
And there's a potential for fewer spots on teams, which
is never great, and that's something that is going to
have to be worked through this offseason. I I am
hoping that as many people are as able to find
spots as possible, knowing that there's you know, more players

(59:23):
coming in as freshmen too, So there's it's it's tougher
to find a spot than ever now, it feels like,
and this is I guess why we need more teams
playing Division one women's hockey too, to help find find
spots for a lot of qualified players.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
Yeah, we're you know, sort of ending that the COVID
extra year and so sort of the math of incoming
classes and all that sort of stuff definitely did get
mixed up in the past few seasons. And so yeah,
I it's one of the things I asked because Minnesota
d Luth has been really active in signing out of
the portal quickly right now, and I wondered if they

(01:00:01):
if it was just a matter of like class sizes
and like why they had the spots that they did.
And yet it's just been an interesting couple of years
of like maybe not like you don't know how long
a player is gonna stay and how then how big
of the recruiting class can you have and things like that,
So just just an interesting situation. And then I just

(01:00:21):
since we talked about the other two positions, I think
on defense, the kind of most interesting people in the
Puerto we got Andrew Trinkova, the Czech national from RPI.
She has two years left and she was a seventeen
point scorer this year. Both gadzigs Juliana and Janessa from
Minnesota State man Cato. Juliano had twenty assists last year.

(01:00:42):
Those were names that when you were watching a man
Cato game you heard Juliana quite a bit, and so
that could be an interesting pickup. And then the last
one for me is Molly Jordan out of Boston College,
who also has two years left. She's a former U
eight team player and someone who I think maybe has
not reached sort of what she's capable of thus far
and her her college career. So yeah, definitely some interesting names.

(01:01:03):
And here you know ones you didn't say. Alex Law
from be you again, another former national team player. She's
a big, strong player. Lucia d her Alamo from from
Princeton I think is a really interesting possible ad for somebody.
And then there's you know, like we talked a little bit,
but like some of the players from from maybe in
New huh in Aha that maybe are looking for more opportunities.

(01:01:24):
So someone like Rowan Ringer from Post who you know
had ten goals and sixteen assists and t has three
years left, could really be a big addition for a
team that is looking for some scoring depth.

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
One of the interesting things to look at is is
where a lot of players in the portal are coming from.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
And if there's a.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
Certain number, a number from one particular school, that makes
you what kind of turnover is happening at that school?
What's the coaching staff trying to bring in? And we're
you know, we see what was it, eleven players from Merrimac.

Speaker 3 (01:01:57):
Yeah, it's not great.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
Yeah that and and that tells you that, Okay, that's
that's a group that's gonna look a lot different next season.
And be it through the portal or be it through
freshman recruiting and having a different look to that team
is something that I you know, is not always all bad,
and sometimes you have to try and shake up the

(01:02:21):
makeup of group.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
And it's just when you see it on here in
a in a list like it feels yeah, it's right,
and it feels like, oh, there's there's a lot happening there.
In one off season, I think to just.

Speaker 3 (01:02:36):
Remember that these people, these are people who are making
these decisions at sixteen and seventeen year olds to remember
what you were like at that point. Their games change
a lot. And I also think the advent of the
peed up does sort of change like what the goal
might be for having played college hockey, Whereas someone a
few years ago just wanted to go play college hockey
and and you know, sort of close out their career

(01:02:56):
that way and go on like now there's more opportunities
and more options and the like sort of bettering your
chances of getting you know, catching someone's attention and getting
drafted and that sort of stuff like that, that's going
to change, like what you're trying to accomplish, and so
even players that were recruited four years ago are it's
a completely different landscape. And so I think, you know,

(01:03:19):
there's we could do a whole series of episodes just
talking about pluses and minuses of portal and all that
sort of stuff. But you know, I generally believe that
these are players who are you know, sort of looking
for like either it wasn't the right fit with the
coach or you know, a different player stepped up and
they aren't in the role they thought they were going
to be, and they're they're looking to do something different,
But yeah, I think, you know, I just I wouldn't

(01:03:42):
have wanted to make a decision that decides the rest
of my you know, hockey life at sixteen and be
stuck in that. And so that's that's where I think
this is a really good thing for the game. And
like on the one hand, coaches hated. On the other
we're still only talking one hundred players out of what
is it, forty four teams, So one hundred is both

(01:04:02):
a lot of players and not actually all that many.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
One of the things I always try and keep in
mind is that you never really know what that individual,
what their story is fully look back a couple of
years ago, McKenna Webster transfers from Wisconsin to Ohose State
for the opportunity to play both field hockey and ice hockey.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Well, first of all, shout out to McKenna for.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
After the season she she posted on social media she
went through surgery for compartment syndrome, which just sounds awful.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
We hope you're doing well and best for recovery.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
There. The idea that she played two NCAD one sports
seasons going through that is mind blowing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
Yeah, but so you never really know there there could
be you know, academic factors.

Speaker 1 (01:04:50):
There could be all sorts of things playing into the
decisions to go into the portal, and that's that's something
that you never fully know and you know, like them
personally and they're able to get the full uh you know,
accounting of things from them, right And.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
Again, because we are talking college sports, like we don't,
they're various laws and things like people always ask us
like about injuries, we don't. Schools and coaches don't tell
us like they don't they're required to disclose any of that,
and so that comes into play here too, like anything
that's going on with these players. Like again, these are
still mostly teenagers and they've all got like all their

(01:05:30):
own reasons and it might have nothing to do with hockey.
So I guess maybe just always have a little compassion
and realize that you never know what anybody else is
going through. But yeah, we you know these are these
are eighteen to twenty two year old women, so they
are they're allowed to make these decisions and it doesn't
necessarily say anything about their school or them.

Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:05:54):
Well said, I think that's, uh, that's all we have
to say about the portal. Right now, there will be
more or keep your eyes open for that. Well, I'm
sure I have more more movement going on there.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
It's been a couple of new nude names every.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
Day, so that's yeah how it works.

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
And it's open through and almost the end of the month, right,
and that's uh for for people entering now. You can
be selected out of the portal anytime. That's that can
continue on through the rest of the off season.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
All right. So that's our season wrap up episode, Nicole.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
It's it's always an honor doing this with you as
someone who I know puts so much work into as
much as you can know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
I know this is a tradition now that I'm going
to bring out all the fields.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
But it's fun doing this because I try and keep
up with a lot of this. But I know you
know everything else, and that's that's really cool, and I
think everyone appreciates that there's someone who looks out for
women's hockey the way that you do and so on
behalf of our listeners. My gratitude to you for doing everything.

Speaker 2 (01:07:09):
That you do to kind of be a voice and
the best writer of the areas on women's hockey.

Speaker 3 (01:07:20):
Thank you. I'm very bad at except all the very
nice people that came up at the Frozen four and
said nice things. Just know that I'm also this awkward
with somebody that I know and I'm fairly friends with,
So thank you. It's yeah, it's really on the hard
days that that's what keeps me going is all the
very nice people and and what you just said. So ultimately,

(01:07:43):
you know, I'm doing this because because I didn't have
this growing up, and so I want to make sure
that girls in sports have it better in the next generation.
So while I hate you saying nice things to me,
I do appreciate that. You know, it feels like I'm
achieving my goal.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
Well, let's do this again next season.

Speaker 3 (01:08:05):
I suppose.

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
Let's take a break here, but let's do Yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (01:08:09):
Think we'reay World starting a week.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
We will have a very brief episode, I think, looking
forward to the World Championship that you can look forward
to in the next uh next week or so, and uh, we'll.

Speaker 3 (01:08:22):
Try and come up with a couple off season ideas.
But yeah, otherwise we'll see you all in September speaking.

Speaker 2 (01:08:28):
Yeah, it'll be fun to enjoy your off season. Everyone.
Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1 (01:08:32):
Uh, you know how much we appreciate all and and
like Nicole said, coming up to us and talking to us,
and and and saying, listen, we that.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
We apologize for our awkward interactions because we don't know
what to say. But it really like it, truly.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Because it gives us more than you can know of,
you know, keeping going.

Speaker 3 (01:08:51):
With this when I have no idea how to hitdle
it and just say thank you a bunch, but I
promise you would really needs something.

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
All right with that for Nicle on top Odd Talk
to you soon on the podcast