Both Hockey East and the WCHA wrapped up their regular seasons last weekend, meaning conference tournaments are now fully underway in all five NCAA Division I women’s hockey conferences. Here is a league-by-league look at each:
CHA
Regular Season Champion: Penn State (second in a row)
In a rematch of last season’s conference championship game, and with automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament at stake, No. 1 seed Penn State and No. 2 Mercyhurst will square off Saturday in the CHA title game … Sophomore G Katie DeSa (Pawcatuck, Conn.) logged a .978 save percentage to backstop the Nittany Lions to a two-game sweep of RIT in one semifinal series … In the other, Mercyhurst eliminated Robert Morris in three games behind seven points from junior F Vanessa Upson (Stoney Creek, Ontario).
ECAC Hockey
Regular Season Champion: Colgate
Quinnipiac, Yale, Princeton and Brown each won single-elimination games in last Saturday’s opening round to advance to the ECAC quarterfinals … The best-of-three quarterfinal series begin Friday and will feature No. 8 seed Brown at No. 1 Colgate, No. 7 Princeton at No. 2 Clarkson, No. 6 Yale at No. 3 St. Lawrence, and No. 5 Quinnipiac at No. 4 Cornell … Colgate is gunning for its fourth straight ECAC Hockey Women’s Championship title.
Hockey East
Regular Season Champion: UConn (first in program history)
The Hockey East tournament gets underway Wednesday with seventh-seeded Boston University hosting 10th-seeded Holy Cross No. 8 Maine hosting No. 9 Merrimack in a pair of opening-round games. The two winners will advance to the Hockey East Quarterfinals to face either No. 1 UConn or No. 2 Northeastern … Two quarterfinal matchups are already known: No. 6 Vermont at No. 3 New Hampshire and No. 5 Providence at No. 4 Boston College.
NEWHA
Regular Season Champion: Long Island (second in a row)
Top-seeded Long Island will host Franklin Pierce and No. 2 seed Saint Anselm will welcome No. 3 seed Stonehill in Saturday’s NEWHA semifinal matchups … LIU is seeking its second straight NEWHA tournament title … The winner receives an auto bid for the NCAA Tournament.
WCHA
Regular Season Champion: Ohio State (second in a row)
A quartet of best-of-three, first-round series begin Friday, with the four winners advancing to the 2024 Kwik Trip WCHA Final Faceoff at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis … No. 1 seed Ohio State hosts No. 8 Bemidji State, No. 2 Wisconsin hosts No. 7 St. Thomas, No. 3 Minnesota welcomes No. 6 Minnesota State, and No. 4 Minnesota Duluth hosts No. 5 St. Cloud State … Minnesota won last year’s tournament, the third different champion in the last three years.
Daily Scoreboard | Weekly Schedule | Stat Leaders | Goaltending Leaders
Must Read:
Boston Globe: Hard work gets Callie Shanahan back between the pipes for BU
Daily Collegian: ‘A super solid goalie’ | Katie DeSa’s strong outing leads women’s hockey to win over RIT
Daily Gazette: Mohawk Harbor Arena deal finalized; Union hockey teams to get new home
Detroit Jewish News: The college hockey star who does it all
NHL.com: Color of Hockey: Iginla’s children adding to family’s legacy in game
Union.edu: Men’s and women’s hockey teams to play at new $50 million arena at Mohawk Harbor
USCHO: Weekend wrap (Feb. 26)
Must Hear:
Inside College Hockey America: Featuring RIT F Kylie Aquaro, Robert Morris F Alain Giampietro
Inside ECAC Hockey: Featuring Yale senior F Ellen Hartje
Inside Hockey East: Featuring Boston University sophomore F Clara Yuhn
The PodKaz: March approaches, plus Ohio State’s Jenn Gardiner joins the show
Must Watch:
NCAA.com: Minnesota enters women’s hockey Power 5 ahead of conference tournament play
WISN 12: History on the ice: Sisters are first Black siblings on UW hockey team
Huskies Howl:
The Hockey East conference race was the last to be decided, with UConn clinching the title with a 4-0 road win over Boston University in the penultimate game of the regular season. It’s the first Hockey East regular-season crown in program history for the Huskies.
One day later, UConn completed the series sweep with a 1-0 win over the Terriers, giving the Huskies a program-record 22 regular-season wins.
Scoring Champs Crowned:
Vermont senior F Natalie Mylnkova (Zlin, Czechia) and Maine graduate F Ida Kuoppala (Pedersöre, Finland) tied for the Hockey East regular-season scoring championship, with both posting identical stat lines of 15 goals and 11 assists for 26 points in 27 conference games.
In the WCHA, Wisconsin sophomore F Kirsten Simms (Plymouth, Mich.) held off teammate Casey O’Brien (Sr., Milton, Mass.) to win that league’s scoring race. Simms logged 47 points in 26 conference games, one better than O’Brien’s 46 points.
Simms and O’Brien also rank 1-2 in the NCAA scoring race with 61 and 56 points, respectively.
2023-24 Conference Scoring Champions
CHA: Tessa Janecke, Penn State
ECAC Hockey: Izzy Daniel, Cornell
Hockey East: Natalie Mylnkova, Vermont & Ida Kuoppala, Maine
NEWHA: Natalie Tulchinsky, Saint Anselm
WCHA: Kirsten Simms, Wisconsin
All Elle Breaks Loose:
Senior F Elle Hartje (Detroit, Mich.) made Yale history Saturday when she broke the program’s career scoring record that had stood for 36 years.
Hartje’s first-period assist on Anna Bargman’s goal was her 165th NCAA point, toppling the longstanding record that had been held by Maria Dennis since 1988.
In 29 games this season, Hartje leads the Bulldogs in points (36), points per game (1.24), assists (25), game-winning goals (five), faceoff wins (453) and blocks (39). She is also tied for the team lead with a plus-18 rating.
Century Club:
A trio of CHA forwards reached the 100 career points milestone during last weekend’s semifinals: Penn State’s Tessa Janecke (So., Orangeville, Ill.), Robert Morris’ Shailynn Snow (Gr., Bay Roberts, Newfoundland) and Mercyhurst’s Vanessa Upson (Jr., Stoney Creek, Ontario).
Upson also tied the CHA single-game playoff record with points in Saturday’s Game 2 victory over Robert Morris. She figured in on all five Laker goals, scoring twice and setting up three others.
Notebook Quotebook:
“I’m very grateful to be part of it and to see what Black Girl Hockey Club is doing to try to grow the game and to get more girls actually playing, not just watching.”
-- Brown sophomore F Jade Iginla (Lake Country, British Columbia), who serves on the board of the non-profit organization Black Girl Hockey Club (source: NHL.com)
PWHL Note of the Week:
New York F Alex Carpenter (Boston College, 2011-16) led the league in scoring during the first half of the season, registering 15 points (8G, 7A) in 12 games. She is currently riding a five-game point streak that is tied for the PWHL’s longest this season.
Carpenter was a four-year star at Boston College, capturing the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as a junior in 2014-15.
Fries at the Bottom of the Bag:
Saint Michael’s G Annika Lavender (So., Plymouth, Minn.) set the NEWHA single-season saves record with 1,171 … Mercyhurst freshman F Sofia Nuutinen (Vantaa, Finland) tied the CHA single-game playoff record with four assists in Saturday’s Game 2 victory over Robert Morris … Wisconsin’s 4-2 win over top-ranked Ohio State in Saturday’s regular-season finale snapped the Buckeyes’ 16-game winning streak. OSU still finished the season with a WCHA mark of 26-2-0, the best conference record in school history … Princeton senior F Sarah Fillier (Georgetown, Ontario) has nine goals in her last four games.
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CHA | ECAC | Hockey East | NEWHA | WCHA
Did you know? 98% of NCAA Division I women’s hockey players earn their degree!