Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Previewing the WCHA and NEWHA, plus a look at the season's early weeks

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Previewing the WCHA and NEWHA, plus a look at the season's early weeks · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Uscho dot com. Hi again, and welcome back to the podcast.
0:14
Speaker 1: I'm Todd Maleski here with Nicole Hosey from us cho
0:16
Speaker 1: dot com. This is our third of three episodes early
0:20
Speaker 1: in the season looking around at the Division one women's
0:24
Speaker 1: hockey conferences. Today we're going to be looking at the
0:28
Speaker 1: WCHA and the New HA and let's start with the WHA. Nicole.
0:33
Speaker 1: This is the conference that has had a stranglehold on
0:37
Speaker 1: the national championship game over the last couple of years.
0:40
Speaker 1: Well it's really been two teams. It's been in Wisconsin
0:42
Speaker 1: and Ohio State and throwing it into Duluth a year before
0:46
Speaker 1: that for good measure. Is there anything to tell us
0:51
Speaker 1: that this year is going to be any different? I
0:53
Speaker 1: guess yeah.
0:55
Speaker 2: I mean, don't you think the Olympics make it much
0:57
Speaker 2: more of a wide open I guess situation. I think
1:01
Speaker 2: it opens the door for both other I mean maybe
1:04
Speaker 2: not that, maybe the rest of the conference or the
1:05
Speaker 2: country things. No, because I do think it maybe opens
1:08
Speaker 2: the door for someone like Dilute this year. But you know,
1:12
Speaker 2: there are plenty of other teams that aren't missing as
1:15
Speaker 2: won't be missing as many players as WHA teams will
1:18
Speaker 2: be so I think that definitely changes the dynamic. Do
1:22
Speaker 2: I think that those WHA teams are still going to
1:25
Speaker 2: have a great season, Absolutely, but I do think it
1:28
Speaker 2: throws a heck of a lot more question marks. And then.
1:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, and question marks on top of question marks. For
1:35
Speaker 1: the one is that we don't know exactly which series
1:40
Speaker 1: or start, which series will start the absences and which
1:44
Speaker 1: of the games necessarily they will miss before the January
1:49
Speaker 1: February window that will be most of the absence for
1:53
Speaker 1: Olympic the players that are on the Olympic rosters. So yes,
1:58
Speaker 1: I do think those are the equalizers this year. Is
2:02
Speaker 1: that the question of can teams that are losing players
2:10
Speaker 1: find the players that will fill in? I guess that's
2:12
Speaker 1: the thing we know there there's depth on a lot
2:14
Speaker 1: of the teams that are going to lose players, But
2:16
Speaker 1: are they players that are capable of being a first
2:19
Speaker 1: line forward or a first power play unit player that
2:23
Speaker 1: haven't been given those opportunities in the past. And that
2:25
Speaker 1: is what's gonna be fascinating to me when we get
2:27
Speaker 1: into the January, end of January and then through February
2:32
Speaker 1: when the games really start. The matter a lot is
2:34
Speaker 1: get you're getting into regular season championship territory. How those teams,
2:40
Speaker 1: I mean, we're talking about Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota.
2:42
Speaker 2: Will play each other in those final weekends.
2:45
Speaker 1: And we're yeah, there's going to be a lot of
2:49
Speaker 1: a lot of intermingling, I guess between those seats. So
2:53
Speaker 1: it could be an opportunity for for some of the
2:57
Speaker 1: some of the other teams that have been in the
2:58
Speaker 1: bottom half of the w c H to get a
3:00
Speaker 1: few points here and there too.
3:02
Speaker 2: For sure, And like, I just think it opens the
3:04
Speaker 2: door to to you know, the ECAC Hockey, some of
3:06
Speaker 2: the teams that are currently ranked sort of in the
3:08
Speaker 2: middle of the pole. I just think there's gonna be
3:11
Speaker 2: chances to pick up points and pick up ground. I
3:14
Speaker 2: think it's a twofold thing with the player the teams
3:16
Speaker 2: that are gonna be missing a bunch of players. It's
3:18
Speaker 2: not just depth, because they obviously like their incoming classes,
3:22
Speaker 2: their younger players are obviously talented. It's about whether or
3:24
Speaker 2: not they could accelerate at the rate that would them
3:27
Speaker 2: Like obviously, you know, the players that are coming into
3:30
Speaker 2: these programs like they're expected at some point will be
3:32
Speaker 2: to be top line players, right, But maybe the plan
3:36
Speaker 2: wasn't until their junior or senior years, so like, are
3:38
Speaker 2: they are those players developed enough and are they prepared
3:41
Speaker 2: to step into bigger roles? And the other thing is
3:43
Speaker 2: that a lot of those teams run three four lines
3:45
Speaker 2: constantly and just frankly won't be able to do that
3:49
Speaker 2: when you're missing six players, Like it's a much shorter bench,
3:52
Speaker 2: and so it's not just putting players in a different position,
3:55
Speaker 2: but also more ice time period and so just the
3:58
Speaker 2: transitions and all of that that sort of stuff. And
4:00
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that for me is
4:03
Speaker 2: the biggest question mark all around is like, so like
4:06
Speaker 2: Wisconsin could be missing Ava McNaughton, but she could not
4:10
Speaker 2: make the roster. Other players like it from different programs
4:14
Speaker 2: could are in the mix that might not make the
4:17
Speaker 2: final roster because there's is it thirty down to twenty three?
4:20
Speaker 2: This is what we're expecting, you know? Same for umd
4:24
Speaker 2: is ev Gascon and Caitlin Kramer. Are they going to
4:27
Speaker 2: make that roster? And so it's not just knowing like
4:31
Speaker 2: it's cut and dried that like Wisconsin's gonna be missing
4:33
Speaker 2: KK Harvey and they have to figure that out. But
4:35
Speaker 2: some of the other things that they have to figure out.
4:37
Speaker 2: So it's not even like you can plan for that
4:39
Speaker 2: for three months. You can't like start playing different lines
4:41
Speaker 2: and be like you're the person that needs to step
4:43
Speaker 2: up here, because I don't think anybody knows exactly what
4:46
Speaker 2: that's gonna look like come late January early February, and
4:49
Speaker 2: so I think the not just the question mark of
4:53
Speaker 2: what's that gonna look like and how long will they
4:54
Speaker 2: be gone and what does that look like in November
4:56
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff, but the will this person
4:59
Speaker 2: even make Olympic final Olympic roster? And how do you
5:02
Speaker 2: prepare if you start making different line matchups and then
5:06
Speaker 2: that person is suddenly there or vice versa. You kind
5:09
Speaker 2: of can't. There's too many contingencies basically, So the way
5:13
Speaker 2: the ways that you can't plan or prepare for any
5:16
Speaker 2: of this, I think probably it's pretty infuriating for some
5:18
Speaker 2: of the coaches.
5:21
Speaker 1: Who are all going through it for the first time.
5:22
Speaker 1: Other than I guess you know, you could lose a
5:26
Speaker 1: player close to the start of the season that maybe
5:29
Speaker 1: you weren't anticipating in past cycles when it was a centralization. Yeah,
5:35
Speaker 1: this is uh, this is gonna be new for the
5:37
Speaker 1: coaches who are gonna have to adjust on the fly
5:40
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, and it'll give us a lot
5:42
Speaker 1: to talk about as the season goes on.
5:43
Speaker 2: I know that fun for sure.
5:45
Speaker 1: It is. It's gonna be fun. It's gonna, like, like
5:48
Speaker 1: I said, it's going to give players some new opportunities
5:51
Speaker 1: and then you know, maybe they take that. If it's
5:53
Speaker 1: a say it's a sophomore, they take that. And if
5:57
Speaker 1: those opportunities are there again and the next season they're
6:02
Speaker 1: they're more ready for it. And I think that's gonna
6:04
Speaker 1: be something that could benefit a lot of those players,
6:07
Speaker 1: younger players who are stepping into bigger skates.
6:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, And another sort of hypothetical is you know what
6:14
Speaker 2: if you know your players are gone from from mid
6:17
Speaker 2: January to mid February. Let's say, right your Olympic players
6:20
Speaker 2: come back, they're probably exhausted. If someone has played spectacular
6:25
Speaker 2: in the role and you're heading into the playoffs, do
6:27
Speaker 2: you ride the momentum? Where do you fit those now
6:30
Speaker 2: very tired international players back in with giving them enough
6:34
Speaker 2: time to recover and also not messing with the chemistry
6:36
Speaker 2: that you've built so these like I hate that. All
6:40
Speaker 2: we've been saying is we don't know, and there are
6:42
Speaker 2: so many questions, but like, this is what I mean,
6:44
Speaker 2: because spend the next hour just coming up with questions
6:46
Speaker 2: about like what happens when this happened. It's not like
6:49
Speaker 2: a we're not fawning it off, like oh, I don't
6:51
Speaker 2: know what to say. It's like there's there's literally infinite
6:55
Speaker 2: situations that could arise, and every coach and every team
6:58
Speaker 2: is going to both plan for them differently and then
7:00
Speaker 2: execute them differently no matter how much they plan. And
7:03
Speaker 2: so that's what I think is kind of infuriating from
7:08
Speaker 2: a light. Let's talk about what this scene is going
7:11
Speaker 2: to look like and lets some predict things, but is
7:13
Speaker 2: going to make it amazing to watch? Like every weekend
7:16
Speaker 2: should be a little bit chaotic, which as we know,
7:19
Speaker 2: it's my favorite.
7:19
Speaker 1: So the more chaos, the more fun is how it
7:24
Speaker 1: ends up being.
7:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, and.
7:27
Speaker 1: Wisconsin is the defending national champion, coming back after a
7:33
Speaker 1: come from behind win against Ohio State in the just
7:36
Speaker 1: a really incredible national championship game in Minneapolis last season,
7:41
Speaker 1: Ohio State taking that into the offseason. Then Nadine Mazahl
7:47
Speaker 1: said it on the WCHA Coaches Conference before the season
7:52
Speaker 1: that you know, eighteen point nine seconds was basically burned
7:55
Speaker 1: in their minds all summer, and that's a pretty good motivator.
7:58
Speaker 1: And we saw what happen up and when they had
8:01
Speaker 1: a motivator two years ago and they they ran off
8:04
Speaker 1: a pretty good season and won the championship. It's UH,
8:09
Speaker 1: Wisconsin picked for first and pretty much everything w c
8:12
Speaker 1: h A. Also in the u c h O dot
8:14
Speaker 1: com preseason poll UH unanimously there, Ohio state second, Minnesota third,
8:20
Speaker 1: and the national poll House State Minnesota tied for second
8:23
Speaker 1: in the WHA coaches preseason rankings UH and Duluth finishing
8:28
Speaker 1: fourth in the coaches poll. There. I that's more of
8:33
Speaker 1: the same, right, That's that's what we've come to expect
8:35
Speaker 1: on of the w c h A. Is there any
8:39
Speaker 1: We've been kind of teased a couple of times of
8:41
Speaker 1: the last few years that Saint Cloud is ready to
8:44
Speaker 1: make a jump, is ready to be there, and and
8:48
Speaker 1: I think coaches are a little higher on Saint Thomas
8:51
Speaker 1: this season. They're making progress, They're going into a new arena,
8:54
Speaker 1: These are all the kind of things they're they're going
8:57
Speaker 1: into it into this season where they first time full
9:01
Speaker 1: time head coach and Bethley Brazen, who got the full
9:04
Speaker 1: time position after being the interim the finished last season.
9:07
Speaker 1: But do you think it's it's set that we're gonna
9:12
Speaker 1: have a top four bottom four again, that's the same
9:15
Speaker 1: characters as as a pastor, is this year with the
9:18
Speaker 1: Olympics absences, that maybe we we find a different order
9:22
Speaker 1: of things?
9:24
Speaker 2: That is an impossible question. In a vacuum, I would
9:28
Speaker 2: have said, well that, like, knowing the Olympic stuff, I
9:30
Speaker 2: would have said yes. But like you said, you also
9:32
Speaker 2: have Saint Cloud State with a new coach in Mira,
9:35
Speaker 2: and I don't want to pronounce her wrong, her name.
9:37
Speaker 1: Wrong, Yulos, I believe. I'm sorry, sorry, But.
9:42
Speaker 2: One of these things we'll get we'll get it right.
9:45
Speaker 2: And so so you've got the two programs that I
9:47
Speaker 2: think probably have the best opportunity in terms of their
9:50
Speaker 2: roster and like where they've been in the last two
9:52
Speaker 2: years sort of in in a little bit of transition,
9:55
Speaker 2: and Saint Thomas is probably a little more secure than
9:59
Speaker 2: Saint Cloud is. St does have the bonus that Mira
10:01
Speaker 2: was an assistant underneath a dull sky like she she's
10:04
Speaker 2: super familiar with it. She you know, as a former player.
10:07
Speaker 2: I don't think there's gonna be a ton of growing
10:10
Speaker 2: pains transition there, but there's just in yeah, Like if
10:14
Speaker 2: you'd have asked me that before coaching changes and things
10:17
Speaker 2: like that, i'd say, yeah, I think so too, but
10:20
Speaker 2: now I don't know. And the other thing I would
10:22
Speaker 2: say is that I was maybe like optimistically very high
10:26
Speaker 2: on Minnesota Duluth heading into this season and they're series
10:30
Speaker 2: this weekend. Definitely, I wouldn't say like kill bat or anything,
10:33
Speaker 2: but like tempered it. I just I didn't expect them,
10:38
Speaker 2: their defense and their goaltending to give up as much
10:41
Speaker 2: as they did. And so it's funny because Matt Wellens
10:44
Speaker 2: has been posting some stuff. Matt is the Minnesota de
10:49
Speaker 2: Beat writer up and he was saying like he was
10:52
Speaker 2: saying he doesn't think or their their podcast was saying
10:55
Speaker 2: they don't think they're going to score a lot of goals,
10:56
Speaker 2: and I was like, friends, they're gonna score. Like they
10:58
Speaker 2: were really worried that they were going to play a
11:00
Speaker 2: lunch of one O two O games like EV stopping
11:02
Speaker 2: everything and I'm scoring one goal. And I was like, oh,
11:04
Speaker 2: I think you guys are underestimating this team. And so
11:07
Speaker 2: I overestimate. They overestimated you know, defense, and I you know,
11:11
Speaker 2: I think the offense is okay. Friends, So yeah, I'm
11:15
Speaker 2: still very high on Minnesota Duluth. I just think they
11:18
Speaker 2: picked up a ton of really good pieces in the
11:21
Speaker 2: off season. And again it's dependent on Creamer and Guesscon
11:25
Speaker 2: being there. But I'm really high on Josie Saint Martin.
11:28
Speaker 2: I thought she was like outstanding at e eighteens and
11:32
Speaker 2: she just kind of disappeared last year at Ohio State,
11:34
Speaker 2: Like I just don't it wasn't a good fit for
11:36
Speaker 2: whatever reason. She already you know, went out and scored
11:38
Speaker 2: this week this past weekend. Oh I think putting her
11:43
Speaker 2: in a different situation where she's going to be more comfortable,
11:45
Speaker 2: I expect her to have a huge breakout season. She
11:48
Speaker 2: she alone, I think could be the difference made her
11:51
Speaker 2: for them. But yeah, I the problem is the difference
11:55
Speaker 2: between four and five and the w c h A.
11:57
Speaker 2: It's not it's not a standard one step right, and
12:01
Speaker 2: so if you're improving like that's that's the thing. It's
12:05
Speaker 2: the same thing that happens in the wh or I'm sorry,
12:07
Speaker 2: the ECAC. But maybe like not one through four, maybe
12:09
Speaker 2: like from six to five or whatever it is. But yeah,
12:13
Speaker 2: it's like, however much you improve the teams above, you
12:16
Speaker 2: are also doing all of that, and so there's just
12:18
Speaker 2: like a ceiling based on being a smaller school, having
12:21
Speaker 2: different recruiting capabilities, having different you know, scholarship capabilities, all
12:25
Speaker 2: that sort of stuff, Like they just how do you
12:27
Speaker 2: compete with the state school with the kind of budgets
12:29
Speaker 2: that you know, Minnesota and Wisconsin have. So I don't know.
12:34
Speaker 2: I would like to say so I'm always wanting, I'm
12:36
Speaker 2: always pulling for those teams, but you know, it's a
12:39
Speaker 2: very long wited way of I guess maybe not, probably not.
12:42
Speaker 2: I don't know. Do you do you see it different?
12:45
Speaker 1: I mean, history tells us that there's both in resources
12:49
Speaker 1: and in in UH talent levels. The top four teams
12:55
Speaker 1: are consistently the top four teams for a reason. So
13:00
Speaker 1: that that's why even with a you know, a month
13:05
Speaker 1: of maybe the gaps being smaller, I don't know if
13:09
Speaker 1: that's enough for for a lot of change here. I
13:13
Speaker 1: do see potential for Saint Cloud down the road, especially
13:16
Speaker 1: as mira Ulos. I'm gonna get that right one of
13:20
Speaker 1: these d's. It's more established we saw. I mean, Branandolski
13:26
Speaker 1: did a lot there In a few years, He's gone
13:30
Speaker 1: on to become the head coach of the p w
13:33
Speaker 1: h L Vancouver expansion team. So it's it's a significant
13:39
Speaker 1: change there, but one that can be lessened by the
13:43
Speaker 1: fact that yes, Mira has experienced there as is bringing
13:48
Speaker 1: in a I think a recognizable kind of system, So
13:56
Speaker 1: that remains to be seen.
13:58
Speaker 2: I think the door is probably a little more open
14:00
Speaker 2: that it is in any given year, but it's not
14:02
Speaker 2: like it's hugely a jar, right Like, Yeah, I do
14:06
Speaker 2: think that there's more opportunity. I think that's just like
14:08
Speaker 2: sort of the theme of this season across the board
14:12
Speaker 2: in every conference is there's just going to be more opportunities,
14:15
Speaker 2: and I think the most successful teams are going to
14:17
Speaker 2: be the ones that take advantage of it, whether that
14:20
Speaker 2: is you know, at the top level, at the top
14:23
Speaker 2: ranked teams with you know, freshman and sophomore is playing
14:26
Speaker 2: a bigger role, whether that's a middle road team being
14:29
Speaker 2: able to pick up more points and just make more
14:32
Speaker 2: moves in the standings. I just think opportunity and who
14:35
Speaker 2: can really capitalize on that and really take advantage is
14:39
Speaker 2: the name of the game this season.
14:41
Speaker 1: There were some big gaps in the WHA and the
14:44
Speaker 1: Stanley's last season eighteen points from Wisconsin to Ohio State
14:49
Speaker 1: first and second, even though it was nine between Minnesota
14:54
Speaker 1: and third and Duluth and fourth, and then twelve between
14:57
Speaker 1: Duluth and fourth and Saint Cloud and fifth. So it
15:00
Speaker 1: like you're saying that there's there's a lot to be gained.
15:05
Speaker 1: They are a lot to be made up there if
15:07
Speaker 1: you're looking at even if they.
15:09
Speaker 2: Pick up versus Yeah, it's still not enough to make
15:12
Speaker 2: some of those jumps.
15:13
Speaker 1: So it's going to be difficult, and especially because I
15:17
Speaker 1: mean we talked about the talent levels that hasn't gone
15:23
Speaker 1: down this season. It's going I mean a lot of
15:25
Speaker 1: it's going to be gone for a month. But I mean,
15:28
Speaker 1: this is it's an all star team in the w
15:30
Speaker 1: c h A again. I mean Kirsten Simms, Will Edwards,
15:34
Speaker 1: KK Harvey for Wisconsin, Amman Murphy's back at Minnesota for
15:38
Speaker 1: a fifth year, Joy Dunn's back at Ohio State. These
15:40
Speaker 1: are all players that are gonna probably be in the Olympics.
15:43
Speaker 1: So and and they're going to be uh with the
15:47
Speaker 1: exception of done, they're gonna be moving on after the season,
15:50
Speaker 1: so enjoy it while it's there, I guess is one
15:51
Speaker 1: of the things. And yeah, I mean that's that's really
15:57
Speaker 1: what it comes down to, is that this this is
15:59
Speaker 1: the last ride for a lot of those players in
16:02
Speaker 1: the college level before they go on to the Bros.
16:04
Speaker 1: So I know they want to make the most of that.
16:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I think even you know, knowing that there's
16:12
Speaker 2: time to be missed, Like there's reason a lot of
16:14
Speaker 2: these players came back for a fifth year, right, Like
16:16
Speaker 2: there were opportunities to maybe do some different things, and
16:20
Speaker 2: you know, like Minnesota, you know, Abby wants to bring
16:23
Speaker 2: that program back to the top, right, Like that's a
16:25
Speaker 2: thing that's sort of been maybe gone unsaid the past
16:29
Speaker 2: couple of seasons. But then Brad really kind of brought
16:31
Speaker 2: it up in the Brad Frost, coach of Minnesota, brought
16:34
Speaker 2: it up in the WKJA preseason call that like there's
16:36
Speaker 2: an expectation of their program and they haven't met it
16:38
Speaker 2: in recent years. But that's probably the most dynamic roster
16:42
Speaker 2: they've had from top to bottom in several seasons. You know,
16:45
Speaker 2: you were mentioning some of the returners. I also think
16:47
Speaker 2: this is one of the most interesting, probably talented. It's
16:52
Speaker 2: you know, it's hard to come here, but like one
16:53
Speaker 2: of the best incoming classes across the board that we've
16:56
Speaker 2: seen in a while. There's a ton of talent from
16:58
Speaker 2: Europe that's here. As opposed to be maybe one or
17:00
Speaker 2: two players that we might see, there's there's you know,
17:03
Speaker 2: a dozen that have come across and are playing in
17:07
Speaker 2: programs across the country. And we've got you know, it's
17:10
Speaker 2: from the more you know, sort of well known Sweden, Finland, Chechia,
17:13
Speaker 2: but also Austria, France, Hungary. We're just we're seeing more
17:17
Speaker 2: and more players come over and so I there's probably
17:20
Speaker 2: some bias for me because I'm very familiar with this
17:22
Speaker 2: class because they iper saw several of them and the
17:25
Speaker 2: you know, when UA teams were in Madison and now
17:27
Speaker 2: I've been going every year. But still I just think
17:29
Speaker 2: it's a really, really high ceiling class and it's fun
17:34
Speaker 2: to know that these are players we're gonna see playing
17:36
Speaker 2: internationally for several you know, years or cycles to come.
17:40
Speaker 2: So you're you know, you're watching them now at eighteen,
17:42
Speaker 2: but if they have a long career with their national team,
17:45
Speaker 2: you could be seeing Thember two, three, more Olympics, and
17:47
Speaker 2: so the idea that you get to pay like what
17:50
Speaker 2: ten dollars a ticket or so to go see some
17:52
Speaker 2: of this talent on the ice. When you watch a Wisconsin, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
17:56
Speaker 2: Ohio State, you're seeing you know, ten future Olympians at
18:03
Speaker 2: this point, like literally future coming February. But yeah, I
18:07
Speaker 2: just there's a lot of really cool, really interesting, really
18:11
Speaker 2: unique styles that are coming. And so seeing how those
18:15
Speaker 2: players will integrate with some of the systems here and
18:17
Speaker 2: how I feel like a lot of the particular in
18:20
Speaker 2: the WCHA, they play a lot of the same way
18:22
Speaker 2: that they've play in for several seasons, Like it works,
18:24
Speaker 2: Why are you messing with it? And so when you
18:26
Speaker 2: bring in like like a Dala Chapel chapovel Avova at Wisconsin,
18:31
Speaker 2: that's their first international player, but she's learned a very
18:33
Speaker 2: different style of hockey and they're not going to try
18:36
Speaker 2: and change her completely. So how did they adapt to
18:39
Speaker 2: having her there? How does you know Wisconsin and Ohio
18:42
Speaker 2: State or Minnesota and Ohio State bring in some of
18:44
Speaker 2: their international players and how does that change the game
18:48
Speaker 2: that they play? Because I think it ends up being
18:50
Speaker 2: a hybrid, you know, right.
18:53
Speaker 1: Last point on the WCCHA mentioned of briefly before, but
18:56
Speaker 1: big things happening at Saint Thomas with a new arena,
19:00
Speaker 1: uh Anderson Arena, which will also host the w c
19:03
Speaker 1: h A Final Face Off tournament at the end of
19:06
Speaker 1: the season. Saint Thomas also fully eligible for the NCAA
19:10
Speaker 1: Tournament this season wasn't really a matter in previous years,
19:15
Speaker 1: but now that they're waiting period is reclassification period is
19:19
Speaker 1: over as a full Division one member and so they're
19:23
Speaker 1: they're eligible. Now do you see this as a launching point?
19:29
Speaker 1: I guess for for this program, it's it's had fits
19:32
Speaker 1: and starts over the last few years, we know, and
19:35
Speaker 1: had a a big change last season with coaching departure
19:40
Speaker 1: and having to readjust mid stream. I think they're they're
19:46
Speaker 1: gaining some some traction and it's just a matter of
19:50
Speaker 1: how many years does it take for it to to
19:53
Speaker 1: to get to a point where they are, you know,
19:57
Speaker 1: fighting for one of those upper spots.
20:01
Speaker 2: I will say, I think I think hosting the w
20:06
Speaker 2: SHA tournament is a mighty motivator and I think if
20:10
Speaker 2: there is an upset this year, I could see it
20:13
Speaker 2: being Saint Thomas. In terms of them wanting to, like
20:17
Speaker 2: you said, just they're in a position to really put
20:19
Speaker 2: their program in a place of prominence and really get
20:22
Speaker 2: the attention. And that new facility is going to help
20:25
Speaker 2: them with recruiting and just sort of all of the
20:28
Speaker 2: things that you need to do step by step to
20:30
Speaker 2: keep growing your program, right, And so I know that
20:32
Speaker 2: they kind of have that circle as their big goal
20:35
Speaker 2: this season, right, is to make that there. And so
20:38
Speaker 2: if we're talking about you know, slightly more a jar
20:41
Speaker 2: door is, I think they're really they're really hoping to
20:43
Speaker 2: take advantage of that and really push it open. I
20:46
Speaker 2: think Bethany's a spectacular coach for them. I think you know,
20:49
Speaker 2: her enthusiasm and just what she brings and I think
20:52
Speaker 2: you can tell the player's respector and so I kind
20:56
Speaker 2: of hope that they had that chapter from before can
20:58
Speaker 2: just be closed and they you know, they really can
21:00
Speaker 2: just push forward. And I think that like that cycle too,
21:03
Speaker 2: of just having promoted to D one and now they're
21:06
Speaker 2: like they're really in it and these are all players
21:08
Speaker 2: they're fully recruited, recruited to D one players and and
21:11
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff that comes with that. You know,
21:14
Speaker 2: that process of whether it started your program or elevating
21:16
Speaker 2: it or whatever. We're seeing that, you know, with a
21:18
Speaker 2: couple of programs this season where you'll like you get
21:21
Speaker 2: that strong that first class, the one that came and
21:24
Speaker 2: really wanted to build and what they wanted to do.
21:26
Speaker 2: So I think that if you know, if there's a
21:29
Speaker 2: team that's going to surprise in the WCCHAM and money's
21:31
Speaker 2: on Saint Thomas, I just think there's there's a lot
21:34
Speaker 2: there and they're thrilled. It's not just that it's a
21:36
Speaker 2: nicer facility, it's that it's a facility at campus like
21:39
Speaker 2: they were they were in no man's land, and so
21:42
Speaker 2: you know, it's not a huge campus to begin with,
21:44
Speaker 2: and so like they're never gonna draw a massive there's
21:47
Speaker 2: not just like not a community, a campus community to
21:50
Speaker 2: draw a massive crowd from. And then you were asking
21:52
Speaker 2: them to go to a not great facility nowhere near campus,
21:55
Speaker 2: and so I just think it just means a ton
21:57
Speaker 2: for them to be right there on campus in this
22:00
Speaker 2: really nice new arena. I don't know, I do hope.
22:04
Speaker 2: I think that it can be a launching pick for them.
22:05
Speaker 2: I think you know, they've gotten a couple of you
22:07
Speaker 2: eighteen players in the recruiting classes the past few seasons.
22:11
Speaker 2: They've obviously got that pipeline of Switzerland players that they've
22:14
Speaker 2: had coming over. They've got a really great goalie right
22:18
Speaker 2: now in Danny Trump, and she's only a sophomore. So
22:21
Speaker 2: uh yeah, I just you know, it's it's twofold. I
22:24
Speaker 2: think all of the pieces are lining up for them
22:26
Speaker 2: to you know, take a step. But you know, the
22:28
Speaker 2: reality is, as we've just talked about, like, it's very
22:31
Speaker 2: difficult to do that in the WCHA, and so they
22:33
Speaker 2: could have all of that go right and they could
22:35
Speaker 2: get more points and they could still end up in
22:37
Speaker 2: the exact same spot in the standings, playing the exact
22:40
Speaker 2: same series at the end of the year.
22:44
Speaker 1: It's a tough thing about the WCHA. About the ECAC
22:47
Speaker 1: is that, Yeah, it's you've got a lot of teams
22:49
Speaker 1: to try and climb over if you're in the midpacker
22:51
Speaker 1: at the bottom. So there's a lot of work to
22:54
Speaker 1: be done there and we will see how it goes.
22:56
Speaker 1: That is our look at the WHA stay with us
22:59
Speaker 1: after the break, we will look ahead to the new
23:02
Speaker 1: haw season and we'll also then later in the show
23:05
Speaker 1: look back at week one and look ahead to week two,
23:07
Speaker 1: Stay with us on the podcast. We're back on the
23:18
Speaker 1: podcast Todd Luski and Nicole Hose from us cho dot com.
23:22
Speaker 1: Time to talk about the new ha Last season, Long
23:25
Speaker 1: Island won the regular season championship by six points that
23:28
Speaker 1: were Franklin Pearson's Sacred Heart, but got upset in the
23:33
Speaker 1: championship game by Sacred Heart, the third seed to have
23:38
Speaker 1: Sacred Heart go on to the NCAA Tournament as the
23:41
Speaker 1: auto bid. It was a season where we saw really
23:47
Speaker 1: a surprising or a couple of surprising things in the
23:52
Speaker 1: postseason with Post sweeping Franklin Pearson the first round of
23:56
Speaker 1: the playoffs with two one nothing games after Posts really
24:00
Speaker 1: had a rough regular season, but good on them for
24:06
Speaker 1: getting things together for that postseason run in the first round,
24:10
Speaker 1: and then you know, Sacred Heart going to l i
24:15
Speaker 1: U and winning the championship there to move on in
24:18
Speaker 1: the NCAA Tournament. What I guess, what do you think
24:23
Speaker 1: is there anything that carries over in your mind from
24:25
Speaker 1: from last season to this season. I mean, we're looking
24:28
Speaker 1: at teams that some of the teams that lost a
24:29
Speaker 1: lot of players, yeah, and some of the teams that
24:32
Speaker 1: maybe are rebuilding and coming into another cycle of players.
24:36
Speaker 1: How is that going to impact the way you look
24:38
Speaker 1: at things around the conference this season?
24:42
Speaker 2: A good question. So one of the things that makes
24:45
Speaker 2: do how great in my opinion, is that, like I
24:47
Speaker 2: personally think you could put the team that I picked
24:50
Speaker 2: like second or third, could also finish like six or seventh.
24:53
Speaker 2: Like it's just kind of a really wide open conference,
24:55
Speaker 2: like as you pointed out with the postseason, and so
24:59
Speaker 2: lu as one or shared the regular season title for
25:03
Speaker 2: the last four years, but only one one tournament in
25:06
Speaker 2: that time. They've had four different tournament winners over those
25:09
Speaker 2: last four seasons. And so the fact that it's just
25:12
Speaker 2: so wide open is what makes it so fun. You've
25:15
Speaker 2: got some younger programs, You've got programs that are, you know,
25:18
Speaker 2: trying to to find their footing. And so I just
25:21
Speaker 2: think that like for those of us that love chaos,
25:24
Speaker 2: like Neuha is where it's at. And in this situation
25:28
Speaker 2: like this year, we've got, like you mentioned, sort of
25:30
Speaker 2: turnover for me, like Long Island lost kind of a
25:34
Speaker 2: really large class to graduation, right, like kind of their
25:37
Speaker 2: foundational players, particularly some of the ones that then got
25:39
Speaker 2: the fifth year as well. And so in the coaches
25:41
Speaker 2: pulled their pick second, But I like, on paper, I
25:45
Speaker 2: feel like they've got a lot of questions to figure
25:48
Speaker 2: out before before they get Like before I believe that
25:52
Speaker 2: they're gonna get their their fifth Street championship. But then
25:55
Speaker 2: you look at a team like Stonehill, who is in
25:57
Speaker 2: their fourth season, which means their foundational class or seniors year, right,
26:00
Speaker 2: and obviously they surprised and made it to or won
26:03
Speaker 2: the championship and made their their NCAA debut, but they're
26:06
Speaker 2: so they're looking to get back to that and kind
26:08
Speaker 2: of as the seniors like really set their mark and
26:11
Speaker 2: sort of do that leaves the program better than you
26:14
Speaker 2: found it scenario right, But I imagine that it's Sacred
26:17
Speaker 2: Hearts Conference to lose, just in terms of what they
26:21
Speaker 2: gained by winning that huge overtime victory getting to the
26:25
Speaker 2: NCAA tournament. They have a ton of returning players that
26:29
Speaker 2: just really like to me, they have the advantage they
26:33
Speaker 2: have an early experienced roster. They have a good incoming
26:36
Speaker 2: class because they did a lot of moves in the
26:39
Speaker 2: portal to bring in you know, some players from programs
26:42
Speaker 2: in other conferences, so just kind of that more experience,
26:46
Speaker 2: so to me, like the rosters. The rosters are just
26:50
Speaker 2: so interesting right now because there's always so much portal movement.
26:54
Speaker 2: There was a lot of movement between programs within nuhas,
26:57
Speaker 2: so players going from one program to the other, and
27:01
Speaker 2: it's just even without any of that, to me, this
27:03
Speaker 2: conference is always team chaos, and so that's that's sleep.
27:08
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe more than any other time where I'm like,
27:11
Speaker 2: I have no idea what's going to happen. That's how
27:12
Speaker 2: I feel about you, how kind of at any given moment.
27:16
Speaker 2: But that's when it makescept ends, right.
27:19
Speaker 1: Well, the coach has agreed with you on sacred heart.
27:21
Speaker 1: Picking them first in the conference preseason poll, l i
27:25
Speaker 1: U second, Stonehill third, Franklin Pierce fourth, and then the
27:30
Speaker 1: same order in the bottom half as the finish of
27:33
Speaker 1: last season st antse elm Assumption posts and Saint Michael's
27:37
Speaker 1: stone Hill in third is an interesting case study in
27:41
Speaker 1: that I believe you said this is the fourth season
27:44
Speaker 1: of the program, correct, which means this is coming to
27:48
Speaker 1: a you know, it's it's a group of players that
27:50
Speaker 1: have been around now, but they're coming to a point
27:54
Speaker 1: where it's going to start turning over. If they're going
27:56
Speaker 1: to make something happen. It feels like maybe this is
27:58
Speaker 1: a good year to do it.
28:00
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, And they you know, their their goalie was
28:02
Speaker 2: a rookie last year. She was pretty good, but like
28:04
Speaker 2: comes back now with more experience. For them, there was
28:07
Speaker 2: a little drop off in scoring last year, so I
28:10
Speaker 2: think they need to just be more sort of aggressive
28:15
Speaker 2: on offense. And having a goalie that you can really
28:18
Speaker 2: trust in definitely allows the offense to push a little more.
28:21
Speaker 2: And so yeah, for them, I feel like, like you said,
28:24
Speaker 2: it's it's I mean, that large senior class is going
28:27
Speaker 2: to feel like we you know, it's now or never.
28:29
Speaker 2: And so for them, I think there's just gonna be
28:32
Speaker 2: that good internal pressure of just like we really want
28:35
Speaker 2: to make something happen, like this is what we the
28:37
Speaker 2: legacy want to live, leave before we go. And you know,
28:40
Speaker 2: as I said, they already you know have their like
28:42
Speaker 2: they kind of surprised everybody that second year, and so
28:45
Speaker 2: now it's like, okay, we need to prove that that
28:47
Speaker 2: wasn't a lot off. Right, Like they finished fourth last season,
28:50
Speaker 2: that's not they lost in the tournament quarterfinals, Like that's
28:53
Speaker 2: not that's not how they want to go out. So
28:56
Speaker 2: I do think that this is like I said, I
28:58
Speaker 2: do think this is a confortingtre like a team. I
29:01
Speaker 2: don't think a lot of points are going to separate,
29:04
Speaker 2: you know, kind of the middle part of the standings
29:05
Speaker 2: or maybe even like one through five or six. I
29:09
Speaker 2: just think there's gonna be a lot of fighting. I
29:12
Speaker 2: think this is going to be kind of like Hockey East,
29:14
Speaker 2: where like every week there's there's teams that maybe lose
29:18
Speaker 2: a game they were supposed to. But it just means
29:20
Speaker 2: the points are going to be like really like really
29:23
Speaker 2: at a premium and really important to grab when they're
29:25
Speaker 2: when they're available, and.
29:28
Speaker 1: That's going to be I think one of the challenges
29:31
Speaker 1: for a lot of the teams is is you know,
29:34
Speaker 1: not or finding those those opportunities and protecting home ice
29:39
Speaker 1: and and you know, you can almost try to do
29:43
Speaker 1: too much and try to get yourself. You know, you
29:46
Speaker 1: think there's an opportunity and you jump at it and
29:48
Speaker 1: you're you're getting outside of your game, You're you're doing
29:50
Speaker 1: things you don't normally do, and then you realize, well,
29:53
Speaker 1: we've missed an opportunity by not being ourselves. And so
29:57
Speaker 1: that's one of the things that can always change of
30:01
Speaker 1: season is you know what what your team identity is
30:05
Speaker 1: and whether you play to it. And so I think
30:07
Speaker 1: that's we're in to a point where a lot of
30:08
Speaker 1: these programs are starting to develop that, right and I
30:11
Speaker 1: think that's gonna be interesting to watch how that whether
30:15
Speaker 1: it continues or whether we start to see it, well,
30:18
Speaker 1: do we have to maybe experiment a little bit here
30:21
Speaker 1: to try and take a risk in being a different program.
30:26
Speaker 2: That's where I think the experience of a of a
30:29
Speaker 2: returning class and also bringing in some players that maybe
30:33
Speaker 2: were at programs in different conferences where like that are
30:36
Speaker 2: more established that had had that experience. So bringing in
30:39
Speaker 2: some of that leadership can really be a big thing.
30:43
Speaker 2: And this is a conference where like all of the
30:45
Speaker 2: teams have several tie I was seeing Antem had seven
30:49
Speaker 2: ties last year, So just like that finding that little
30:52
Speaker 2: extra edge, right, like being able to pull that out
30:55
Speaker 2: and turn those into points, whether it's winning an overtime
30:59
Speaker 2: or winning it. And right now, you know that's not
31:02
Speaker 2: to say that like they were leaving stuff on the table,
31:04
Speaker 2: but like you just want to like maybe maybe the
31:07
Speaker 2: first step was just getting to those ties as opposed
31:09
Speaker 2: to them being losses, but and not picking on st
31:12
Speaker 2: ansem at all, Like several teams here left had a
31:15
Speaker 2: ton of ties and so like that's a huge difference
31:17
Speaker 2: when you're talking about where we think that the A
31:19
Speaker 2: pointer two is going to make a difference in the standings.
31:23
Speaker 1: Right New High as a whole outside of conference play
31:27
Speaker 1: last year one forty three and two, which is I mean,
31:32
Speaker 1: it's it's what we understand. The dynamic is in women's
31:36
Speaker 1: hockey right now. There's a clear pecking order in conferences
31:41
Speaker 1: and New Highs is is working its way up from
31:45
Speaker 1: the bottom. Let's say that. And I think that the
31:49
Speaker 1: more time goes on, the more establish players and coaches
31:54
Speaker 1: get in the places they are, the better you have
31:57
Speaker 1: the a chance to move off that. But we did
32:01
Speaker 1: see one coaching change in the off season, Pat Bingham
32:05
Speaker 1: out at post and Brandon Brown spending the season as
32:07
Speaker 1: the interim head coach, and so there's I think the
32:10
Speaker 1: more consistency you can get with coaching, the more stability
32:16
Speaker 1: you have with programs, the better the better chance of
32:20
Speaker 1: taking a step and continuing to build on things. And
32:24
Speaker 1: that's what I hope we get to see as time
32:27
Speaker 1: goes on with new hot programs, is that there's you know,
32:30
Speaker 1: the stability of you know, where they're playing for some
32:33
Speaker 1: teams and where you know and who's running things and
32:36
Speaker 1: who's calling the shots, and that will go a long
32:40
Speaker 1: way to changing that non conference record in the future.
32:46
Speaker 2: I was, yeah, when you started that, I was just
32:48
Speaker 2: going to mention the coaching and that, like there has
32:50
Speaker 2: been a ton of turnover in recent season, and so
32:55
Speaker 2: the fact that like it's for the most part of
32:58
Speaker 2: returning coaching staff, I think should make a big difference.
33:01
Speaker 2: And like you said, it's just it. You can't build character,
33:05
Speaker 2: you can't set up a program culture if the coach
33:07
Speaker 2: is sort of constantly changing. And so I think hopefully
33:12
Speaker 2: that that's a good sign. I mean it, at this point,
33:16
Speaker 2: we were seeing coaches go from here to other conferences,
33:19
Speaker 2: and so we don't you want people to be able
33:22
Speaker 2: to grow and improve and keep coaching, but also you
33:25
Speaker 2: don't want these to just be stepping stones, and so
33:28
Speaker 2: these programs sort of being able to hold onto those
33:32
Speaker 2: coaches for a few extra years and really like establish something,
33:35
Speaker 2: set something up, and bring in assistant staff where then
33:39
Speaker 2: maybe one of those coaches can then step into the
33:41
Speaker 2: role and you're keeping that consistent style through is really
33:45
Speaker 2: good to be key for some of these places. I think.
33:48
Speaker 1: Sacred Heart loss to Minnesota de luth in the opening
33:51
Speaker 1: round of the tournament last season, like you mentioned, their
33:54
Speaker 1: first experience in the tournament, and now we've had a
33:58
Speaker 1: few teams that have had that chance out of New
34:01
Speaker 1: High and so that's that's cool to see. I mean,
34:05
Speaker 1: this is obviously one of the things that has happened
34:08
Speaker 1: as you know, as New How gained it's it's spot
34:12
Speaker 1: in the tournament. Uh, the tournament expanded and tournament moved
34:17
Speaker 1: a little bit bigger, and so those are all good things.
34:21
Speaker 1: Those are things that are positive for the game. It's
34:26
Speaker 1: it's you know, change doesn't happen quickly in a lot
34:30
Speaker 1: of places, and so growth is a more Uh. You
34:37
Speaker 1: really struggle sometimes to see particularly the moment. Yeah, right,
34:42
Speaker 1: And and so we may look back at this twenty
34:44
Speaker 1: years surround and say, well, okay, those those first you know,
34:48
Speaker 1: five ten years we were pretty rough. But you know,
34:51
Speaker 1: maybe we'll be able to see if there was a
34:53
Speaker 1: turn at some point. And I don't know what what
34:57
Speaker 1: that necessarily will be, but it could there No.
35:00
Speaker 2: But even like the Minnesota game in the Minnesota duluthe
35:03
Speaker 2: game with Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart was like matched up
35:07
Speaker 2: with them for what the half the game. I mean
35:10
Speaker 2: it was not like it ended up six to one,
35:11
Speaker 2: but that's definitely not how the game was the whole time.
35:15
Speaker 2: And like it probably sounds like appeasing things, but the
35:19
Speaker 2: point is that, like we've seen some of these matchups
35:22
Speaker 2: where the new hot team has to go play like
35:24
Speaker 2: the number one seed and it it does not go
35:26
Speaker 2: well for them, So, right, it was good to see
35:30
Speaker 2: that it like clearly there is a difference, right, Like,
35:33
Speaker 2: I mean, Jesus, we were just talking about the difference
35:35
Speaker 2: in institutions within the WHA and now talk about you know,
35:39
Speaker 2: even a smaller school like UMD versus the what's available
35:43
Speaker 2: to the new hot schools and through their athletic departments.
35:46
Speaker 2: And I just I thought it was good that it
35:48
Speaker 2: was not an immediate like, oh, these two kind of
35:51
Speaker 2: don't belong on the same ice sort of thing. To me,
35:53
Speaker 2: that was another good sign that like we're seeing the
35:56
Speaker 2: teams improve, we're seeing the quality improve. We're seeing you know,
36:00
Speaker 2: and that's just going to keep happening too, is the
36:02
Speaker 2: spore overall grows and there's just more talented players to
36:05
Speaker 2: go to forty five different amost at forty four to
36:08
Speaker 2: forty five different institutions.
36:12
Speaker 1: All right, that is our look at new how We're
36:14
Speaker 1: going to take a quick break. Then we are going
36:16
Speaker 1: to be back and review week one and look ahead
36:18
Speaker 1: to week two. Stay with us on the podcast. Back
36:29
Speaker 1: for our final segment here on this week's edition of
36:31
Speaker 1: the podcast, top Lusky and Nicole Hasey, Let's look back
36:34
Speaker 1: at week one. First games of the season happened last
36:37
Speaker 1: Friday night, and right off the bat, Minnesota lutha top
36:42
Speaker 1: team expected to be top team in the country, was
36:46
Speaker 1: down three to one at Mercyhurst after a pair of
36:50
Speaker 1: goals five seconds apart. Somehow by Mercy Herris scored one.
36:54
Speaker 1: They go up to one, and then right off the
36:56
Speaker 1: face off, it's another goal straight up the middle.
37:02
Speaker 2: She just literally through the circle, picked up the pucket
37:05
Speaker 2: was gone.
37:07
Speaker 1: Jessica Karachi, I'm sorry, I wish I had a pronunciation
37:11
Speaker 1: guy on this one, but scored for five seconds after
37:14
Speaker 1: to put Mercies up three to one in the second period,
37:18
Speaker 1: but d Luth was able to come back scored a
37:21
Speaker 1: Josie s Martin gold to tie it late in the third,
37:23
Speaker 1: and then Kitin Kramer won it in the three on
37:26
Speaker 1: three overtime for a four to three win, and then
37:29
Speaker 1: a day later the Bulldogs got a five to three
37:32
Speaker 1: win for the sweep to open the season. I don't
37:37
Speaker 1: know if I was expecting necessarily that game to go
37:41
Speaker 1: to overtime on Friday when I was thinking about it
37:44
Speaker 1: as as a possibility entering the weekend. But I guess
37:48
Speaker 1: on the opening weekend sometimes you just don't know what
37:52
Speaker 1: you're what you're gonna have, who's gonna be ready to play,
37:56
Speaker 1: who's might take a couple of games to get up
37:59
Speaker 1: to speed, what kind of connections you have.
38:01
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm true temper that, Like, Okay, it was
38:04
Speaker 2: the opening weekend, so to not get you know, take
38:09
Speaker 2: too much from it, but yeah, I there were times
38:11
Speaker 2: where Minnesota Duluth looked like they were standing still and
38:15
Speaker 2: Mercy Hurst was sort of skating around them. There were
38:19
Speaker 2: I just there's this kind of a specific well, it's
38:23
Speaker 2: particularly on defense. U M D has just been really
38:25
Speaker 2: like disciplined and can be really strong and secure on that,
38:28
Speaker 2: and I didn't feel like we were getting that from them.
38:30
Speaker 2: I can imagine that's already been addressed in practice and
38:34
Speaker 2: in some tape. But yeah, I didn't you know, I
38:36
Speaker 2: didn't expect to eight goal games, regardless of who was
38:40
Speaker 2: scoring them. I didn't expect that much output from Mercy Hursts.
38:43
Speaker 2: So good on them, you know, they're one of their
38:45
Speaker 2: best players. They Johanssen is now on um D, and
38:49
Speaker 2: so I yeah, all around, I thought it was just
38:52
Speaker 2: kind of a surprising outcome of games just from both teams.
38:58
Speaker 2: You know, Saturday's game, you and D was behind and
39:01
Speaker 2: needed four goals in the second to to really take
39:04
Speaker 2: control of that game. And so yeah, not great from
39:07
Speaker 2: I think. You know, as I said before, like some
39:09
Speaker 2: of the d U and D writers were talking about
39:11
Speaker 2: like them being need to be needing to be really defensive,
39:14
Speaker 2: and like talking about maybe them needing to be more
39:16
Speaker 2: like Mummidgie where they really like anchor in the middle
39:18
Speaker 2: and keep teams to the outside, and that just show
39:21
Speaker 2: was not what happened. And so uh yeah, it was,
39:24
Speaker 2: like you said, just surprising, like trying not to be
39:26
Speaker 2: too harsh on anybody, trying to not take too much
39:28
Speaker 2: out of the opening weekend, But UMD is gonna have
39:32
Speaker 2: to be better than that if they're gonna make waves
39:34
Speaker 2: and do more in the w c H A. Uh,
39:37
Speaker 2: that's just like sort of simple fact. It feels just
39:40
Speaker 2: feels weird to just kind of be so so lun
39:43
Speaker 2: about it, but that that wasn't going to cut it,
39:45
Speaker 2: and so they're lucky that they escaped with it. The
39:47
Speaker 2: goal that Caitlyn Kramer scored in over time is when
39:50
Speaker 2: that goalie will want back hardcore. It was the softest
39:54
Speaker 2: goal of the weekend unfortunately, and so yeah, UMD is
39:57
Speaker 2: lucky they came out with that wind and you know,
40:00
Speaker 2: but good for them because like I said, people were
40:02
Speaker 2: asking if they're going to be able to score in
40:03
Speaker 2: ten goals on the weekend. Definitely is a good statement
40:06
Speaker 2: in that direction. It's sort of the other end of
40:08
Speaker 2: the ice that I think they got to figure.
40:10
Speaker 1: Out more scoring for other WHA teams. In non conference series,
40:16
Speaker 1: sink Cloud State got a pair of five nothing wins
40:19
Speaker 1: against linden Wood at home, and Minnesota State went on
40:23
Speaker 1: the road to sweep rents Layer. It was a three
40:29
Speaker 1: nothing win on Friday and then a five to three
40:32
Speaker 1: win on Saturday. That those were the three two game
40:37
Speaker 1: series that we had over the weekend. Another non conference
40:41
Speaker 1: game on Sunday, Saint Thomas beat Posts, and then there
40:45
Speaker 1: were a bunch of exhibition games, which I don't know
40:49
Speaker 1: how much value to put on, honestly, because coaches try
40:53
Speaker 1: different things in exhibition games. You like to see something,
40:56
Speaker 1: you like to get ready for game one when you
40:58
Speaker 1: have a preseason exhibition. But I never really know how
41:03
Speaker 1: much to put into those results.
41:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I you know, It's one of the things
41:10
Speaker 2: is I'm like, okay, so you know Saint Lawrence one,
41:12
Speaker 2: Colgate zero, Like that's fine, that's probably you know, the
41:16
Speaker 2: bounce of a puck one way or the other. I
41:18
Speaker 2: was a little surprised with the five to one New
41:20
Speaker 2: Hampshire win over Main. I kind of expected those teams
41:22
Speaker 2: to be a little closer sore instead of like taking
41:27
Speaker 2: it is any sort of gospel, It's more just sort
41:28
Speaker 2: of like, I probably will pay a little more attention
41:30
Speaker 2: the next time these two teams come together. And I'd
41:32
Speaker 2: say the same thing. It was interesting Quinnipiac three Yukon zero.
41:36
Speaker 2: U U can't's gonna need to figure out some scoring.
41:41
Speaker 2: They've got the goaltending, so the scoring is what needs
41:43
Speaker 2: to come. And maybe that's what was happening in that
41:46
Speaker 2: game I because they were exhibitions. I had them on
41:48
Speaker 2: my my extra screen and so was paying less attention
41:51
Speaker 2: to those in terms of those outcomes. But yeah, hard
41:56
Speaker 2: to say, right, I think it's probably a design. BC
41:59
Speaker 2: put five goals stone Hill. Again, just all of this
42:03
Speaker 2: is there were a lot of turnover in a lot
42:04
Speaker 2: of these teams, and so knowing that even like BC
42:08
Speaker 2: lost some of their their highest scorers, so that they're
42:10
Speaker 2: they're connecting putting putting pucks in the net is a
42:13
Speaker 2: good sign. So it's it's not necessarily the score or
42:16
Speaker 2: the outcome, but just the know that things are gelling together,
42:21
Speaker 2: right right, All right.
42:24
Speaker 1: Let's look ahead to this week. The volume, I guess
42:28
Speaker 1: in the volume of games turns up, and the intensity
42:31
Speaker 1: of some of these turns up as well, thinking specifically
42:35
Speaker 1: of Saint Lawrence and Penn State. Fine to top ten
42:38
Speaker 1: teams in state college I believe is that a Thursday
42:44
Speaker 1: Friday series because of football.
42:46
Speaker 2: We've got a bunch of we've got four Thursday games.
42:49
Speaker 2: Like it's a it's a I'm not sure.
42:53
Speaker 1: So, but that was in early season measuring time. Yeah,
42:59
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's a you know, get right into
43:02
Speaker 1: it and let's see where you're at.
43:05
Speaker 2: Particularly because that's like a that's like being on the
43:08
Speaker 2: bubble those you know eight to nine in Yeah, so
43:13
Speaker 2: those are two teams that could be that could use
43:15
Speaker 2: the boost from beating each other and also could use
43:18
Speaker 2: like a good win when you're talking when you're comparing
43:20
Speaker 2: teams down the down at the end of the year, right, like.
43:27
Speaker 1: Absolutely, then we get into Boston College playing at Minnesota.
43:31
Speaker 1: We also have a series at Yukon, Yukon hosting Saint
43:38
Speaker 1: Cloud State is another one of those that could be
43:40
Speaker 1: a well, let's well, let's assess it. I I really
43:45
Speaker 1: don't like putting too much into you know, how you
43:49
Speaker 1: look on the first week of the season, but but
43:52
Speaker 1: we also.
43:52
Speaker 2: Don't get these kind of matchups otherwise.
43:54
Speaker 1: Right, that's a good way to start, good way to
43:57
Speaker 1: get your your yourself going into October by having some
44:03
Speaker 1: success late in September.
44:05
Speaker 2: And it just helps to understand like the relative like
44:08
Speaker 2: if you're talking Saint Cloud State the fifth team in
44:10
Speaker 2: the w c H a versus you can towards the
44:13
Speaker 2: top of Hockey East, like, it helps you make those
44:15
Speaker 2: relative like where where does the team actually stack up?
44:19
Speaker 2: Like a team like Saint Cloud that can get beat
44:21
Speaker 2: up in their conference, Like where do they stand sort
44:23
Speaker 2: of on a national level?
44:27
Speaker 1: The last game I or the debut I want to mention,
44:31
Speaker 1: I guess I should say, is Delaware playing its first
44:34
Speaker 1: games as a division on program hosting Long Island. It's
44:40
Speaker 1: it's cool to see this all happen. Kind of as
44:43
Speaker 1: we go through this, we've we've talked about, you know
44:47
Speaker 1: what it's what it takes to build a program. We've
44:50
Speaker 1: talked about how you you know, gather players and things
44:54
Speaker 1: like that. Well, now it it's real. You're you're going
44:57
Speaker 1: on Friday and Saturday and playing games that don't towards
45:01
Speaker 1: your record. And I think this is something you know,
45:04
Speaker 1: if you're if you're able to pay attention to it all,
45:07
Speaker 1: just kind of acknowledge that, you know, this is a
45:09
Speaker 1: big step happening for Delaware. And I don't know what
45:14
Speaker 1: what's going to happen results wise, but good on them
45:17
Speaker 1: for getting to this point and moving on from here.
45:21
Speaker 2: Well, we've been really lucky to have like kind of
45:23
Speaker 2: incredible access to that. Like I was lucky to get
45:26
Speaker 2: the exclusive of the announcement of the program starting, and
45:30
Speaker 2: we've obviously talked to Alison Cooney a few times, like
45:33
Speaker 2: I really feel like extra invested. I suppose, like just
45:36
Speaker 2: from a bigger standpoint, but we've just been lucky, as
45:38
Speaker 2: like fans, to have a lot of access to like
45:42
Speaker 2: what building a program looks like and from start to finish,
45:45
Speaker 2: And so that part is cool too, just to see
45:48
Speaker 2: it all come together in that way. And then I
45:50
Speaker 2: just think because of Delaware's location and the fact that they're,
45:53
Speaker 2: you know, sort of in a really prime area that
45:55
Speaker 2: doesn't have a ton of women's college hockey programs, possibilities
46:01
Speaker 2: of what can grow in that area I think are
46:02
Speaker 2: really cool.
46:05
Speaker 1: It should be exciting there. We hope, we hope for
46:08
Speaker 1: the best for everyone around women's college hockey this weekend,
46:12
Speaker 1: and we hope you will join us again on another
46:15
Speaker 1: edition of the podcast for Nicole Hasey. I am Todd Deleski.
46:19
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening enjoying the hockey