St. Olaf is headed to its first MIAC title game in a decade. Photo courtesy of Hannah Robb, St. Olaf Athletics
Augsburg is exactly where it expected to be, headed to the MIAC tournament final for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
The top-seeded Auggies clinched their spot with a 7-0 win over Bethel Wednesday night.
St. Olaf, meanwhile, seemed like the unlikely team to reach the title game, especially being the seventh seed in the tourney. But the Oles will get their championship shot for the first time in a decade after winning 3-1 over Saint John’s Wednesday.
The Auggies, ranked fourth in the nation in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll, and Oles, now meet Saturday night at Augsburg for the right to punch an automatic ticket to the NCAA tournament.
Auggies dominate Royals
Augsburg (24-3) scored the first five goals of the game, including three in the second period, and never looked back against the Royals (15-11-1). Fritz Belisle fueled the attack as he scored four goals, the first three coming in the first 23 minutes of the game. He scored two of those goals off the power play and finished with three power-play goals in all.
Belisle pushed his season total to 16 and Wednesday’s game was his fourth multi-goal game of the year. It’s his first collegiate hat trick.
The Auggies outshot the Royals 42-7 and Keenan Lund dished out three assists. Samuel Vyletelka recorded the fifth shutout of his career and won his 10th game of the the year.
Augsburg swept St. Olaf in the regular season, winning 3-2 in overtime and 7-1. If it were to get upset by the Oles, the Auggies would still have a shot at an at-large bid based on its position (No. 2) in the latest D-III PairWise rankings.
Oles pull off another upset
After taking down second-seeded Concordia over the weekend, the Oles took care of business against the third-seeded Johnnies and now aim for their first MIAC title since 2006. This is only the second time the Oles have played for the MIAC crown.
Tyler Cooper scored the game-winning goal at the 7:20 mark of the third period as the Oles (10-14-3) punched their ticket to the final for the first time since 2012.
Cooper scored off the power play less than two minutes after the Johnnies tied the game at 1-1. Noah Heisler’s empty-net goal finished off the night for the Oles. Jonathan Young also scored a goal for St. Olaf.
Luke Haugen came through with 33 saves.
Interestingly enough, the last time the Oles won a MIAC title, they beat Saint John’s 3-2 in the semifinal round. Wednesday’s win over the Johnnies (17-8-2) comes exactly 16 years later.
Conor O’Brien was a wall in the Endicott crease this season (photo: Endicott Athletics).
The Commonwealth Coast Conference recently announced its 2021-22 all-conference teams and major award winners.
Voting for the all-CCC teams and major awards was conducted by the eight CCC men’s head coaches following the conclusion of the regular season.
Endicott goaltender Conor O’Brien took home two major awards as he was voted both CCC Player of the Year and CCC Goaltender of the Year. His teammate Andrew Kurapov earned rookie of the year recognition. Meanwhile, Suffolk’s Joe Feeney was selected as the CCC Scholar-Athlete. University of New England’s Kevin Swallow was named CCC Coach of the Year and Western New England won the team sportsmanship award.
O’Brien was nearly unbeatable for Endicott this season going 17-5-1 in goal, including a 14-4-1 mark in conference play. He was one of the best goaltenders in all of NCAA Division III, leading the nation in save percentage at .949 and finishing the regular season with the division’s second-lowest GAA at 1.38. The first-time CCC Player of the Year honoree and second-time CCC Goaltender of the Year posted four shutouts this season and allowed more than two goals only twice. He also had six games with 30-plus saves. During the regular season O’Brien was recognized as the CCC Goaltender of the Week six times (weeks ending Nov. 14, Nov. 28 Dec. 5, Jan. 16, Feb. 6, and Feb. 13).
Kurapov made quite an impact in his rookie season for Endicott, becoming the team’s leading scorer with 12 goals, 12 assists, and 24 points. His goal total ranked him third in the conference. Kurapov also had a flare for timely goalscoring, recording four game-winners to rank second in the conference. There were only six games this season in which the Gulls forward failed to register a point. He was honored by the conference during the week ending Feb. 20 as he was selected as the CCC Rookie of the Week.
Feeney is a graduate student working towards his MBA after completing his bachelor’s in finance last May with a 3.936 GPA. He has been a staple on Suffolk’s team, serving as a two-time captain. Throughout his career Feeney has collected a number of academic accolades including being named an ACHA Krampade All-American Scholar three times and being named to the CCC and NEHC All-Academic Teams. He was also a member of Suffolk’s 4.0 Club in the Spring of 2019 and is a seven-time AD Honor Roll selection.
Swallow was selected as the CCC Coach of the Year for the first time after leading the University of New England to the CCC regular-season championship with a 17-3-1 (1-0 OT, 1-0 SO) conference record and an 18-3-1 record overall. His Nor’easters currently sit at No. 11 nationally in the DCU/USCHO Division III Men’s Poll. Swallow’s team featured one of the top offensive units in the division, ranking seventh at 4.36 goals per game. UNE’s power play unit was also the best in the conference, taking advantage of 25 percent of their man-up opportunities. The team also was strong on the penalty kill, ranking second with an 89.2 kill percentage.
FIRST TEAM ALL-CCC
F – Jake Fuss, Jr., University of New England
F – Timmy Kent, Jr., Curry
F – Mitch Walinski, Jr., Salve Regina
D – Liam Darcy, Sr., University of New England
D – Spencer Stanley, Jr., Salve Regina
G – Conor O’Brien, Sr., Endicott
SECOND TEAM ALL-CCC
F – Andrew Kurapov, So., Endicott
F – Austin Morgan, Sr., University of New England
F – Kevin Obssuth, Jr., Wentworth
D – Eric Manoukian, Jr., Endicott
D – Kalle Sundell, Sr., Curry
G – Nicholas Latinovich, Gr., Salve Regina
THIRD TEAM ALL-CCC
F – Seth Benson, So., Salve Regina
F – Curtis Carlson, Sr., Nichols
F – Jared Christy, Jr., University of New England
F – Zach Mazur, Jr., Endicott
D – Chris Jones, Gr., University of New England
D – Shane Miller, So., Western New England
G – Billy Girard IV, So., University of New England
RIT captain Will Calverley looks to get a shot past Air Force goalie Alex Schilling in the Tigers’ 3-2 overtime win Feb. 25 in Colorado Springs (photo: Air Force Athletics).
When the dust settled on the 2021-22 Atlantic Hockey regular season, we were left with the following seedings for the upcoming AHA tournament:
1. American International
2. Canisius
3. Army West Point
4. Rochester Institute of Technology
5. Sacred Heart
6. Air Force
7. Mercyhurst
8. Niagara
9. Bentley
10. Holy Cross
Army West Point and RIT tied for third in points, but the Black Knights get the higher seed due to a 2-1-1 head-to-head record against the Tigers.
The top six seeds receive a bye into the quarterfinals; the top four will host those quarterfinals.
That means the Atlantic Hockey tournament looks like this:
First Round
Best-of-three series
March 4-6
No. 10 Holy Cross at No. 7 Mercyhurst
No. 9 Bentley at No. 8 Niagara
Quarterfinal Round
Best-of-three series
March 11-13
No. 5 Sacred Heart at No. 4 RIT
No. 6 Air Force at No. 3 Army West Point
Lowest surviving seed from the first round at No. 1 American International
Other surviving seed from the first round at No. 2 Canisius
Championship
March 18-19 at Adirondack Bank Center, Utica, N.Y.
March 18 Semifinals
March 19 Championship
The highest level of drama was supplied by Sacred Heart and Army West Point last Saturday. The Pioneers staged a ferocious comeback to erase a 6-2 Black Knights lead in the third period. Tied at 6-6 and needing a regulation win to have a chance at fourth place and home ice in the quarterfinals, Sacred Heart coach C.J. Marottolo pulled goalie Josh Benson for an extra attacker in the closing minutes.
Neither team scored again in regulation or overtime, and SHU prevailed in the shootout, but it was not enough to lift the Pioneers into fourth place. They’ll travel to RIT for the quarterfinals.
Previewing the first round
Holy Cross at Mercyhurst
This matchup features two of the hottest teams in the conference. The Lakers (12-18-4) have won five of their last six games, including last weekend’s sweep of Canisius.
Holy Cross (12-21-2) is playing its best hockey of the season, with six of its 12 wins this season coming in the final month of the season.
The teams met four times in the regular season, with Mercyhurst holding a 2-1-1 advantage.
Bentley at Niagara
It’s been a tale of two seasons for the Falcons (12-18-2), who were 10-7 in the 2021 portion of the schedule, but 2-11-2 so far in 2022. Bentley is winless in its last 11 games.
Niagara (11-20-3) is winless in its last five outings but is coming off a weekend series with AIC that saw the Purple Eagles take three points from the regular season champs with a shootout victory and an overtime loss. Those points were important because they moved Niagara one point ahead of Bentley in the standings, and that’s why these games are at Niagara as opposed to Bentley.
The teams previously met in early February, with Niagara taking both games.
Awards season
It’s that time of the year where the league hands out awards and announces its all-league and all-rookie teams. We’ll be handing out our kudos as well over our final three columns of the season.
Let’s start with the rookies. He are our picks:
F: Clayton Cosentino, Air Force
F: Shane Ott, Niagara
F: Carter Wilkie, RIT
D: Mitchell Digby, Air Force
D: Luis Linder, AIC
G: Tommy Scarfone, RIT
An honorable mention goes to Army West Point goaltender Gavin Abric, who is technically a sophomore but saw zero action his rookie season, backing up All-American Trevin Kozlowski. Abric won the starting job early this season and has posted a league-best .927 save percentage.
Former St. Scholastica men’s hockey head coach Kevin Moore committed NCAA violations when he provided impermissible benefits consisting of loans for off-campus housing accommodations and a meal to multiple student-athletes, the NCAA announced Wednesday, though Moore was not cited by name but was coach of the Saints during the time frame of the violations.
The now-former head coach also engaged in impermissible out-of-season activity by attending voluntary athletic activities and discussing hockey strategy in out-of-season meetings. The Division III Committee on Infractions determined that these were major violations and further support the agreed-upon head coach responsibility violation.
Moore resigned as Saints coach in August 2021.
This case was resolved through the cooperative summary disposition process, in which all involved parties agree to the facts and violations set forth. St. Scholastica and the former head coach accepted the penalties, and neither party may appeal.
The committee prescribed the following penalties and corrective measures: two years of probation, a $2,500 fine, and a one-year show-cause order for Moore. During that period, any NCAA member school employing him must require him to attend the 2022 NCAA Regional Rules Seminar at his own expense.
The school must undergo an outside audit of its athletics policies and procedures, with emphasis on policies relating to international student-athlete matriculation.
St. Scholastica self-imposed the following penalties: suspended Moore for three games during the 2020-21 season, suspended Moore from eight practices during the remaining segment of the 2020-21 academic year and before the end of the regular season and prohibited Moore from being present in the arena during open ice sessions.
Andrew Andary led Saint Anselm in scoring during the 2021-22 season (photo: Saint Anselm Athletics).
Saint Anselm leading scorer Andrew Andary has been named the Northeast-10 Conference Ice Hockey Player of the Year, as the league office announced its all-conference honorees on Wednesday.
Andary is the first Hawks’ player to earn the award since Mike Richard in 2012-13 and the fourth Saint Anselm player to ever win NE10 Player of the Year, as his scoring prowess helped the Hawks earn the No. 2 seed in the 2022 conference tournament.
He led the league with 29 points in conference games this season, which included 12 goals and tying for an NE10-best with 17 assists. Andary’s highlight performance came in a 5-1 win over Post on Jan. 14, as he tallied a hat trick as part of a four-point game.
Among major award winners, Andary was joined by his teammate Nick Howard – the NE10 Goaltender of the Year – as a First Team selection. It is the first time since the 2009-10 season that the same team in the NE10 had student-athletes earn both player of the year and goaltender of the year recognition, when Saint Anselm accomplished the feat with Coleman Noonan and Alex Wyse.
Howard earns top goalie honors after starting all 18 conference games and leading the conference in GAA (2.25). He ranked second in save percentage (.919) and in total saves (467) against conference opponents. Howard becomes the first Saint Anselm goaltender since Colin Soucy in 2017-18 to win the award and the ninth all-time in the Hawks’ parade of all-conference level goalies.
Southern New Hampshire had a pair of major award winners in Joe Fiorino – NE10 Defensive Player of the Year – and Sean Walsh – the Lance “Duke” Brady NE10 Coach of the Year, while Saint Michael’s saw Case Kantgias take home NE10 Rookie of the Year honors.
Fiorino is the first SNHU player to earn defensive player of the year honors, as he helped the Penmen win the NE10 regular-season title and earn the No. 1 seed in the tournament. His plus-22 rating was first among all NE10 players in conference games. Overall, Fiorino accounted for 19 points (five goals, 14 assists), with 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) coming against conference opponents.
Kantgias was a bright spot for Saint Michael’s in 2021-22, tying for seventh in conference scoring with 17 points (11 goals, six assists). He had three multi-point games against NE10 opponents this season, including a four-point game (two goals, two assists) in a 9-1 rout of Southern New Hampshire on Feb. 4. Kantgias is the second Saint Michael’s player to earn Rookie of the Year and the first since Danny Divis in 2013-14.
For the second time in three years, Walsh is the top coach after leading the Penmen to the NE10 regular-season championship in 2021-22. SNHU went 16-8 overall with a 14-5 conference record this season, claiming the No. 1 seed in the tournament. This success comes just two years after a sixth-place finish in the league standings with an 8-10 record. SNHU was picked to finish fifth this year, according to the NE10 coaches’ poll.
FIRST TEAM
F: Conor Foley, Franklin Pierce
F: Andrew Andary, Saint Anselm
F: George Thurston, SNHU
D: Sel Narby, Saint Michael’s
D: Joseph Fiorino, SNHU
G: Nick Howard, Saint Anselm
SECOND TEAM
F: Dante Maribito, Assumption
F: Devan Sheth, Assumption
F: Jake Cox, SNHU
D: Mike D’Ambrosio, Assumption
D: Jack Murphy, Saint Anselm
G: Adam Mercer, SNHU
ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Ronny Paragallo, Assumption
Cody Rumsey, Franklin Pierce
Patrick Murphy, Post
Tommy Schwartz, Saint Anselm
Case Kantgias, Saint Michael’s
Matt Amante, SNHU
Lily Delianedis and Mark Bolding capped successful regular seasons with ECAC Hockey awards Wednesday (Delianedis photo: Madison Epperson; Bolding photo: Steve Musco).
ECAC Hockey announced two more individual awards Wednesday for the 2021-22 women’s hockey season.
The conference rookie of the Year is Cornell sophomore Lily Delianedis and coach of the year is Yale’s Mark Bolding.
Delianedis is the first Big Red skater to be honored with this award since Jillian Saulnier in 2012.
Delianedis came in and made an immediate impact for Cornell, leading all ECAC Hockey rookies with 22 points in league contests. Playing on the top line, she found the back of the net 11 times and dished out 11 assists. Finding a knack for the clutch, she scored three game-winning goals this season, including a key tally in the final game of the season that helped the Big Red clinch the No. 6 seed in the ECAC Hockey playoffs.
She was also strong in the faceoff circle, winning 259 draws for a 52 percent success rate. She won 10 or more faceoffs 13 different times this season.
Bolding is just the second Yale coach in program history to receive this honor, and the first since 2003 when Hillary Witt won the award.
Bolding has accomplished a lot with Yale in just two short years, breaking the program wins record in his first season before smashing that record again this year. The Bulldogs won a program-best 22 times this season, including 16 wins in ECAC Hockey play, finishing second in the regular-season standings. Yale was particularly strong at home under Bolding, finishing with just a pair of losses (12-2) at Ingalls Rink this year.
Bolding and the Bulldogs will participate in another program “first” this weekend as they’ll host the four team ECAC Hockey championship weekend at Ingalls Rink for the first time in program history.
Ohio State’s Nadine Muzerall and Sophie Jaques picked up season honors Wednesday from the WCHA (photos: Ohio State Athletics).
In continuing to roll out the individual awards, the WCHA announced Wednesday a pair of awards to Ohio State, as Nadine Muzerall has been named coach of the year and senior blueliner Sophie Jaques outstanding student-athlete of the year.
In addition, Minnesota senior forward Taylor Heise was named as the WCHA scoring champion behind a 60-point season, while a 1.27 GAA earned Ohio State sophomore Amanda Thiele of Ohio State the title of WCHA goaltending champion.
In her sixth season, Muzerall led the Buckeyes to national dominance as Ohio State never fell below a third-place ranking in national polls over the course of the entire regular season. Her Buckeyes set several program records, including a home win streak, team and individual season scoring records, and four landed on All-WCHA teams. Primed for the postseason, the Ohio State squad holds a 25-6 overall record while going 5-0 against all of its nonconference opponents.
The coach of the year honor is the third of Muzerall’s career after earning the title in 2018 and 2020.
She’s been a record setter all season long for the Ohio State squad, but more importantly, Jaques has been described as the quintessential student-athlete. In addition to setting the Ohio State program record for single-season points by a defender, Jaques is the vice president of SHEROS, an OSU organization that provides a safe space for female student-athletes, in particular minorities to have open discussions and promote diversity in sports. She also works with the 2nd and 7 Foundation that concentrates on literacy and opportunity for Columbus youth.
Consistently appearing on Ohio State, WCHA, and Big Ten academic honor lists, Jaques has maintained a 3.7 GPA while completing a degree in Civil Engineering. While already having been offered a full scholarship to pursue her master’s degree in the same field next year, Jaques has completed numerous internships to prepare for her future in the engineering field. Even as a student-athlete, she interned with America Electric Power, with Amanda Graphics, as an undergraduate teaching assistant in Engineering at Ohio State and was a team member on a project to redesign two streets in university districts to improve traffic flow.
Jaques has been recognized by the WCHA as an eight-time defender of the week honoree and has collected three WCHA Defender of the Month titles. A First Team All-WCHA honoree, Jaques was also named WCHA Defender of the Year for her efforts on the ice.
A two-time WCHA Forward of the Month, Heise completed the season as the league’s scoring champion behind 60 points from 26 goals and 34 assists. She tallied a nation-leading four short-handed goals on the year and earned national recognition when she was the Hockey Commissioners Association’s National Player of the Month for November.
Heise added First Team All-WCHA honors and was named the league’s offensive player of the year for her efforts in the 2021-22 campaign.
In her sophomore season, Thiele made an immediate impact this season when gaining the opportunity to play between the pipes. After playing in just three games her freshman season, Thiele broke out with 989:38 of action across 21 games played where she posted a 1.27 GAA and a .940 save percentage. Earning four shutouts on the year, Thiele recorded a season-high of 36 saves in a 2-1 win over Minnesota on Jan. 28.
Boston University’s Wilmer Skoog battles for control of the puck with Harvard’s Kyle Aucoin in the semifinals of the annual Beanpot tournament at TD Garden back on February 7, 2022 (photo: Rich Gagnon).
As we approach the home stretch of the college hockey season, we’re seeing some teams really solidify their NCAA tournament positions.
We can say certainly that Minnesota State, Michigan and Minnesota all have punched their NCAA tickets and Denver, North Dakota, Western Michigan Notre Dame and St. Cloud State are all virtual locks (though my computer still marks them as 99.9 percent, so that’s not 100 percent in my book).
The second bucket of teams are those who aren’t clinched but a darn close. That’s where we’ll place the 99.9 percenters and those with better than an 85 percent chance right now, which includes Massachusetts, Minnesota Duluth, Michigan Tech, and Ohio State.
Right there, you have 13 teams plus the AHA champion, which makes 14. There are a maximum of two slots remaining and plenty of teams that currently maintain hope.
Leading that list are three Hockey East teams – UMass Lowell, Boston University and Northeastern, all of which have a percentage chance a little higher than 30 percent. You can also put Clarkson, Providence and Merrimack in that mix, though each of their odds are slightly lower.
What does that mean? You have six teams hoping to fill the final two at-large slots (and that’s assuming we don’t have an upset in a conference tournament). It’s safe to say if you’re in the bubble group of six, you can’t afford any losses in the next week.
As for this week’s brackets, you’ll see that Jayson and I agree on almost everything. Read forward to see how each of us approach the seeding of the current 16 teams inside the PairWise bubble.
Jayson’s bracket and approach
Once again, this week let me start out by putting everyone into bracket integrity. That means:
1. Minnesota State
8. Quinnipiac
9. St. Cloud State
16. AIC
2. Michigan
7. Notre Dame
10. Massachusetts
15. Boston University
That’s about the best that I can see coming out of the brackets and what we have to work with.
Jim’s bracket and approach
Believe it or not, Jayson and I have the exact same alignments of teams. My only difference in approach is to swap Jayson’s Albany bracket with his Allentown bracket.
I understand his desire to place the only ECAC participant, Quinnipiac, into the Albany Regional, which is hosted by the ECAC. But unlike when a school is the host and a team must be placed in that bracket (Denver, for example), there is no requirement to place an ECAC school in the regional that is hosted by the league.
Honestly, I feel like Quinnipiac might be the only school in the field that can come close to boosting attendance in Allentown. Is this a reason alone to place the Bobcats there? Not really. But it also keeps top seeded Minnesota State a little bit closer to home than Albany (albeit still really far away). And the fact that the NCAA considers the Allentown Regional one of the two “west” regionals, there is a chance the committee feels compelled to keep the top overall seed “west.”
Yes, it’s a crazy approach, but it’s my approach this week.
Thus, my bracket is:
Allentown
1. Minnesota State
2. Quinnipiac
3. St. Cloud State
4. AIC
Albany
1. Michigan
2. Notre Dame
3. Minnesota Duluth
4. Boston University
Loveland
1. Denver
2. Western Michigan
3. Massachusetts
4. Ohio State
Dante Zapata has been an offensive force this season for Utica (photo: Jeff Pexton/Perfect Game Imaging).
The UCHC announced Wednesday its 2021-22 men’s award winners and all-conference teams.
The award winners were selected through a thorough survey of the league’s 10 head coaches.
Utica junior forward Dante Zapata was named the 2021-22 UCHC Player of the Year. Zapata is 10th nationally in points per game, averaging 1.56. He has 16 goals and 26 assists for 42 points in 27 games. Zapata is among the national leaders with eight power-play tallies, is plus-19, and has won 68.4 percent of his faceoffs taken. Zapata has 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) over his last nine games played.
Stevenson’s Ryan Kenny was named the UCHC Goaltender of the Year and earned all-UCHC first team accolades. He has enjoyed a tremendous junior season for the Mustangs, leading all UCHC netminders with 18 wins, while recording a 2.39 GAA and a .925 save percentage to go along with a pair of shutouts. Kenny made at least 30 saves in 11 contests this season. He is now 43-15-4 in three seasons between the pipes for Stevenson.
Neumann’s Nick Martino was named the conference’s rookie of the year. Martino has had an excellent rookie season for the Knights, as he currently sits third among all first-year players in Division III on a per game basis at 1.50 points per game. That figure also sits 12th nationally among all skaters. He has 39 points this season on 15 goals and 24 assists.
Utica’s Justin Allen was selected as the conference’s defensive player of the year. He becomes the third Pioneer to win the award alongside Dalton Carter and Daniel Frtiz. Allen leads all Division III defensemen with 30 assists and 38 points. He is second among all blueliners in points per game at an average of 1.41 per contest. He is also a team-best plus-34 this season.
Utica head coach Gary Heenan was named the conference’s coach of the year by his peers for the second time. Heenan has led the Pioneers to the best regular season in their 21-year history. He has piloted the team to a No. 2 ranking in the latest DCU/USCHO.com Division III poll, current record of 24-2-1, and a 17-0-1 record in conference play (53 of 54 possible points). The Pioneers won the UCHC regular-season title for a fifth straight year. Utica, which is riding an 18-game unbeaten streak, has advanced to the conference championship game for the fourth time in five seasons.
First Team All-UCHC
Forward: Buster Larsson, Utica
Forward: Regen Cavanagh, Utica
Forward: Donald Flynn. Wilkes
Forward: Dante Zapata, Utica
Defense: Justin Allen, Utica
Defense: Jayson Dobay, Utica
Goaltender: Ryan Kenny, Stevenson
Second Team All-UCHC
Forward: Tyler Barrow, Wilkes
Forward: Nick Martino, Neumann
Forward: Brandon Osmundson, Utica
Defense: Taylor Brierley, Wilkes
Defense: Michael Gurska, Wilkes
Goaltender: Nico Pidro, Wilkes
All-Rookie Team
Forward: Nick Martino, Neumann
Forward: Jack Cooper, King’s
Forward: Artem Mateichenko, Manhattanville
Defense: Zack Conner, Chatham
Defense: Aidan Graham, Stevenson
Goaltender: Ty Franchi, Lebanon Valley
North Dakota coach Brad Berry is now in his seventh season behind the Fighting Hawks’ bench (photo: Jim Rosvold).
North Dakota announced on Wednesday that head hockey coach Brad Berry has received a contract extension through the 2025-26 season.
Berry is currently in his seventh year at the helm of the Fighting Hawks and has continued to put his own distinct stamp on a culture already steeped in tradition and success. He has guided his alma mater to a 159-74-25 (.664) record during his time, including seven winning seasons, three NCAA tournament appearances (2016, 2017, 2021), a national championship (2016) and one of the best seasons in school history prior to getting cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-20.
“Today is a great day for UND and UND hockey as we announce the extension of Coach Berry’s contract,” said UND director of athletics Bill Chaves in a statement. “Brad has been a tremendous leader for our program and student-athletes. In addition, he is a great teammate to everyone in our department, university and State. He is nationally respected and is looked upon by his peers and others when the discussion of growing the game of college hockey is discussed. I look forward to our continued partnership.”
“My family and I would like to thank President Armacost, Bill Chaves, the University of North Dakota, Ralph Engelstad Arena and the Engelstad family for giving us the opportunity to keep ‘adding to the tradition’ over these seven seasons,” added Berry. “We are very grateful and blessed to continue being part of an elite hockey program that possesses an outstanding culture.”
The Bashaw, Alberta, native is a three-time NCHC Herb Brooks Coach of the Year recipient (2015, 2020, 2021) and won the Spencer Penrose AHCA National Coach of the Year in 2020. His .664 winning percentage at UND places him fourth all-time.
He has continued the success of sending players to the next level, as a school-record 24 former North Dakota players currently play in the NHL while countless more are enjoying success across other professional leagues. Berry has coached back-to-back Hobey Baker finalists, nine All-Americans, 22 all-conference selections and multiple scholar-athletes.
Perhaps his best work has come during this current season, as North Dakota has its sights set on an unprecedented third straight Penrose Cup despite welcoming 14 newcomers, the most in a single season since 1973, after eight players from last season’s team signed NHL contracts.
Hosts Jim Connelly and Ed Trefzger are joined by NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton. The conversation includes the conference’s position as college hockey’s top league, his departure to the Summit League, three-on-three overtime, realignment, and working with the other five conferences.
Lucas Michaud is Trinity’s top point-getter this season (photo: Trinity Athletics).
Trinity senior Lucas Michaud is the 2022 NESCAC Player of the Year as voted by the conference coaches.
He is the fourth Bantam since 2014 to earn the honor. The player of the year honor bookends his career after being named NESCAC Rookie of the Year in 2019.
Michaud helped the Bantams earn the No. 2 seed in the NESCAC championship. He is tied for the lead in conference points with 22 on nine goals and 13 assists. He has netted four power-play goals and two game-winning tallies while registering a point in 14 games this season, including six straight heading into the NESCAC semifinal.
Colby sophomore Jack Sullivan is the first Mule to garner NESCAC Rookie of the Year honors. Sullivan, a defenseman, ranks second among the Colby scoring leaders and is fourth in the NESCAC with 21 points on nine goals and 12 assists. He has recorded a point in 13 of 20 games and also has a team-high 29 blocked shots.
Colby’s Blaise MacDonald was selected as the NESCAC Coach of the Year by his peers. He earns the honor for the first time in his career after leading the Mules to the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC championship for the first time since 2008.
All-NESCAC First Team
F: Chris Brown, Bowdoin, Jr.
F: Justin Grillo, Colby, Sr.
F: Lucas Michaud, Trinity, Sr.
D: Nick Rutigliano, Hamilton, Sr.
D: Jack Sullivan, Colby, So.
G: Andy Beran, Colby, So.
All-NESCAC Second Team
F: Justin Brandt, Tufts, Sr.
F: Grisha Gotovets, Hamilton, Fy.
F: Jordi Jefferson, Hamilton, Sr.
D: John Campomenosi, Trinity, So.
D: Matt Zandi, Wesleyan, Gr.
G: Evan Ruschil, Williams, Jr.
Middlebury’s Madie Leidt has been voted the top player in NESCAC play this season (photo: Will Costello).
Middlebury senior Madie Leidt has been selected as the 2022 NESCAC Player of the Year by the conference coaches.
Leidt earns the honor for the second consecutive season and is the seven Panther to garner the award. The player of the year honor bookends her career after being selected as the NESCAC Rookie of the Year in 2018.
Leidt leads the NESCAC in scoring with 27 points on 16 goals, including seven game-winning tallies, and 11 assists. The forward has tallied 21 of her 27 points in NESCAC contests (11 goals, 10 assists) and has a point in 17 of the 20 games she has appeared in this season. She also owns a NESCAC-best .629 faceoff percentage and surpassed the 100-career point milestone earlier this season.
Colby sophomore Meg Rittenhouse is the first Mule to garner the NESCAC Rookie of the Year honor. She ranks second on the Mules and second among NESCAC newcomers in scoring with 20 points on 10 goals and 10 assists. She has scored four game-winning goals and netted three power-play tallies. Rittenhouse has recorded a point in 15 of the 20 games she has played this season.
Middlebury’s Bill Mandigo was selected as the NESCAC Coach of the Year by his peers. He garners the honor for the fifth time in his career after leading the Panthers to a perfect NESCAC record 15-0-0 and the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC championship for the 14th time in program history.
All-NESCAC First Team
F: Lexi Cafiero, Colby, Sr.
F: Madie Leidt, Middlebury, Sr.
F: Jenna Letterie, Middlebury, Jr.
F: Nancy Loh, Hamilton, Jr.
D: Abby Kuhns, Hamilton, Jr.
D: Claudia Vira, Middlebury, Jr.
G: Nina Prunster, Colby, Sr.
All-NESCAC Second Team
F: Carley Daly, Amherst, Jr.
F: Meg Rittenhouse, Colby, So.
F: Julia Surgenor, Bowdoin, Sr.
D: Eva Hendrikson, Middlebury, Jr.
D: Bri-Michaud Nolan, Colby, Jr.
G: Caitlin Walker, Amherst, Sr.
AJ Vanderbeck leads Northern Michigan with 22 goals this season (photo: Northern Michigan Athletics).
The Mason Cup is back.
After a nine-year absence, the CCHA will award the championship trophy once again to the winner of its conference tournament, which begins with quarterfinal action this week. The trophy, named after famed Bowling Green, Lake Superior State and Michigan State coaching legend Ron Mason, was created in 2001.
“We were excited to be back in the CCHA and now we’re excited to compete for the Mason Cup again,” Bowling Green coach Ty Eigner said.
The Mason Cup holds a special place in the hearts of the Falcon faithful because although BGSU has never won that specific trophy they did win the CCHA tournament championship three times from 1977-79 when Mason was behind the Falcon bench.
“For Bowling Green, as a founding member of the CCHA, and having coach Mason as a member of our athletics hall of fame here, we know what he’s done and what he meant to the CCHA during his career, it’s a big deal,” Eigner said. “To have the opportunity to compete for it again is great.”
In the previous incarnation of the CCHA, the cup was won by six different teams. However, none of the teams in the current conference have ever won the trophy, so whichever team wins this year’s CCHA tournament will be making some history.
“Coach Mason started the program here, so there’s a little extra investment in coach Mason and the Mason Cup,” said Lake Superior State coach Damon Whitten, who played at Michigan State under Mason along with Lakers assistant Mike York. “It’s a goal for our program, and it would be something special for us, but the bigger picture is having our team ready to play.”
Of course, everybody in the league would like to win the conference tournament title no matter what the trophy was called, as it means an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. The Lakers are looking to win their second-consecutive conference tournament title after winning the final WCHA playoff championship a year ago.
This year’s favorite, unsurprisingly, is top-ranked and top-seeded Minnesota State, who are fresh off the backs of their fifth consecutive MacNaughton Cup title and are a lock for the NCAA tournament. The Mavericks, who take on No. 8 seeded St. Thomas in their first-round matchup, are gunning for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAAs.
“I think they’ve won five straight regular-season titles, and that’s not nothing,” Eigner said of the Mavericks. “That’s a culmination of a 26-game schedule and the travel that comes with our league. You’ve got to be a very good team, you’ve got to have great depth, you have to be well-coached, all those things play into that and for Minnesota State to have won five straight regular season championships says a lot.”
The matchup between the Mavericks (31-5-0, 23-3-0 CCHA) and Tommies (3-30-1, 3-22-1) has been official for a few weeks, as is the quarterfinal between second-seeded Michigan Tech (19-11-3, 16-8-2) and seventh-seeded Ferris State (11-22-1, 916-1).
The Huskies, who are currently No. 12 in the Pairwise, are hoping to shore up their position for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and a sweep of the Bulldogs, combined with a win in the semifinals next week, would probably do the trick. However, the teams met one another earlier this month and the Bulldogs gave the Huskies all they could handle. Both games in Big Rapids went to overtime, and the Huskies won one in 3-on-3 and needed a shootout to win the other game.
Matchups in the middle
But perhaps the most interesting matchups this weekend will be the ones involving the four teams that finished mid-table. Third-seeded Bemidji State (16-18-0, 14-12-0) hosts sixth-place Bowling Green (14-17-3, 11-14-1) while fourth-seeded Lake Superior State (17-16-1, 13-13-0) will take on fifth-seeded Northern Michigan (18-14-1, 12-13-1).
“It’s going to be really difficult for all the matchups,” Whitten said of the tight CCHA standings this season. “When playoff positioning comes down to the final games of the season for multiple spots, that shows the parity and depth and the talent across teams, so I think it’s going to be an awesome weekend of playoff hockey.”
The four teams were separated in the standings by just nine points, and before last weekend any of the four teams could have finished third. As it turned out, Bemidji State took five points from St. Thomas while Lake Superior swept Bowling Green to earn home-ice advantage in the quarterfinal round.
“I think going into the last month, I think you could have taken Bemidji, Lake, Northern and BG and pulled them out of a hat and at any point somebody would have felt like they were playing pretty good and at any point somebody would have felt like they were struggling,” Eigner said of the parity between the middle of the table.
Eigner’s Falcons split the season series with the Beavers, with each team splitting the series on home ice.
“You take a look at the games we had with them this year, three one-goal games and another two-goal game,” Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore said. “We expect nothing different this weekend. We’ve had a great rivalry with Bowling Green and these games are going to be tight, no question.”
Meanwhile, in Sault Ste. Marie, the Lakers get to host a Wildcats team they have already defeated three times in four games. LSSU outscored NMU 18-6 in the four games. Both teams should be mostly fully healthy for this playoff series.
“We’re facing an explosive offensive team, their top scorers have had outstanding years and they’re extremely dangerous and talented,” Whitten said of the Wildcats, who have two of the league’s top scorers in Hank Crone and AJ Vanderbeck. “But I think it’s going to be an interesting matchup. If you look at us, since Christmas, even strength we haven’t given much up and we’ve been really good defensively so that’s going to be key.”
Whitten said his team seems to be finding its consistency at exactly the right time. The Lakers have won five of their last six games coming into the playoffs and have been led by solid play in goal with their tandem of Ethan Langenegger, who went 3-0-0 in three starts and had a 0.67 GAA, and Seth Eisel, who stated the other three games and went 2-1 with a 2.00 GAA and .920 save percentage.
“I think what we like is continuity,” he said. “We haven’t had a lot of that, whether it’s been COVID disruptions, injuries, guys not available, it’s been really challenging to have enough players to have our best lineup at times, so I like that part about how we’re playing. We’re mostly healthy and we have nearly our full allotment of players and we haven’t had that very often, so we’re showing a little bit of what we can be at the right time.”
All four quarterfinal matchups will be best-of-three series, while next weekend’s semifinals will be a single-game matchups hosted by the top two remaining seeds. The CCHA title game will be played Saturday, March 19, also on the home ice of the top remaining seed.
Josh McKechney has been a leader this season for Colgate (photo: Todd Slabaugh).
In the end, there was relatively little change in the standings during the final regular-season weekend in ECAC Hockey.
Three of the top four teams – Quinnipiac, Clarkson, and Harvard – entered the weekend having already clinched a first-round bye. The fourth team, Cornell, blanked Princeton 4-0 Saturday to hold on to the final top-four spot in the standings.
Colgate, Rensselaer, Union, and St. Lawrence will each host a playoff series in the opening round. The Raiders had already clinched home ice entering the weekend, while RPI held on to its sixth seed in the tournament. The Dutchmen and Saints were one point out of hosting a playoff series but moved ahead of Princeton and Brown in the standings.
Colgate shot up to fifth place in the standings and was in the running for a first-round bye thanks to a 5-2-2 mark over the final month of the regular season.
“I am proud of how our team developed over the course of the year,” Raiders coach Don Vaughan said following Saturday’s loss to Quinnipiac. “We gained a lot of ground in the standings over the last month, and we were in a position to earn fourth place and a bye right up until the final regular-season game. That’s what I have really liked about this group. There is no quit in them. We shift our focus now to the playoffs. We are excited to be home next weekend for the first round.”
Here is a look at the four best-of-three opening round playoff series this weekend:
No. 5 Colgate vs. No. 12 Yale
Season series: Colgate, 1-0-1; Yale won in the shootout.
Like Colgate, the Bulldogs enter the playoffs playing well. Yale had a seven-game losing streak that began last month but ended the season with a 3-2 mark over its last five games, including a win at Clarkson last Friday.
Offensively, Colgate finished fifth in the league on scoring. That appears modest at first glance, but it’s a big improvement from previous years. The Raiders’ offense is driven by the top line of Josh McKechney and Colton and Alex Young. While Yale has gotten solid goaltending from sophomore Nathan Reid and freshman Luke Pearson, the Bulldogs simply don’t have the offense to match that line. Yale might have a hard time getting possession against a Colgate team that ranked second in the league in faceoff percentage (54.2), while the Bulldogs finished last (45.6)
Prediction: Colgate in three
No. 6 Rensselaer vs. No. 11 Dartmouth
Season series: RPI 2-0
For the first time this season, RPI will allow external spectators at Houston Field House. Those fans will get a chance to see the Engineers host a playoff series for the first time since 2016; RPI was set to host a quarterfinal series against Harvard two years ago, but that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Engineers have been led by senior forward Ture Linden, who has twice as many goals in conference play as the next RPI skater.
Dartmouth averaged just over two goals per game in league play but has gotten outstanding play from goalie Clay Stevenson. After shaking off an early-season injury, the freshman finished fourth in the league with a .929 save percentage. That ranked just ahead of RPI’s Jack Watson, who has split time in goal with Linden Marshall this season.
RPI scored four times against Stevenson last Friday, but if the freshman is on point this weekend, he’s capable of stealing the series for the Big Green.
Prediction: Dartmouth in three
No. 7 Union vs. No. 10 Princeton
Season series: Union 2-0
The Dutchmen had stumbled a bit down the stretch but ended the regular season with a six-point weekend. Union clinched a home playoff series in exciting fashion, as Liam Robertson scored an empty-net goal in overtime Saturday to beat Dartmouth 3-2.
Special teams should be an important matchup in this series. Union’s power play ended the season ranked fourth in league play, while Princeton’s penalty kill was in the bottom third of the conference.
Princeton’s offense has had its moments at times this year, but the Dutchmen goalie Connor Murphy has started every game this season and has been the backbone of the Union defense. Defensively, Princeton ranked last in the conference in team save percentage and goals allowed per game.
Prediction: Union in two
No. 8 St. Lawrence vs. No. 9 Brown
Season series: 0-0-2; each team won in the shootout once.
St. Lawrence won an abbreviated league playoffs last season by going on the road and winning at Colgate and Quinnipiac. Now, the defending league champions are hosting a playoff series for the first time since 2017.
Last year’s title run came in part because of an outstanding season by goalie Emil Zetterquist. The senior wasn’t quite as a good this season, but he still lead a Saints penalty kill unit that was the best in the conference during league play.
Both Zetterquist and Brown’s Mathieu Caron were workhorses for their teams, ranking second and third in the league, respectively, in minutes played in conference games.
With two low-scoring offenses and two solid goalies, offense will likely be hard to come by in this series.
Marty Scarano has been the athletic director at New Hampshire the past 22 years (photo: UNH Athletics).
While Marty Scarano treated all sports under his watch equally in his more than two decades as athletic director at New Hampshire, there’s no question that hockey holds a special place in his heart.
In fact, it was hockey that brought Scarano to New Hampshire at the turn of the millennium. Then the AD at Colorado College, an early attempt by Scarano to recruit UNH legend Dick Umile to coach the Tigers ended up with Scarano taking a job as Umile’s boss.
“It was right out of ‘The Godfather,'” Scarano said about an unofficial “interview” he had with Umile at a popular Italian restaurant in nearby Portsmouth. “The owner came out, we had a special dinner, Dick and I spent two hours together. That had a lot to do with me coming here.”
After 22 years, Scarano’s calling it a career. So it was altogether appropriate for UNH to hold his official going-away party (his retirement is effective at the end of the school year) at Saturday’s men’s hockey game vs. Merrimack. With family, friends, and a large contingent of UNH student athletes and coaches (past and present) by his side, Scarano was saluted in a pre-game ceremony.
“I obviously have a love for it,” Scarano said of the sport that brought him to the Granite State. “It’s a very special sport. It’s a classic niche sport. There’s a lot of parity. Some people say it’s not good for the sport, I think it is.”
Umile said Scarano’s legacy at UNH speaks for itself.
“He’s done a tremendous job in a tough place to be an athletic director, with limited funds,” Umile said. “But he found ways to get it done.”
At the time of his hiring, UNH was at its apex as a hockey program on both the men’s and women’s sides. The men’s program made the NCAA tournament 17 times between 1998-2013, including four Frozen Four appearances between 1998 and 2003. The women’s team won the AWCHA D-I national title in 1998, made the NCAA Frozen Four in 2006 and followed that up with four straight tournament appearances.
While the program remains nationally prominent and has had success off the ice (Scarano touted a graduation rate of more than 95 percent for the men’s team and 100 percent for the women), it has taken a back seat in the discussion of national contenders. Next year will mark 10 years since the men’s team’s last NCAA tournament appearance and 20 since its last trip to the Frozen Four.
“If there’s one regret that I have, it’s that I haven’t gotten hockey back to where it should be,” Scarano said. “I’m taking full responsibility for that. I believe in (current coach) Mike Souza. He’s the right coach. We have work to do. In my heart of hearts, I do believe UNH should be a top-10, if not top-five, program.”
Scarano said a program reboot is in the works, centering around significant upgrades to the Whittemore Center, the Wildcats’ home arena, which will soon enter its fourth decade of service.
The renovations, which Scarano said will begin the day after the season ends, include replacing the ice-making apparatus, reducing the width of the surface from an Olympic-sized sheet to NHL standard, new boards and glass, and a new sound system.
“We’re going to invest in hockey. We’re going to get back to where we should be,” Scarano said. “UNH is hockey royalty.”
Scarano said his main focus has always been the success of student athletes.
“Wins and losses are very important — I think people think that isn’t our end analysis, but it is,” he said. “But more so, we want to grow kids up to be good citizens. I have a lot of coaches who might not have maybe as many wins as fans want, but they do a great job in growing kids up and graduating kids.”
Souza, who played for the Wildcats from 1996 to 2000 (including a 3-2 loss to the Scarano-administered Colorado College team in the first round of the 1997 NCAA tournament), said he has always admired Scarano’s commitment to student athletes.
“I think that’s something that’s become, I don’t want to say further and farther between, but it’s what we do,” Souza said. “It’s the most important part of our job. And Marty’s never lost sight of that.”
Theresa Schafzahl has put up outstanding numbers this season for Vermont (photo: Brian Jenkins).
Hockey East announced Tuesday that Vermont senior forward Theresa Schafzahl has been awarded the 2022 Cammi Granato Award as Hockey East Player of the Year.
Schafzahl is the first Vermont Catamount to be so honored.
Alongside Schafzahl, Vermont’s Jim Plumer was unanimously named Hockey East Coach of the Year, his second time winning the award, while Boston College forward Abby Newhook was tabbed rookie of the year.
Schafzahl appeared in 21 regular-season games in Hockey East play for Vermont, leading the conference with 21 goals, 39 points, and a plus-28 on-ice rating. Her 1.86 points per game was second-best among all league players, while her 97 shots on goal ranked sixth. She netted three game-winning goals in league play and converted at a shooting rate of 21.6 percent.
The Weiz, Austria, native potted seven of her 21 tallies while on the power-play, ranking second in the conference. Schafzahl was crowned the Hockey East Scoring Champion and PNC Bank Three Stars Award Winner, as well as the sole unanimous First Team All-Hockey East selection. She was named Hockey East Player of the Week four times and Hockey East and HCA National Player of the Month in January, was the runner-up in February, and was the lone unanimous selection to the All-Hockey East First Team.
Newhook led Hockey East rookies in nearly every offensive category in 2021-22, including goals (13), assists (12), points (25), points per game (0.96), game-winning goals (5), and plus/minus (plus-17). She was named rookie of the week six times, including on back-to-back occasions twice and three out of four weeks once and rookie of the month three times.
No freshman in the NCAA was more clutch than Newhook this year, as the first-year forward scored six game-winning goals in all games, more than any other rookie in the nation. She enjoyed a stretch of eight straight games with a goal, finding the back of the net in every outing from Jan. 21 to Feb. 8. She was named to the all-rookie team by a unanimous vote of the league’s 10 head coaches.
Plumer, named coach of the year by a unanimous vote of his peers after sharing the honor in 2013-14, has led the Catamounts to a 22-10-3 overall record, the most wins in program history, and a 18-7-2 mark in Hockey East regular-season play. The mark was good for a second-place finish in the conference standings, which was the best-ever finish for Vermont in Hockey East play and doubled the most-ever league wins for the Catamounts (2016-17).
Under Plumer, the Catamounts allowed just 693 shots against at even strength, second-fewest of any team in Hockey East. His team’s 18.5 percent power-play conversion rate was also second in the league, while Vermont claimed the best penalty kill in the conference at 91.8 percent, good for third nationally, and the most short-handed goals with four.
Yale’s Emma Seitz and Cornell’s Gillis Frechette earned top awards from ECAC Hockey Tuesday (Seitz photo: Brad Ahern/Frechette photo: Madison Epperson).
ECAC Hockey announced two women’s hockey awards Tuesday as Yale junior Emma Seitz has been named best defenseman and best forward is Cornell junior Gillis Frechette.
Seitz is the first Yale skater in program history to claim this award after she put together the best season of her Bulldog career, registering 19 points from the blue line, including 13 in league contests.
Her best stretch of the year came in mid-November when she won back-to-back ECAC Hockey Player of the Week honors after posting nine points in four games. As good as she was offensively, Seitz was just as solid on the defensive side of the puck, ranking second in the conference with a plus-17 on-ice rating.
Though voting for awards takes place at the conclusion of the regular-season, Seitz continued to show her value as one of the best players in the league during last week’s quarterfinal series, scoring four goals and dishing out an assist in the three-game series win.
Frechette is the fourth Big Red skater to receive the honor since the awards inception in 2008, and the first since Brianne Jenner in 2015.
Frechette led ECAC Hockey skaters in scoring during league games by a wide margin, recording 36 of her 40 total points against ECAC Hockey opponents. She found the back of the net 10 times and dished out 26 assists, finishing with a plus-25 on-ice rating for the Big Red.
She was consistent throughout the year, finding the scoresheet in 18 of 22 league contests, which included 12 multi-point performances. Three of her 10 goals were game winners, which was good for second in the conference.
Frechette’s best stretch of the season came in early February, when she went three straight games recording multiple points. She notched four (two goals, two assists) on Feb. 1 against St. Lawrence, two assists on Feb. 5 against Harvard, and three (goal, two assists) the following night against Colgate.
Anna Klein was the NEWHA scoring leader this season with 14 goals and 36 points (photo: Sacred Heart Athletics).
The New England Women’s Hockey Alliance announced Tuesday its major end-of-season awards on Tuesday and also unveiled its all-NEWHA teams.
Nominated and voted on by the league’s coaches, players from the six schools were honored for their accomplishments on the ice during the 2021-22 campaign.
In addition to the two all-NEWHA squads, the league’s all-rookie team was selected as well as the all-sportswomanship Team. Six first-year players (regardless of position) were voted to the all-rookie team while the all-sportswomanship team nominees were furnished by each of the league’s Head Coaches.
Sacred Heart’s Anna Klein was named NEWHA Player of the Year and her teammate, Kelly Solak, picked up defender of the year accolades.
Franklin Pierce’s Suzette Faucher earned the NEWHA Goaltender of the Year award, the first such honor for a Ravens player, while Tyra Turner of Saint Anselm earned the conference’s rookie of the year award.
David Stockdale, in his 10th year leading Franklin Pierce, collected coach of the year honors following a vote of his peers. The top seed entering the NEWHA postseason on Tuesday, the Ravens sprinted out to a 20-9-1 record this season with a 16-4-0 mark against league opponents. Stockdale’s unit won a program-record 11 consecutive games near the end of the season.
First Team
Suzette Faucher, Franklin Pierce – So. – G
Stefanie Caban, Franklin Pierce – Jr. – D
Kelly Solak, Sacred Heart – Sr. – D
Anna Klein, Sacred Heart – Sr. – F
Erin Meyers, Saint Anselm – Sr. – F
Emilie Prive, Franklin Pierce – So. – F
Second Team
Tindra Holm, Long Island – Fr. – G
Allie Kelley, Saint Anselm – Jr. – G
Katerina Dajia, Franklin Pierce – Gr. – D
Nicole Guidi, Sacred Heart – Sr. – D
Megan Bouveur, LIU – Jr. – F
Kelly Golini, Saint Anselm – Sr. – F
Tyra Turner, Saint Anselm – Fr. – F
Carrigan Umpherville, LIU – Jr. – F
All-Rookie Team
Tyra Turner, Saint Anselm – Fr. – F
Jeannie Wallner, LIU – Fr. – F
Tindra Holm, LIU – Fr. – G
Geno Hendrickson, Franklin Pierce – Fr. – F
Katie Keenan, Sacred Heart – Fr. – F
Madi Ressler, Saint Anselm – Fr. – D
All-Sportswomanship Team
Alexandrea Bednar, Post – Fr. – F
Sophia Burns, Saint Michael’s – Jr. – F
Bridget Fagan, Franklin Pierce – Sr. – F
Elizabeth Furfari, Sacred Heart – Sr. – F
Gabrielle Huson, Saint Anselm – Jr. – D
Sarah Rourke, LIU – So. – F
