D-III Women’s Hockey is finally back as we await the first puck drops of the opening season this Friday, October 28, 2022. We saw a huge leap in the overall competition within the top teams last season, closing the skill-gap further between the bottom-half and the top-half ranked teams.
While the common group of top 5-6 teams maintain their stature, the level of competition does nothing but good for the game of women’s hockey and brings more unpredictable outcomes.
The Defending Champions
The defending champions Middlebury, coached by Bill Mandigo who’s entering his 35th year with the program, has a bigger task at hand than normal this season. After going a perfect 27-0 last season, winning the title, and now heading into this season as defending champions, Coach Mandigo says last year’s success can’t be the main topic of the team. “I don’t think that is, or should be our emphasis. We will view the season as a journey where each day the goal is to get better and have fun in the process. That is the approach we took last year…don’t put the cart before the horse!” When asked about what he believes was the biggest reason behind his team’s success last year, he said, “I think we had excellent goaltending and good defensemen. We put an emphasis on playing in our own end and the players bought into it. We also had great leadership who never let anyone panic in tight/tough situations. They believed in themselves, and their confidence grew throughout the year.”
Middlebury will open their season with a two-game series at home vs Trinity on November 18/19, 2022.
A New Program
This season will be the inaugural season for the new program Hilbert College Women’s hockey, led by Head Coach Cole Klubek. Klubek, a Hamburg, NY native, is looking to get the new program off to a good start. Founded in 1957 with an average enrollment of 800, located in Hamburg, NY, the program will be competing as an independent for the ‘22-’23 season.
When asked about the most encouraging elements Coach Klubek has seen from the team, he said, “The effort during our exhibitions was nonstop. They had 4 days together on the ice and never quit even with a short bench. To have that fighting spirit going into the first weekend is infectious.” Klubek is already busy at trying to establish his foundations as a coach with the team, consisting of all new freshmen and transfers: “Hard work and empathy go a long way in building relationships. I want to foster a culture that understands and honors both.”
Hilbert College will play their first-ever regular season game on the road at 3:30pm Friday, October 28 at Alvernia University in Redding, PA.
Teams Looking to Make a Leap
It’s always interesting to see improvement year after year from various programs, but a team that should be focused on this season that may be overlooked by many is St. Norbert. Led by Head Coach A.J. Aitken, who enters his 3rd season with the Green Knights, coming off a 20-9 season last year. When asked about his quick success with the team, highlighting his 1st year record of 8-19 compared to his 2nd year record of 20-9, Coach Aitken said, “Starts with recruiting the type of player that you want in your program. Highly driven in the classroom and willing to put the work off ice. We believe this process leads to on ice success. I am fortunate to have had assistant coaches that worked hard to identify the right student athlete.”
Look for St. Norbert to be a top competitor in the NCHA and possibly become a top-10 ranked team in the polls. The Green Knights open their season at home vs Hamline University in a two-game series on October 28/29, 2022.
Adrian College had an up-and-down season last year, starting relatively strong, climbing the rankings, but were then devastated roster wise by COVID-19, causing them to drop a few games they (on paper) should’ve won handily. Adrian returns 2 juniors, 6 seniors, and 2 graduate seniors, with a veteran loaded team, Coach Shawn Skelly, who holds a career record of 86-15-7 and has won 20+ games in all 4 seasons at Adrian, said:
“We believe we have the group to make a strong run this year. Losing in the semi’s of the NCHA playoffs last season has really helped our group come into this season more focused and ready to go. It’s our goal every year to make it into the NCAA Tournament and from there it’s a matter of showing up in those one game elimination games. Most of our players have some experience in those games but others have not after the couple of canceled tournaments during COVID. Lots of work to go and tons of time to focus on our process to get to where we need to go.”
Adrian opens its season with a big two-game test on the road at Oswego State on October 28/29, 2022. Oswego defeated the Bulldogs 2-1 in Adrian last season in their lone matchup.
UW-Eau Claire led by Coach Erik Strand, finished last season 23-6, handing UW-River Falls their only regular-season loss, while falling in the NCAA Tournament opening round to the eventual runner-up Gustavus 3-0, looks to make that jump as well as he returns a loaded veteran-led squad:
“Every season provides an opportunity to learn ways to become better. I liked how our staff broke down last season and prepared for this year. We are very excited about the group we returned and have been impressed with how they have helped our 1st year’s become acclimated to UW-Eau Claire both on and off the ice. We believe the potential is there for another successful season and we will hopefully be a tough team to play against every night.”
Look for UW-Eau Claire to make a possible NCAA Tournament run this season as Coach Strand has brought nothing but consistency to UW-Eau Claire since he arrived. Eau-Claire opens their season on the road vs Saint Benedict (Minn.) in a two-game series on October 28/29, 2022
Hockey’s Back
I think Head Coach Michael O’Grady of Chatham University, who’s coming off a record setting year for the program, speaks for every coach, player, and fan when he says: “I am excited for our season to get rolling, and the way our schedule shaped up this year. Every program in our conference has gotten stronger and I think that will make for some great hockey games and challenge all of us to bring our best games each and every night.”
