Another week of D-III Women’s hockey out west is complete and we were met with a big #6 vs #8 matchup, along with some emerging teams stacking together some early wins. We also saw the current top west teams remain undefeated, handling their business as they have each and every week so far this season.
UW-River Falls defeats their top WIAC Rival
#6 UW-River Falls defeated #8 UW-Eau Claire 3-2 at home on Saturday. UWRF’s Alex Hantge and Makenna Aure each tallied a goal and an assist in the win. The shot totals were heavily in favor of River Falls, outshooting Eau Claire 33-13, goaltender Sami Miller recorded 11 saves on 13 shots for the Falcons and Stephanie Martin, despite the loss, had a great performance, recording 30 saves on 33 shots for the Blugolds. UWRF Head Coach Joe Cranston discussed what elements of his team led to their success vs Eau-Claire:
“We outshot them 33 to 13. We had a very good team effort, and our level of competing was better than our previous games. We played very well defensively, holding them to 13 shots, and holding their top line to only 2 shots. We did a nice job taking away their time and space, and our neutral ice was pretty good. It was a good team effort for all 4 lines and 7 defensemen.”
River Falls has a gauntlet of a schedule ahead, with games against (in order, with current rankings) #3 Plattsburgh, #1 Middlebury OR #4 Elmira, then a two game home-and-home vs #2 Gustavus… Coach Cranston in regard to this upcoming stretch of games said: “Now we have some really big games coming up, and we are a very young team, so we will learn a lot, and it should be fun for the players. The Eau Claire win really sets the stage of our trip to Plattsburgh. I think if we play like we did last night, we should have some great games out East.”
This next stretch of games can make-or-break UW-River Falls season as the winner of the WIAC doesn’t receive an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament due to having only five teams in the conference. Wins during this stretch will be vital for them, come the end of the season, win or lose their conference.
St. Norbert beginning to streak
St. Norbert is unbeaten in their last seven games (5-0-2), holding an overall record of 6-1-2, and a conference record of 4-0, putting them in a tie for 1st place in the NCHA with Adrian College and Concordia Wisconsin. The Green Knights Head Coach A.J. Aitken is pleased with his team’s current performance as they continue their success built last season.
“The biggest reason is the upperclassmen in the lineup now. We have six seniors and five juniors, which have been growing in the program. We gained great experience last season and we continued to build off last year’s success. I think our leadership has been very good helping the freshman adjust to the college game! Getting big contributions from our sophomore class. Great balance in the line up.”
St. Norbert, coming off their best season in program history (20-9), is on pace to better it. As mentioned in my preseason article, look for St. Norbert to make a run at the NCHA title and a possible NCAA tournament berth. We saw it last year, making it to the NCHA title game and falling short vs Aurora, who is having a great season this year as well, but the potential for a conference championship is there.
St. Norbert’s next game before the Thanksgiving break, is Tuesday, Nov. 22 (today) at home vs UW-Stevens Point at 7pm CT.
St. Kate’s quietly making a move
A name that isn’t given a plethora of media attention, St. Kates hockey. St. Kates is currently sitting at 6-1-1, including a tie against previously ranked Augsburg. The Wildcats are on pace for their best season since 2009-2010 when they went 18-5-2. Now, even though they haven’t played an extremely tough schedule outside of Augsburg to start, the team is winning games and that’s all that matters. Head Coach Brad Marshall, entering his 17th year with the program, when asked about if he sees anything different about this team than others so far said:
“What’s been different? Balanced scoring, above average goaltending and our ‘top players’ being our top players on a regular basis. We have two really good Defensemen in senior Kaitlyn Blair (All MIAC as junior) and sophomore Joslin Mumm. They each play about 28 minutes/game and they’re both smooth skating, high IQ, hard shooting and tough to play against D.”
In regard to his team’s chemistry and morale so far, Marshall added: “Each player enjoys having a role that contributes to our success, and they take pride in executing those personal roles to help have team success. We have kids who try to block shots in practice! That mindset hasn’t been around for a while. Our locker room is good, meaning my captains are doing a great job in their leadership roles, and people are starting to ‘buy into’ what we’re preaching at practice. We’re pleased with our start, but fully understand it’s not even December yet. We compete hard, and plan to keep improving each week.”
Keep St. Kates on your radar as the season moves on as they may be considered a “surprise” to many so far. Their next games are a home-and-away series vs St. Scholastica on Dec. 2nd & 3rd at 7pm/2pm CT.
Other Notable Results
#2 Gustavus continues to roll as they picked up a trio of wins this week to remain undefeated at 8-0. Getting a 7-0 shutout win over UW-Superior, 4-1 & 7-1 wins over Bethel. During these three games, Clara Billings tallied 4 goals and 3 assists and Lily Mortenson notched three goals and two assists.
#7 Adrian remains unbeaten at 8-0, another team projected to make a deep run in my preseason preview, picked up a pair of shutout wins vs Trine, winning 5-0 & 3-0. During the two game series, Kathryn Truban scored three goals and added an assist, while Karmen Anderson tallied three assists.
#14 Aurora (6-1-1) defeated Lake Forest 3-0 and tied them 2-2 this past weekend. Aurora’s Darci Matson highlighted the series, recording three goals and one assist.
Looking Ahead
As we look ahead out west, we’ve got some massive tournaments that will definitely grant the opportunity for teams to stand out from the rest. We’ve got the Cardinal/Panther Classic as mentioned, featuring #6 UW-River Falls, #3 Plattsburgh, #1 Middlebury, & #4 Elmira. We’ve also got the Norwich holiday tournament, featuring #7 Adrian, (Current #8) Norwich, #4 Elmira, & #3 Plattsburgh. Adrian and UW-River Falls will be given the opportunity to really stand out from the rest of the pack out west if they can grab some wins out east. #2 Gustavus will get to face their first real challenge of the year, facing River Falls Dec. 7 & 10 in a home-and-home series.
Another stellar week in the books and we’re only four weeks in. Pay attention to those tournaments as they’ll hold implications on the polls, pairwise, and end of the year tournament chances. Great things happening in the western region of D-III Women’s hockey right now, don’t expect that to change.
