The time has finally come, playoffs! This past weekend was the official end of the regular season even though we had some leagues begin their conference tournaments who finished the previous week. A lot happened out west, UW-Eau Claire has a new all-time winningest Head Coach, Adrian clinched the NCHA after a few wild weekends, and we take a look at the rest of the conference winners and seeding out west!
Erik Strand makes Blugold history!
UW-Eau Claire Head Coach Erik Strand entered this past weekend with 140 career wins, tied with former UWEC Head Coach Mike Collins (2000-2013). Strand also won the 2013 Men’s D-III National Title as an Assistant Coach of UWEC. His Blugolds had their regular-season home/away series finale with WIAC rival and #1 (USCHO) ranked UW-River Falls. Eau Claire entered the weekend with a stellar record of 19-3-1, ranked #9 (USCHO) and were in a can’t-lose situation in terms of their pairwise hopes.
Game one was wild… It was a back-and-forth game until the Blugolds throttled River Falls, scoring six of the last eight goals in the game, including four unanswered in the matter of a mere four minutes. The game featured 11 goals, oddly enough, none occurring until the 2nd period, but when the scoring started, it didn’t seem to end. It all began when UWRF’s Abigail Stow scored a quick 48 seconds into the 2nd period, UWEC’s Hallie Sheridan would answer shortly after at the 4:10 mark. Both teams added goals less than a minute apart of each other at 12:38 & 13:24 to stay tied 2-2. Then the Blugolds took over, scoring 4 goals from 13:24-17:50 to take the 6-2 lead. River Falls would get a few back, but whenever they answered, Eau Claire answered right back. Blugolds took game one 7-4 at home.
Game two was in River Falls, a less eventful game in terms of the scoreboard, ending in a 1-1 tie where River Falls won in the shootout 1-0 to clinch the WIAC regular-season title by a single point, but a regulation tie is recorded as per usual with shootouts. The goals came in the 1st & 2nd period, the lone goals of the game which eventually led to the regulation tie.
Point leaders on the weekend for UW-Eau Claire: Hallie Sheridan (2 goals, 3 assists), Sophie Rausch (2 goals, 1 assist), Sami Scherling (3 assists). Goaltender Stephanie Martin made 28 saves in the 7-4 win & 28 saves in the 1-1 tie.
Leaders for UW-River Falls: Abigail Stow (1 goal, 1 assist), Holly Eckers (1 goal, 1 assist), & Maddie McCollins (1 goal, 1 assist). Goaltender Sami Miller made 19 saves on 25 shots in the game one loss but recovered well and made 19/20 saves in the game two draw.
With Friday’s 7-4 win over WIAC rival UW-River Falls, HC Erik Strand earned his 141st victory at the helm of Eau Claire, taking over a previously struggling program and making them annual NCAA contenders (made last 4 NCAA tournaments, minus covid year).
Speaking to Coach Strand on the weekend and his career milestone, I asked him what his favorite part of his career at Eau Claire has been: “Being a part of the turnaround with the program. From day one since I arrived, our Blugolds have bought in and wanted to build something special. Every year the returners share our traditions and build on the culture making it stronger than the year prior. It’s just a lot of fun to be around and I’m grateful for each day I get to be around our Blugolds.”
Coach Strand also spoke about it being a must-win weekend and making personal history vs their WIAC rival: “This series is definitely a cat and mouse puzzle that is rarely the same game plan twice. Joe Cranston is an incredible coach and has built another phenomenal team. Going into the weekend we knew UWRF had a winning streak that was at 13 games, including big wins over Gustavus (twice), Plattsburgh, and Middlebury. So, we were excited to see how we stacked up. The win certainly felt incredible. It was one of those games where we had a lot going right for us. Every night we want each line to contribute on the scoresheet and to be able to achieve that against UWRF has given us a tremendous amount of confidence that we are trying to build on this weekend as we start our playoff push.”
There aren’t many better people in D-III hockey than Coach Strand, his players, and the people around him will attest to that. Congratulations Coach, there’s more records out there waiting for you to break.
Adrian wins the NCHA regular-season title!
#6 Adrian entered this past weekend needing to sweep #13 St. Norbert to clinch the NCHA regular-season title after splitting with Aurora the previous week. They did just that, but it wasn’t easy. Both games were in Norbert, Adrian winning game-one by a slim 1-0 & game-two by a slim 3-2 margin.
In game one, Adrian’s Gia Avalone scored the lone goal at the 0:47 mark of the 2nd period. Goaltender Sophie Goldberg recorded the 14-save shutout victory for Adrian and Brynn Waismann recorded 16 saves in the loss.
In game two, Adrian took the lead midway through the 1st period at the 10:28 mark, courtesy of Une Bjelland. There would then be no goals until a flurry in the 3rd period when Norbert’s Kelsey Ross answered back a quick 21 seconds into the period to tie it at 1. It would then go back and forth with Adrian scoring at the 3:36 mark, Norbert answering at 15:23, then Adrian’s Jocelin Hudanish scoring the winner in the last few minutes at the 17:10 mark of the game to secure the win and the NCHA regular-season title for the Bulldogs of Adrian. Sophie Goldberg made 27 saves in the victory and despite the loss, Brynn Waismann had a good night, making 30 saves.
Adrian Assistant Coach Trevor Coykendall, a member of last year’s 31-1-0 Men’s D-III National Champion Adrian Bulldogs, talked about his experience this year as a first-year assistant and winning the NCHA regular-season title as a player and now a coach: “I would say it’s hard to pick between the two because they’re both so different. Being a player, you put in so much work physically, but being a coach, you get to see progress in each player and watch them develop over the year not only as an athlete but as an individual as well. Seeing them celebrate after winning makes you happy in a way that’s very different from being a player, but still assures you that your hard work is paying off. It’s a very rewarding job and I’ve been blessed to be a part of another powerhouse program.”
Powerhouse program indeed, as Coykendall in the last 2 seasons as a player and coach (including this current season), has only lost a mere 4 games out of the 57 he’s been a part of. Also asked him about the game-winner vs Aurora with 0.1 left on the clock and what sweeping St. Norbert meant for the team: “The goal was incredible, I think the reaction was delayed a second because we didn’t actually realize it went in, but once that happened everyone went nuts, it was nice to see all the smiles after the game. Definitely one to remember. The sweep of St. Norbert was huge for our team. I don’t think we played our best during the Aurora series and that lit a fire in everyone to be better in all aspects this week. Going on the road and winning both games against a fast St. Norbert team shows how resilient our girls are and proves that when we play like we know we can, we’re one of the top teams in the country.”
West Regular-Season Conference Winners
MIAC
Gustavus 17-1-0 (22-3 overall)
NCHA
Adrian 14-2-2 (22-3 overall)
WIAC
UW-River Falls 10-1-1 (21-3-1 overall)
