2022-23 Women’s College Hockey Primer

Sep 28, 2022 - 2:00 PM

Another season is upon us. We have had one actual game already and a pair of exhibitions. Lots of expectations among the teams which should lead to an exciting Beanpot tournament.

Boston College

What Happened Last Season: 4th in WHEA, lost in Conference QF, no NCAA appearance

Losses: Michaela Boyle, Willow Corson, Olivia Finocchiaro, Natalie Tulchinksky, Jillian Fey, Grace Campbell, Janelle Kelleher

Additions: Kara Goulding, Kate Ham, Katie Pyne, CAyla Barnes, Cailin Flynn, Shea Frost, Maddy McArthur, Kelly Pickreign

Outlook: Eagles fans hopes are soaring higher than a notebook over on the Heights. The past few seasons have not been especially successful at least based the rest of Coach Katie King Crowley’s reign. This year they get back Cayla Barnes from the Olympics, they retain Abbey Levy and lose little in the way of offensive production from last year. The USCHO poll had them at 15 to start the season, SBNation has them ARV tied for 11th , that poll only ranks 10. Some analysts say they should contend with Northeastern for the league title but at the least they should be a home-ice team come the Hockey East Tournament.

Boston University

What Happened Last Season: 6th in WHEA, lost in Conference QF, no NCAA appearance

Losses: Ellie Larson, Kate Stuart, Courtney Correia, Mackenna Parker, Kaleigh Donnelly, Emma Wurthrich, Nicole McGuigan, Grace Parker, Jesse Compher

Additions: Andrea Braendli, Allie Cuellar, Brooke Disher, Ani FitzGerald, Sydney Healey, Maeve Kelly, Clara Yuhn

Outlook: The Terriers are predicted to be on the road for the Hockey East Tournament once again. These are not Marie-Philip Poulin’s Terriers but they will be a tough out getting a goalie transfer from the defending national champions who is a Swiss national team member in Andrea Braendli, and a high upside forward from the other side of the Fens in Ani FitzGerald. They will likely not be contending for many trophies but they won’t be a team to be taken lightly.

Harvard University

What Happened Last Season: 1st in ECAC, 1st in Ivy League, lost in Conference QF, lost in NCAA Round of 12.

Losses: Lunsana Sano, Kate Glover, Dominique Petrie, Becca Gilmore, Brooke Jovanovich, Sydney Sorkin, Keely Moy, Emma Buckles, Becky Dutton

Additions: Jade Arnone, Sophie Ensley, Kate Kasica, Gwyn Lapp, Indi Wagner

Outlook: After a great regular season last year the wheels fell off. Becoming the first ECAC top seed to lose their QF series then becoming the first team to lose in the inaugural Round of 12 in the NCAA Tournament last year. This year they have lower expectations as they were picked to finish 7th in the ECAC, though they received a first place vote, behind three Ivy League rivals. They range from 9th to 15th among the different media polls so there is a lot of unknown with the Crimson. The will have some time to figure it out themselves as they start later as they do every year being an Ivy League member.

Northeastern University

What Happened Last Season: 1st in WHEA, Won conference championship, Lost in NCAA SF

Losses: Lauren MacInnis, Andrea Renner, Brooke Hobson, Katie Cipra, Maddie Mills, Skylar Fontaine, Aerin Frankel, Tessa Ward, Gillian Foote, Miceala Sindoris, Brooke Tucker, Emma Jurusik,

Additions: Holly Abela, Kristina Allard, Avery Anderson, Alyssa Antonakis, Lily Brazis, Jules Constantinople, Mia Langlois, Lily Shannon, Taze Thompson, Maude Poulin-Labelle

Outlook: The Huskies lost a lot of talent in the offseason. Replacing a former Patty Kaz winning goalie, a conference defender of the year and Patty Kaz finalist, along with a number of depth players is never an ideal or easy task. Thankfully for Northeastern they had a great goalie in waiting, they had the other co-defender of the year transfer in, got a second line forward to transfer in and had a great recruiting class so they shouldn’t have too much drop off with the combined talent of Alina Mueller, Chloe Aurard and Maureen Murphy still holding court on the top line. They were picked to defend their Hockey East title again and national polls place them in the home ice talk for the NCAA tournament. Anything less than a deep NCAA tournament with three trophies already in hand will be a bit of a disappointment.

All games in ECAC and WHEA rinks will be available for streaming on ESPN+ this season.