Four out of the five conferneces wrapped up their regular season schedule this past weekend with the MIAC being the lone hold out with another week left of the regular season.
1. Plattsburgh completes unbeaten regular season
Although in my 20 bold predictions, I did predict that either Plattsburgh or Gustavus Adolphus would finish the regular season unbeaten, I honestly didn’t think we would see the day again where a Division III women’s hockey team could accomplish a feat like this again. The game seemed to have grown too much but not only does it look like one team is going to do it this year, it looks like Gustavus will have a great shot at replicating the feat next weekend. In a perfect world, these two teams would run the gauntlet in the postseason and ultimately meet each other for the title in Superior setting up every storyline you could possibly want.
Plattsburgh was fortunate to return pretty much everyone on offense from their Frozen Four team from a year ago, as well as their goaltender in Sydney Aveson. The Cardinals likely have the D-III Player of the Year in Teal Gove as well as a loaded supporting cast including Alison Era, Emma Rutherford, Jenny Kistner and Shannon Stewart. This team is loaded and will have the benefit of hosting throughout its duration in the postseason until the FF where it will have to fly out West to Superior should they make it that far.
2. First NCAA Rankings published
Last Tuesday the first NCAA regional rankings were published and for the next two weeks they will continue to appear every Tuesday afternoon until the final NCAA selection show on Monday, March 4th. These are the rankings that actually matter and you’ll want to pay close attention to find out how the top teams are stacking up with each other in terms of the criteria that the NCAA uses to determine and rank the NCAA Tournament field. http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/icehockey-women/d3/diii_regional_rankings
3. Neumann does the Harlem Shake
It’s a craze that is sweeping the nation amongst college athletic teams and yes, now it’s in D-III women’s hockey. Check out the Neumann women’s hockey team having a little fun at the end of warmups prior to their game against Plattsburgh State this past weekend. Give them credit for keeping it loose. Got to love the girl doing the worm in full pads and skates! Great job Neumann!
[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-ZeU7w1TXs” width=”350″ ratio=”4:3″]
