It’s that time of the year again, Division III hockey, specifically, D-III Women’s hockey is back and looking stronger than ever in nearly all facets. Last year we saw our first-ever west-region team Gustavus Adolphus take home their first-ever NCAA title in Amherst, MA. Their road to the title involved a two-overtime 3-2 victory over Plattsburgh in the national semifinals and a triple-overtime 2-1 victory in the national championship over the host team Amherst. We’ve got many things to be excited about on the western side of things including a new program, new coaches, and more!
Before we begin…
To start things off however, we must take time and recognize the unfortunate events that shall be viewed as ‘bigger than hockey’ moments where we must recognize there are more important things in life than hockey, such as life itself.
In the past year, the National Champions Gustavus have needed the thoughts, prayers, & donations of the entire D-III hockey community more than anyone should ever have to. First, Heather Olinger’s near-tragic injury on the ice that could’ve rendered her paralyzed [full article here], and most recently, the Gustavus community tragically lost a member of its team & community, Jori Jones, 19, in a fatal car crash that occurred recently in mid-August 2023 [news article linked here]. Three other team members were in the car, but not seriously injured.
This isn’t the most cheerful way to begin celebrating our new season, but certain things are bigger than hockey and should be recognized as such. Don’t take life (or anything for that matter) for granted as it can be taken away at any age, year, month, week, day, minute, or second.
MIAC
We’re in for an interesting year in the MIAC as we’ve got the defending national champs Gustavus looking to remain on top as they went 17-1-0 in conference play last season (27-3-0 overall) and some teams looking to make some noise.
A team to keep an eye on is St. Olaf, who under 4th year Head Coach Tracy Johnson have improved year after year including hosting their first-ever MIAC playoff game last year vs Hamline. Under Johnson, the Ole’s records have been: 0-23-2, 9-17-0, & 14-10-2. She’s won more games in two of her seasons (23) than the Ole’s had won in the previous six seasons combined. Look for them to improve and possibly pull an upset here and there.
The enthusiasm around St. Olaf is high, Coach Johnson commented: “The energy amongst the team has been great. The returners have done an incredible job welcoming the new members of our team and I’m very proud of the culture they continue to uphold. Getting the chance to be on the ice with them in the preseason has been a beneficial change the NCAA made, and we are very excited for the official start of the season!”
Coach Johnson is also not relying on their past successes, “While we’re eager to build off the momentum we’ve created over the past couple of seasons, we’re not resting on our past successes and know that we need to continue putting in even more work to continue to build. This does not just mean on the ice, but also requires continued investment in the relationships away from the rink. Having a positive team environment is a competitive advantage and it shows in the way they play for each other.”
Augsburg is another team to watch as they continue to challenge Gustavus at the top, handing them their lone MIAC loss last season, winning 3-2 in OT at home. It’s a team that is balanced class-wise, featuring 5 freshmen, 4 sophomores, 6 juniors, & 5 seniors. Only losing five players from the squad that went 14-3-1 in conference and 18-7-2 overall last year, they should be poised to make some noise in the MIAC. Some notable coaching additions for them include:
Elizabeth Bauer – Assistant Coach, UW-Eau Claire ‘20
Nicole Neuberger – Graduate Assistant Coach, UW-Stevens Point ‘22
Other notable coaching additions within the MIAC:
Chad Davis, American International ‘04 – Head Coach: Saint Mary’s University
Jason Gregoire, Concordia College (MN) ‘02 – Head Coach: Concordia College (MN)
NCHA
One of the most entertaining conferences in D3 looks set to have another fun year, including the addition of a new program and the subtraction of a previous one. The departing team Finlandia University is no longer a part of the NCHA after the school announced it would be closing for good and no longer operating. However, replacing them to fill out the league will be the newly formed University of Dubuque located in Dubuque, IA.
The University of Dubuque has a lot of support behind it on both the men’s and women’s sides respectively. The Norwich University ‘15 alum Madyson Moore has been named the first-ever Head Coach for the program that opens their inaugural regular-season against Concordia College (MN) on October 28th on the road.
Coach Moore, who spent her last two seasons as the Assistant Coach at Utica University, commented on the opportunity for her to start a new program from scratch and instill her style and values within the program’s culture:
“I’m beyond excited to build this program from the ground up, especially in my hometown. I’m lucky that my first Head Coaching job has brought me back to my family since I’ve been on the east coast for the past 12 years. This opportunity comes with a lot of responsibility to create a positive and competitive culture, to help grow the game more at the youth level and be a part of history as being the first to do so in Iowa. These are the main reasons I took this position, and I can’t wait to get it started this season!”
Things won’t come easy in terms of home-ice advantage for Dubuque though, their schedule features 25 games, only 8 at home, including 1 home game in their first 11 (13 incl. exhibition games) and a few brutal stretches of games. These stretches include a trio of games January 12-14 vs Concordia U. (Wis.), 5 games between December 1-9 vs Aurora (2), Saint Mary’s (1), & College of Saint Benedict (2), to cap it off, they then play 5 games between February 2-10 vs Lake Forest (2), Aurora (1), St. Norbert (2) …
It will be interesting to see how the new program fares as they’ve got a great support system behind them and are investing in the program.
The defending NCHA champs Adrian who’ve won 9 regular-season titles in a row & 7 of the last 8 conference championships look to continue their conference-success after losing a lot of veteran leadership including their star goaltender Sophie Goldberg. 6th year Head Coach Shawn Skelly said:
“Each year, we end up losing some really good veteran players. This past year was different as we had a national player of the year nominee in net and a top-3 scorer in the country up front who have moved on along with some other key contributors. With that being said, to be a top program in the country year in and year out, our staff needs to do a great job recruiting pieces to help fill voids in our lineup and we trust that we have done that once again this year. I believe we won’t miss a beat because of our current returning players who are fully capable of continuing our program’s success and excited at the opportunity for bigger roles. The depth within our lineup is something that we are also excited about and believe we shouldn’t miss a beat after losing some key pieces this offseason. It’s our goal to stay atop the NCHA to give us the best chance to get back to the national tournament this season.”
A program that featured the National Player of the Year and point leader Darci Matson (31G, 33A) looks to get itself back into the NCAA tournament after they earned an auto-bid in 2022, defeating Adrian in the semifinals and St. Norbert in the finals. Head Coach Jackie Kooistra talked about her team’s ability to get back atop the NCHA and her perspective on the conference as a whole:
“The NCHA is really becoming a powerhouse in terms of strength, teams and talent. We’ve got a big mountain to climb, but I think this group is up to the challenge. As long as we stay the course, stay healthy, play as a team, and put our trust in each other, we can do anything we set our mind to. We set our focus on the end game while setting smaller goals weekly to get there! I am confident if we play to our potential this group has an NCAA playoff run in the near future.”
I also asked Coach Kooistra what it’s like to now have a trio of Matson’s on the team, Darci, Molly, & Olivia: “As a team we really are a family. When I first stepped on the AU campus, I was greeted by a young woman who was eager to learn and win some hockey games, Olivia Matson. Olivia and I formed a right bond while we turned this team around. In the process of that her sister Darci wanted to join in on what we were building! Darci has had so much success here under my coaching and the culture we have built that her younger sister Molly is joining us this season to continue the legacy! It is an absolute JOY to coach these incredibly talented young women. Not only are they amazing hockey players…but they are leaders! They’re in it for the right reasons. They make me proud every day and I know they make Mom (Jen) and Dad (Wayne) incredibly proud. As a family, mine has grown close to theirs and we can thank the wonderful sport of Hockey once again for bringing families together!”
WIAC
Last but definitely not least, the WIAC conference always features exciting hockey and two teams who have as of late been finding themselves in the NCAA tournament and winning a few games.
The defending conference champions UW-River Falls look to have another successful season after last year going 10-1-1 in conference play & 24-4-1 overall, falling 2-1 in the NCAA quarterfinals to the eventual champion Gustavus. They return some key pieces such as 5th year senior Maddie McCollins, star sophomore defenseman MaKenna Aure, and others of course. What they do lose is their star 5th year goaltender Sami Miller, but they’ve got a senior in Jordan O’Connor who’s ready to go.
The other team who’s competing atop the WIAC is UW-Eau Claire, led by Head Coach Erik Strand who’s won 20+ games in his last 4/5 seasons and made 4 NCAA tournaments in the past six seasons. Coach Strand commented on the feel of his team early on:
“From the few early days we were able to be with our Blugolds this fall, we’re very pleased with what we’ve seen. Our returners have done an excellent job of getting our newest Blugolds prepared and up to speed to start the season. I think we have the potential to push the bar higher again this season. It’s looked like our returners were very busy training this off season and our newest additions are jumping right in with no hesitation. So, we’re very pleased, very excited to get on the ice full time and get the season started!”
Many top teams lost star goaltenders, a few have been mentioned already, UWEC is in the same boat, losing star 5th year senior Stephanie Martin. Coach Strand commented on the goaltending situation:
“Josie Mathison has been working hard for the last three seasons for this opportunity and she certainly wants to take control of the crease this season. So, we want to see if she can take that spot over and control it like her predecessors did before her. We also have Alexa Backmann who became a Blugold to help us win championships too. So, we expect her to push for that responsibility and I think between the two of them, they’ll push each other every day to become better and that should help bolster what we believe is a very deep lineup.”
Look for the WIAC to be competitive as ever and an exciting watch as it always is especially come playoff time!
Enjoy it before it’s over!
If you’ve made it this far, thank you, and I apologize if it took a few sessions to finish it, but it’s time for a new season of Division III hockey! We’ve gotta enjoy it while it’s here because before you know it, it’ll all be over once again.
