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. Here on the eastern front, we look forward to another fun and competitive year where currently, it’s anyone’s game, not simply a handful of teams anymore. Also in this article, player comments are featured, not just coaches, it’s always enjoyable and insightful to hear from their perspective as well since we’re normally accustomed to only coach-quotes.
CCC
The Commonwealth Coast Conference tends to be wide-open and competitive with it being a toss-up who’s taking the auto-bid in March. Last season, Suffolk earned their first-ever NCAA tournament bid after finishing the year 18-8-2 overall (14-2-2 in conference) after defeating Endicott 2-1 in the CCC championship. However, this is a new year, and they’ll be without their former Head Coach Taylor Wasylk who recently accepted the Lindenwood University (NCAA D1) Head Coach position, all the best to her and her endeavors.
Suffolk will now be led by newly hired Head Coach Abby Ostrom, Trinity College ‘14, who most recently held the Assistant Coach position at Boston University (NCAA D1). This is her first job as a head coach, so it’ll be interesting to see how she fares with her Suffolk Rams.
A team to watch out for in this league in my opinion is Western New England, a team entering their 3rd-year of existence (4th year inc. canceled covid year), who went 7-15-4 in year 1, and then 15-8-3 last season including a signature 3-2 win over Endicott. Head Coach Katie Zimmerman seems to have a good thing going now with her Golden Bears and it’ll be interesting to see if they can improve once again as a young program. According to their roster on the website from last year, they’ll have at least 13 seniors assuming no additions or subtractions, so this veteran-led team is poised for another good year.
Another young program looking to break through is Curry, led by 3rd-year Head Coach Kelly Rider who doubled the year-one team win total this past season. I asked Coach Rider about her plans to continue the improvement the team has showed in their first few years:
“With each year, we add depth with our new players, and our returners have more experience and physical strength. Now that everything isn’t new, we get the opportunity to focus on smaller aspects of the game or skills to enable us to continue to be more and more competitive and improve across statistical categories.”
I also asked Coach Rider about her perspective on the CCC as a whole: “I think the gap between the top and bottom teams in the CCC has always been small and it continues to get smaller. Last year all the seedlings came down to the last couple games of the season. UNE and Suffolk both have new staff, and its Salve’s last year in the league. I think all teams have something to prove and all teams will have a little bit of a different look than last season.”
For some added perspective from the player point-of-view, I asked 5th-year senior goaltender Soleil Archambeault “you’re entering your final year of college hockey, what is it you’d most like to be remembered for at Curry by your coaches and teammates?” To which she answered:
“I’d like to be remembered for making significant contributions to a newer college hockey program to establish a tradition of improving the program every year. I’ve always strived to play the game with integrity and respect to the opponents and officials and being sort of an ambassador for the sport. Being a selfless, cooperative teammate, who always puts the team’s success ahead of personal goals or stats. This, I hope, has been witnessed through my dedication and hard work both on and off the ice and in setting a high standard through my efforts and commitment to the sport, my team, and coaches.”
Soleil also commented on how her role has changed on the team as she’s gotten older, now specifically, a grad-senior: “As a freshman, my role was to be supportive to the starting goalie and my team, while working hard to earn playing time. Now, as a senior/graduate I find I’m in the position where I can help mentor and develop the younger players, passing on my knowledge and experience to help the team grow and succeed in the long-term. Taking on a leadership role and demonstrating those qualities both on and off the ice, is important to me. I want to inspire my teammates, whom I’ve grown to feel like they’ve become ‘family’, (after all the time we’ve spent together), by my actions and words. This is hopefully evident through how I tutor students, RA, coach minor team goalies, etc. I’ve enjoyed seeing my growth both as a hockey player and a person, realizing how far I’ve come.”
NEHC
The NEHC has been a two-team race as of late, those teams being Norwich & Elmira. Last year, we saw Elmira go 17-0-0 (21-6-0 overall) (played 17/18 conference games due to a canceled game vs Plymouth State) in the regular season, while Norwich went 14-2-2 (19-7-2 overall). However, when it came to the conference tournament, Norwich defeated Elmira 2-0 in the championship game to earn an auto-bid into the NCAA’s where they fell to Colby 5-2 in the first round.
Norwich enters this year without their star player who happened to also be one of the top players in all D3, Ann-Frédérique Guay who transferred to the University of Maine (NCAA D1) for her 5th-year. Guay recorded 46 points last season (19G, 27A) and had 121 over her entire Norwich career. As of today 10/14/23, she has 4 goals in 4 games with her new D1 squad, seems like she hasn’t missed a beat, and everyone should wish her all the well at the top level!
In more current Norwich news, they’ve got a very youthful squad consisting of 8 freshman, 9 sophomore, 4 juniors, & 4 seniors, including star senior goaltender Leocadia Clark. Whatever level of talent these young players have, Head Coach Sophie Leclerc Doherty will utilize it to the highest level.
A major change in the conference comes from Elmira. First-year Head Coach Jake Bobrowski left the team on good terms to return home to Minnesota, so the team enters this season with a new coach at the helm: Greg Haney, Cortland ‘10. Haney, an Upstate, NY native, played three years at SUNY Cortland and was an assistant coach with the men’s team for two seasons after. Haney also was an assistant at Western New England (Men), UW-Stevens Point (Men), Oswego (Women), & Lindenwood (NCAA D1 Women). He then took the head coaching position at Potsdam for three years and now finds himself at the helm of a top D3 program in Elmira. Expect great things from Coach Haney, plenty of experience under his belt from many places East and West at various levels.
NESCAC
Last year, the NESCAC featured four teams in the NCAA tournament, with Amherst (26-4-0 overall, 13-3-0 in conference) being the conference champion receiving the auto-bid, as well as hosting the NCAA Frozen Four. The other three teams were: Hamilton (22-6-2 overall, 12-3-1 in conference), Middlebury (17-8-3 overall, 10-4-2 in conference), & Colby (18-8 overall, 10-6 in conference). Amherst advanced to the NCAA championship game vs Gustavus in which Gustavus defeated the Mammoths 2-1 in a wild three-overtimes.
As it usually is, arguably the most competitive league in women’s d3, upset after upset each week showed us how the competition gap is narrowing between the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ teams. Last year, Amherst only had 4 seniors, most of the team should be returning this year plus any new freshman/transfers. They retain their star goaltender who arguably was the best in D3, Natalie Stott, who by the way, is only a sophomore this year, after posting this stat line her freshman year: 25-4-0 record, 0.95 GAA, .955 Save %, & 14 shutouts… Look for Amherst to be just as good, if not better.
An intriguing development occurred in the offseason as the 2023 AHCA, NESCAC, & USCHO Coach of the Year Emily McNamara, Middlebury ‘07, left Hamilton to take the Assistant Coaching position at her alma mater Middlebury. She joins longtime legendary Head Coach Bill Mandigo (35 years at Middlebury) who we can only assume is nearing the end of his prestigious career and bringing in a great coach who happens to be an alum is an ideal move for the school. Her stock as a coach has never been higher than it is now, seeing what she accomplished at Hamilton last season, so we’ll see how this affects both Middlebury and Hamilton.
As for Hamilton, there’s no reports on who’s being looked at to fill their Head Coaching role, being the NESCAC, they begin their season about a month later than everyone else, so technically they’ve got more time to figure this out, but it can’t be ideal to be entering mid-October without an ‘official’ head coach. Current listed assistant coaches on the roster are Chris Cobb & Kayte Holtz, Bowdoin ‘13. Holtz would make sense as a pick considering her success as a player at Bowdoin (123 points in 4 seasons), and she’s been the assistant at Hamilton since 2013. Also, the fact that it’s mid-October and they’re running out of time.
It’ll be interesting to see how Hamilton fares after their program-best run last season, earning an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament, defeating Nazareth 3-1 in round 1, then visiting the 26-4-0 Adrian squad and defeating them 2-0 to earn their way into the final four where they fell to the eventual runner-up Amherst 2-0.
SUNYAC
Here we are once again, the former ECAC-West, then NEWHL, now SUNYAC conference will be reborn once again as we hopefully can keep this conference intact for more than a few years. Plattsburgh went undefeated in the NEWHL in terms of regular-season titles & conference playoff titles, winning all five from 2018-2023. This conference currently consists of Buffalo State, SUNY Canton, Cortland, Morrisville, Oswego, Plattsburgh, & Potsdam.
Plattsburgh looks to continue its dominance over this conference and return to the NCAA championship game in which they’ve won seven times (‘07, ‘08, ‘14, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17, & ‘19). The team that has seemed to give the Cardinals the most trouble is Cortland, who’s beaten the Cardinals on occasion and taken them to overtime various times including a NEWHL conference championship in which Plattsburgh won in the first minute or two of the first OT period. We’ll see if the Cardinals streak continues.
A team who’s got high hopes for this season is Oswego State, who hired a new Assistant Coach Dani Slominski, UW-Eau Claire ‘23, and has improved immensely under 5th year Head Coach Mark Digby. The team which features 5 seniors, and 10 juniors could really do some good things with that amount of age and veterans on the squad.
A daunting task is at hand for however, Oswego plays 9 road games in their first 11 regular season contests to open the season. These road games include Plattsburgh (1), Cortland (1), Adrian (2), Amherst (1), then when they return home for their 3rd/4th home games of the year, they get to play Plattsburgh twice. Brutal stretch for them, but we’ll see how they fare.
Junior forward Megan Gates, a transfer in her 2nd season with the Lakers, from NCAA D1 Sacred Heart University, commented on the lopsided total of road/home games to begin the season:
“The team is very excited to get this season underway. As many college athletes know, away games and overnight trips can be the best bonding experience for all members of the team. I personally am looking forward to these games against strong opponents in their home arenas. We must overcome the adversity of difficult circumstances to beat these teams at their home ice with hometown fans. We’re beyond excited to see where this season will take us. With the addition of several talented newcomers and a new assistant coach, the team is ready to go with a killer mindset.”
Another program facing coaching changes from both the head coach and assistant coach positions is Morrisville. The program adds a pair of Cortland Red Dragons to the staff. Hiring John Briggs who served as the assistant of the Cortland Women’s team from 2021-2023, this is his first-ever head coaching job. The other addition is Oswego, NY native Monica Cahill, Cortland 23’, who will serve as the assistant coach for the Mustangs in her first ever coaching job. Cahill was a defenseman on the SUNY Cortland Women’s team from 2019-2023. A youthful hiring for both positions, but lots of upside for the program as it’s seen its struggles as of late.
I asked Coach Cahill about what it’ll be like for her to be facing her former team (Cortland) in her first-ever regular-season home game as a coach:
“I’m really excited for our first home game to be against Cortland! I think it’ll be a good challenge for us seeing that Cortland has finished in the nations’ top ten the past two years. They’ve got a lot of talented girls on that team; I feel lucky enough to have played with them and to have experienced that high level of Division III hockey that everyone is striving for. That being said, I feel very confident in our team here at Morrisville. I don’t think Coach Briggs or I could have asked for a better group of girls both on and off the ice. We’re both excited with the path in which the program is heading in and to open up with a highly competitive game.”
UCHC
Last, but not least, we’ve got the UCHC. Led by the Golden Flyers of Nazareth and Head Coach Chris Baudo, winning the last two conference championships (both regular season & postseason). Nazareth went 22-6-1 last year overall (18-1-1 in conference) and fell in the opening round of the NCAA tournament to Hamilton 3-1. Nazareth’s only a 5th-year program, this is the 6th year of their existence and Coach Baudo has an exceptional record of 94-20-6, winning 20+ games on two occasions and making two NCAA tournaments. The next step for this team is winning an NCAA tournament game.
I spoke with sophomore goaltender Maïka Paquin and asked her what she’s most looking forward to this season now having a season under her belt:
“I’m really excited and feel that having a previous season under my belt gives me the confidence to be more successful and find success with our team. Even though it’s my second year, the goal hasn’t changed. Our goal is still to compete highly in and out of our league in the regular season, win the league title, earn a spot in the NCAA tournament, and make it as far as possible to the national championship.”
Speaking on the youthfulness of a roster that contains an astounding 11 freshman, 9 sophomores, 2 juniors, 3 seniors, 2 5th-year grad-seniors, Paquin said “I think it gives us an advantage, while most people think we might be inexperienced, I think with our speed and composure, we’ll surprise a lot of teams. I also think our culture really helps to shape our team as a whole, everyone has a role and is included. We truly are a family.”
Another team that had a program-best season last year were the Utica Pioneers. Utica finished 22-3-3 overall (17-1-2 in conference), falling to Nazareth in the UCHC conference championship 3-2 in double-overtime. I’ll add that the series between Utica and Nazareth last season were some of the most competitive you’ll ever see, with all games going to overtime, Nazareth winning a reg-season shootout, Nazareth winning in reg-season OT, and Nazareth winning in 2OT.
Scott Kinville, formerly of the popular 315HockeyLive website, now running his newly formed Central New York Hockey Report (CNY Hockey Report) site, closely follows the Pioneers and gave his insight on the team and how the season could shape out:
“Much like it did last season, it looks like the road to the UCHC championship will go through Nazareth and Utica.
The 2022-23 Utica Pioneers were a team that was built to win that championship. Led by graduate student Georgiana Saltillo (who is the programs second leading all-time scorer), and supported by offensive stars Erica Sloan, Carly Stefanini, Carolyn Whitney, Hailey Modlin, and Maggie Rylott, the Pioneers boasted one of the top offenses in Division III all season long. Utica was in the top fifteen of the USCHO Women’s Division III poll for much of the season and finished the season ranked thirteenth.
It wasn’t just their offense that made Utica a force to be reckoned with in 2022-23. To be a successful hockey team, you must be able to keep the puck out of your own net as well. To go with their prolific offense, Head Coach Dave Clausen’s Pioneers also held one of the conference’s best defenses as well. This was due in large part to the efforts of Pioneers goaltender Angela Hawthorne. She was sensational last season, posting a record of 16-3-3, with a 1.03 GAA, a 0.958 save percentage, and six shutouts.
Georgie Santullo has graduated, but the rest of the core that posted the best record in the program’s history remains. Barring injuries or a disastrous start, the Pioneers should be able to return the favor from last season and knock Nazareth off their perch at the top of the UCHC.”
If you made it to the end, Thanks!
As I said in my West Preseason article, thank you for making it all the way down here if you did, hopefully it didn’t take too many sessions to get through it, but here we are, the start of another season of Division III Women’s hockey! If you’d like to read the west article, CLICK HERE!
