Where has the season gone? For most coaches, the season probably seemed to take forever at times depending on their respective team’s performance, but for fans, the season seems to have flown by once again. We’ve entered the conference playoffs and are set for another great late February/March string of games!
MIAC
The defending national champions Gustavus wrapped up the MIAC for the 19th time with a near-perfect conference record of 17-1-0 and overall record of 20-4-0. Three of the Gustie losses came at the hands of #1 UW-River Falls who went a perfect 25-0-0 this year, the lone MIAC loss came against the Auggies of Augsburg who finished their season quite strong considering how the first half went.
Most recently, Gustavus shutout St. Olaf twice this past weekend, winning 5-0 & 3-0. Goaltender Katie McCoy has picked up a few more records this season, most recently, she set the record for most career wins in NCAA D3 (W) with 78 (now has 80).
The Gusties obviously enter the conference playoffs as the favorite, but Augsburg, Saint Mary’s, & Hamline are looking close behind. The team that’s shown they’ll give Gustavus the biggest challenge is Augsburg, considering they were the only team to knock them off in conference play, but the other two had close games with the Gusties.
The playoffs feature some intriguing matchups, some may not realize how tough the MIAC playoffs are to qualify for compared to other conferences where nearly all but two or three teams make it, only the top-five qualify in the MIAC.
We’ve got:
First Round:
Bethel @ Hamline on Wednesday 2/21 in the quarterfinals which is an intriguing game as these two just finished up playing each other in the final weekend, the Pipers took those two games 3-1 & 4-1. The Royals have had an impressive year for the program, let’s see if they can knock off Hamline who’s also had a stellar season. The winner of this game faces #1 Gustavus in the quarterfinals. Gustavus swept both teams during the regular season.
Quarterfinal:
The predetermined quarterfinal matchup is a wildcard. Augsburg and Saint Mary’s, both having impressive seasons, Saint Mary’s the most surprising out of the MIAC, Head Coach Chad Davis, who’s in his first year with the program, has the Cardinals rolling along. During the regular season, SMU swept the Auggies, winning 3-2 & 2-1. However, after that particular weekend, Augsburg finished the season 16-2-0, their two losses coming to Gustavus & UW-Eau Claire. This game is a toss-up, both will be poised to take away the Gusties’ crown, assuming they make it to the final.
NCHA
Adrian has owned the NCHA regular-season for years now, they’ve now won their 10th-straight regular-season title. Head Coach Shawn Skelly has done it in all six years of his Adrian coaching tenure, racking up a career record of 137-21-7, winning 20+ games in all six seasons now (record via USCHO).
The Bulldogs have won the last eight of nine conference playoffs as well, putting themselves in the NCAA tournament via auto-bid near-annually, the lone year was in 2022 when Aurora shocked everyone and headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time in the early program’s history.
This year, Adrian went undefeated in the conference, a perfect 16-0-0, their losses were to Utica in the Utica University Kickoff Tournament 2-1 in OT, and UW-River Falls 7-5.
The NCHA conference tournament began this past weekend, playing two quarterfinal matchups, one of those matchups requiring the fun “mini game” tiebreaker, which sent Lake Forest to Adrian.
#1 Adrian swept #8 Lawrence, 4-1 & 4-0, they’ll remain home to face the visiting #4 Foresters of Lake Forest who, as mentioned, won the mini game 2-0 vs Concordia (Wis.) after splitting the two games 3-1 & 4-2.
#2 St. Norbert swept #7 Trine, winning a very slim 3-2 & 3-2 OT, they’ll play host in the semifinals to #3 Aurora. Aurora defeated Marian, winning 5-1 & tying 1-1.
Semifinals:
Although Lake Forest gave Adrian their fits last season, including nearly knocking off the Bulldogs in the conference playoffs, these are two very different teams, and I think Adrian takes this one and remains home to face the winner of Norbert & Aurora. Adrian swept LFC, winning 5-0 & 2-1 during the regular season, but hey, anything can happen.
St. Norbert vs Aurora is intriguing, Norbert almost knocking off Adrian in game one of their series this season, falling 2-1 due to a last-minute Maya Roy powerplay goal, then a collapse in game two losing 7-1. In the regular season, Norbert defeated Aurora 5-0 & tied 2-2… I like Norbert’s chances as they’ve been the far-more consistent team, but the Spartans may be thinking differently…
WIAC
The WIAC was a frequent highlight in D-III Women’s hockey this season, nearly being discussed every week due to UW-River Falls and their continued success. The Falcons finished the regular season a perfect 25-0-0, they’ve won at least 24+ games in the past three seasons, which is fortunate for them, because without the auto-bid, that’s essentially the only way they can make the dance. They can’t lose/tie nearly half their games and be frontrunners for the NCAA tournament via at-large, that only happens out east…
With UW-River Falls being a lock for the NCAA tournament, the Blugolds of Eau Claire finished a solid 19-6-0. Like Gustavus, three of those losses came to UW-River Falls: 2-5, 3-4 OT, & 1-4. Since they cannot receive an auto-bid, they’ll have to hope that River Falls advances to the finals (99.9% chance), and they [Eau Claire] get the chance to play them again and potentially beat them. That’s the only route they’ve got, no guarantees and it’s likely around a 40/60% chance they get in versus don’t get in with all the upsets occurring out east and the few at-large positions.
Quarterfinal:
The #5 Jills of Northland visit #4 UW-Stevens Point for the lone QF matchup, winner visiting #1 River Falls. The Pointers swept Northland, winning all three regular-season matchups. Look for Stevens Point to advance here.
Semifinal:
The determined semifinal game is #3 UW-Superior vs #2 UW-Eau Claire, the Blugolds swept the season series, but the Jackets were the only team to be leading River Falls at any point this season until UWEC did it in their 2nd game vs the Falcons. Superior will give the Blugolds a good run, but ultimately, I see it yet again, another Falcons vs Blugolds WIAC finals rematch.
