2023 Women’s DI Hockey Playoffs Thread

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ECACH Game 2 results, with top seed Yale now getting an extra day's rest while the remaining 6 teams have to play on Sunday to determine 3 more Semifinals participants ...

• Yale 4 - Harvard 0 ... Crimson Game Summary: Harvard Falls to No. 2 Yale 4-0 to Conclude Season
• Cornell 2 – Clarkson 1 (2OT) ... Cornell Recap: Big Red Forces Game Three Behind Fraser's 42 Saves
• Colgate 4 - Princeton 3 ... Colgate Game Summary: Late Period Goal Leads to Raiders Win
• St. Lawrence 3 - Quinnipiac 2 ... SLU Game Report: Saints Top No. 8 Bobcats 3-2, Force Game Three

 

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Hockey East completed their single elimination Quarterfinals round on Saturday, with the winners advancing to the Semifinal Round on March 1st. Recaps courtesy of the HEA 2023 Women's Tournament Central webpage ...

• Schafzahl's Overtime Goal Sends Vermont Past New Hampshire, 2-1

• Mueller Posts Five Points As Northeastern Downs Merrimack, 5-1

• Pyne Propels Boston College to 4-3 Overtime WIn Against UConn

• Providence Nets Final Four Goals In 5-2 Victory Over Maine

 

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NEWHA Game 3's (St. Michael's @ St. Anselm, Sacred Heart @ Franklin Pierce) will be webcast for free viewing today on NE10Now.tv. ETA: It appears that at least the NEWHA Semifinals round games will be streamed this coming Wednesday on ESPN+.

 

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A mere five conference QF games on the DI women's Sunday slate, with all five winners advancing, so I'll lump the results in one post ...

NEWHA Quarterfinals Winners

• St. Anselm Hawks ... after eliminating the St. Michael's Purple Knights with a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 3. STM was the deep underdog entering this series, but managed to take Game 1 of the Quarterfinals and played with clear pride & determination in the final match that lasted almost 78 minutes of exhausting play. You just can't allow your goaltender to face 61 SOGs & expect a miracle outcome. Stick taps in spades for Knights' junior netminder Carissa Mudrak to recognize her unflappable performance behind teammates who could barely hold their sticks & move their skates as the OT session slogged on. St. Anselm will host the first-year Stonehill College Skyhawks in the Semifinals on Wednesday March 1st.

• Franklin Pierce Ravens ... after bouncing the Sacred Heart Pioneers in Game 3 by a 4-0 final score. Defending NEWHA champions FPU repelled a strong & sustained offensive effort by the PIOS in the first period, then tilted the ice back to their advantage & dominated the final 40 minutes. The Ravens offense was led by graduate forward Lindsey Dumond, with 2 goals including the game winner. Franklin Pierce will go on the road to face the #1 seed Long Island U Sharks in the Semifinals on March 1st.


ECACH Quarterfinals Winners

• Clarkson Golden Knights ... after defeating the Cornell Big Red 4-1 in their Game 3 Quarterfinals finale. Four different Knights scorers brought their team back from an early 2nd period 1-0 deficit. Clarkson moves on to the Conference Semifinals on Friday March 3rd in New Haven, their opponent to be #1 seed Yale.

• Colgate Raiders ... following elimination of the Princeton Tigers by a 2-1 score in Game 3. COL junior forward Kristýna Kaltounková scored the GWG early in the 3rd period. Colgate advances to the Semifinals to face Quinnipiac University.

• Quinnipiac Bobcats ... after an overtime victory over the St. Lawrence Saints, with a final score of 2-1. QU senior forward Sadie Peart netted the series winner with 3:05 remaining in the extra period. Quinnipiac survives to compete in the ECACH Semifinals against Colgate U on Friday of this week.

 

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From the New England Women's Hockey Alliance, the next round of conference playoffs ...

Times are Eastern. The current ESPN+ schedule shows only the FPU @ LIU game being streamed there. The St. Anselm content on NE10Now.tv lists their semifinals match with Stonehill College.

 

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Also on Wednesday 3/1, the HEA conference semis ...

Both games will stream on ESPN+ in the U.S.

 

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The NEWHA Conference Finals are set, with the top two seeds winning their Semifinals matches on Wednesday.

• The #1 Long Island University Sharks scored just 1 minute & 48 seconds into their game against the defending champs Franklin Pierce University Ravens, and continued to dominate offensively late into the 3rd period. But FPU pulled their goaltender even later & tied the score 1-1 with 1:18 left in regulation. After the 3rd intermission, LIU's first shift of OT yielded the somewhat anticlimactic GWG by senior forward Mikayla Lantto to win 2-1 & move on to the championship game on Saturday evening 3/4.

• In the other semis matchup, the #2 St. Anselm College Hawks played scoreboard ping-pong with the 1st-year Stonehill College Skyhawks until the host Hawks took a 3-2 lead early in the 3rd period on a goal by junior forward Claire Weber. From then on, it was a Stonehill catch-up game against a textbook team defensive effort from St. Anselm. The final score was 4-2, with an ENG wrapping it up @ 1 second left.

 

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In Hockey East women's semis action on Wednesday night ...

• The #1 seed Northeastern Huskies shut out the Boston College Eagles by a 3-0 final score. Senior forward Peyton Anderson led the scoring with 2 goals, and ENG to close out the game was graduate forward Alina Mueller's 250th NU career point to surpass former Husky Kendall Coyne Schofield.

• And in what was the thriller of the hockey evening, the #3 seed Providence Friars had to wait for an official review after the final buzzer of a possible Vermont Catamounts last-minute 6-on-5 goal to celebrate their 1-0 Conference semifinal victory at The Gutt in Burlington. Sophomore goaltender Hope Walinski stopped all 30 Cats SOGs in just her fourth collegiate career start.

The Friars will face the regular season champions & 5-time defending Conference champion Huskies on Saturday @ 12 Noon ET.

 

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The College Hockey America 2023 Championship Final is scheduled for Saturday, March 4, 2:00 p.m. Eastern at Pegula Ice Arena. Here's the game preview ...
CHA Week 22: Battle for the Title ...
Penn State and Mercyhurst meet for the CHA Championship

 

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In the ECAC Hockey conference semifinals on Friday ...

• #1 Yale was knocked out by #4 Clarkson, final score of 4-3 in the 2nd OT period. The host Bulldogs and the Golden Knights played pretty evenly through 60 minutes, and neither team could end it in the first overtime session. Clarkson sank the final dagger just 30 seconds into the 5th period, with senior defender Stephanie Markowski earning the game winner to give the Knights the upset victory & propelling them to the ECAC Championship game.

• #2 Colgate took care of business against #3 Quinnipiac in regulation, scoring 3 goals in either the first or the last minute of periods. The final score was 5-1, with Raiders sophomore goaltender Hannah Murphy denied her shutout bid with about 6 minutes left in the game when the Bobcats got a power play & pulled their goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage.

Colgate vs. Clarkson will decide the 2023 conference champion on Saturday, March 4th at the iconic Ingalls Ice Rink on the Yale University campus. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the DI women's NCAA tournament.

 

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Three women's DI teams won their conference championships on Saturday 3/4, giving each of them an auto-bid to appear in the 2023 NCAA national tournament ...

• The Penn State Nittany Lions will be making their first national championship tourney appearance after defeating the Mercyhurst Lakers in the College Hockey America (CHA) conference finals at Pegula Ice Arena. The final score was 2-1 in overtime, with PSU senior forward Julie Gough scoring the GWG (her 2nd point of the game) with just over 5 minutes left in the extra period. The other two goals were scored in the 2nd period, making the rest of regulation & most of overtime a nail-biter for fans on both sides.

• In stark contrast to the CHA championship, the Colgate Raiders easily defeated the Clarkson Golden Knights to win their third consecutive ECAC Hockey championship. The final score was 8-2 with the Raiders building a 5-0 lead by the final minute of the 2nd period, then an 8-1 advantage before the Knights ended the scoring on a power play with less than 3 minutes remaining in the game. Colgate senior forward Danielle Serdachny & freshman forward Elyssa Biederman each scored twice in the first 33 minutes of play at Yale's Ingalls Ice Rink, then handed over the rest of the primary offense to their teammates (while each assisted on an additional Raiders goal).

• In the third championship game, the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) Long Island Sharks won their second conference championship in a scrappy contest against the St. Anselm Hawks on #1 seed LIU home ice in the Al Arbour Rink. The final score was 2-0, with both Sharks goals scored by senior forward Carri Umpherville. The Hawks had a late 6-on-4 opportunity with their goalie pulled after an LIU penalty, and left their net empty for the remainder of the game but to no avail. Sharks sophomore goaltender Tindra Holm recorded the shutout, stopping all 18 shots she faced. The LIU Sharks will be NEWHA's first NCAA tournament auto-bid.

 

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DANG IT, I had a feeling I forgot somebody(s) who have earned the other two auto-bids for the DI women's NCAA national tournament ...

• In the fourth DI women's conference final of the day, the Northeastern Huskies claimed their 6th straight Hockey East conference championship. They hoisted the trophy on home ice at Matthews Arena after defeating the Providence Friars by a 4-1 final score. The Friars opened the scoring early in the 1st period, but graduate forward & HEA tournament MVP Alina Mueller matched that goal about 7 minutes later and senior defender Megan Carter scored the eventual game winner early in the second frame (with Mueller adding an assist to total 8 points over her final 3 games in the conference tourney). The Huskies senior goalie Gwyneth Philips stopped 20 of 21 Providence SOGs to earn the W.

• And in the fifth conference championship race (which I completely neglected as this thread rolled on ), the 2023 WCHA conference champions are the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. In Saturday's conference final (aka, the "Final Faceoff") at Ridder Arena, the Gophers defeated the defending WCHA & national champion Ohio State Buckeyes by a final score of 3-1. Minnesota sophomore netminder Skylar Vetter stopped 34 OSU shots to earn the final tournament victory.


ETA: And that wraps it up for this thread. Now onward to the National Championship tourney.