The WCHA season wrapped up on Feb. 22 with the conclusion of a tight race for the Julianne Bye Cup. Wisconsin’s sweep of St. Cloud State helped seal the Badgers’ back-to-back regular season championship. We’ll go over the end of the regular season here and you can check out a playoff preview for the WCHA here.
This is what the postseason seeding looks like:
Featured Series:
Tova Henderson helps power Duluth over then third-ranked Minnesota for the weekend sweep to end the regular season.
Minnesota Duluth lost in a shootout against St. Cloud State then in regulation the following day on Jan. 17. Since that weekend, the Bulldogs went on a run, winning the next six of eight games to end the season. Ève Gascon had five shutouts, including three in a row in that stretch. When it came to the final weekend, defender Tova Henderson took matters into her own hands.
In the game on Friday, Henderson scored on a breakaway after intercepting a play in overtime, helping the Bulldogs to a 3-2 win — their first win against the Gophers since the NCAA regional final in 2022.
Things weren’t terrible for the number three team in the country. They got two pucks past Gascon, who hadn’t been letting shots get past for three straight games by then. They just had to do that again — and stop pucks from going into their own net.
But Saturday’s game was much the same as Friday’s game. The two teams were tied at one heading into overtime. Henderson came through once again with the overtime winner to propel UMD to its first sweep over Minnesota since 2017.
While she broke up a pass to set up her game winner on Friday, the next afternoon Henderson skated around the Gophers defense and scored on goaltender Layla Hemp. It was the first road sweep by UMD at Minnesota since 2005. Henderson finished the weekend with two goals and two assists while Gascon finished the regular season averaging a 0.81 GAA average in the final six games of the regular season.
This weekend was exactly what the Bulldogs needed heading into the conference playoffs for a battle against Minnesota State.
Awards Season🏆
Best player: Lacey Eden
Eden finished the regular season with NCAA leading 68 points and 17 points in her last six games of the regular season. She also recorded a hat trick on Feb. 21 which included her 100th career goal. Eden is the fourth Badger in program history to reach the century mark in goals. Her stellar play helped keep Ohio State at bay as the Badgers once again won the WCHA regular season title while five of their star players were in Milan for the Olympics.
Best team of February: Ohio State
The Buckeyes faced off against the Badgers for the second time this season and walked away with a split. The offense put up four goals while the defense kept Wisconsin, a team that averages 5.35 goals scored per game, off the board until the final three minutes of the game. Hailey MacLeod stopped 30 of 31 shots while the penalty kill unit went 4-for-4.
Best Goals:
Caitlin Kraemer – Minnesota Duluth
Rylee Bartz – St. Thomas
The WCHA at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics
The WCHA was heavily represented at the Winter Olympics and several current players walked away with medals and had spectacular performances!
Team USA won gold against Canada. Wisconsin’s Laila Edwards, Kirsten Simms, Caroline Harvey, and Ava McNaughton along with Minnesota’s Abbey Murphy and Ohio State’s Joy Dunne all returned home with a gold medal. St. Cloud State’s Laura Zimmermann was the only current WCHA player to win bronze with Switzerland.
Other players also took part in the Games. UMD’s Thea Johansson scored seven points in seven games, while Minnesota’s Tereza Plosová and Badger rookie Adéla Šapovalivová made their Olympics debuts with Czechia.
Interesting Storyline:
Wisconsin was able to stay ahead of Ohio State and win the WCHA regular season title for the second straight year. While five of their best players were in Milan for the Olympics, the rest of the Badgers managed to put together a February that included just one loss to the Buckeyes and five straight wins to take the Julianne Bye Cup again. Eden is the most notable name that stayed hot all throughout this calendar year, but plenty of other players stepped up when needed. Goaltender Rhyah Stewart took over the crease and allowed seven goals in her final five games that were all wins for the 19-year-old. Kelly Gorbatenko recorded four goals in the Badgers first game against St. Cloud. Cassie Hall started a hot streak of her own, recording at least one point in five of the final six games of the season.
The Badgers’ Olympians didn’t return for the last weekend of the regular season and were able to join their teammates back at practice early on in the week. There are many notable names on this team’s squad and yet when they were away, their teammates held down the fort and brought home their own hardware, too.
Notable Moments:
The WCHA announced their end-of-season All-WCHA and All-Rookie teams this week.
Congrats to all the selections!
- Lacey Eden became the fourth Badger in program history to reach 100 career goals.
- Wisconsin recorded double hat tricks on Feb. 21 thanks to Eden and Kelly Gorbatenko.
- Kaia Malachino recorded her first hat trick as a Buckeye.
- St. Cloud’s Alice Sauriol broke the school record for most points in a period with four against Bemidji State on Feb. 13.
- Ève Gascon of Minnesota Duluth recorded three straight shutouts in the month of February which helped her reach nine shutouts this season and 20 career shutouts, tied for second most in program history.
- Minnesota State’s Mercury Bischoff recorded the most goals by a rookie, 19, in one season.
- St. Thomas tied and took Minnesota to a shootout on Feb. 7.
- Huskies goaltender Jojo Chobak broke the record for most shutouts in program history with her 11th on Feb. 14.
Something You May Have Missed:
The HCA named their semifinalists for the Women’s Hockey Goalie of the Year Award. Three goaltenders from the WCHA were named as part of the 12 semifinalists: Minnesota’s Hannah Clark, Minnesota Duluth’s Ève Gascon, and Wisconsin’s Ava McNaughton. Both Gascon and McNaughton were also named finalists for last year’s award, with McNaughton winning the award last season.
Hockey Humanitarian Award Finalist: Grace Sadura of Minnesota Duluth
Five finalists were recently named for the Hockey Humanitarian Award. The award is given to the student athlete who makes significant contributions to their team and to the surrounding community through leadership in volunteerism.
Duluth’s alternate captain Grace Sadura was named a finalist for her work through organizing and leading community service initiatives throughout the Duluth community. She helps coordinate ways for student athletes to connect with the local community, building partnerships with local organizations. One way is through a clothing drive held by the UMD DEI Council that collects and donates clothing to schools in need in the community. Congratulations to Grace on this recognition!
Stay tuned to The Ice Garden as we host features on each of the three women named as finalists for the Hockey Humanitarian Award!
Looking Ahead:
The conference playoffs are finally here. There is an entire preview here to help get you started with who and what to know in the WCHA. The First Round will take place from Feb. 27 to March 1. While the Final Faceoff will take place March 5 and 7 with the semifinals both happening on the 5th and the championship game taking place on the 7th.
For more information including playoff previews and NCAA coverage, stay tuned to The Ice Garden. Thanks for reading!
