The Lindenwood Lady Lions sit in uncharted territory, literally and figuratively.
Lindenwood is located in St. Charles, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis. As the southernmost program in Division I women’s hockey, Lindenwood is in its own world compared to the schools clustering the Northeast and upper Midwest. The women’s hockey program joined the NCAA only in 2011 and became a part of what is now the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) conference in 2012. They’ve never made an AHA conference final or finished with a winning record as an NCAA team.
Last year was one of the more successful seasons in the Lions’ short history. They reached the AHA tournament semifinals for just the second time. Their 14-21-2 record was their best since joining the NCAA. But immediate challenges and changes came in the offseason. Captain and number-one defender Josey Dunne-Weeks graduated, alongside leading goalscorer Molly Henderson. Starting goaltender Lexington Secreto transferred out. The Lions underwent a coaching change after just three seasons with head coach Taylor Wasylk, bringing in Max Gavin, who was most recently an assistant coach at Boston College.
Embracing the unknown
It won’t be easy, but Lindenwood is welcoming uncertainty in hopes of taking the next step toward an AHA championship. Assistant coach Trey Flesch spoke to The Ice Garden about the year ahead.
When asked what he is looking forward to this season, Flesch told The Ice Garden, “I think it’s the unknown. You’re excited for what can be done. But it’s more or less what’s going to get built here through the fundamentals, the foundation of what’s next.”
Flesch, hired back in July, has been a part of a championship-winning Lindenwood team before. While earning his undergraduate degree, he was the goaltender for the men’s team that won an ACHA title in 2016. He later joined the team as a graduate assistant. On the women’s side, the AHA conference is just as familiar to him as Lindenwood is. Flesch spent four years at the University of Maine before joining Mercyhurst as an assistant coach, where he was behind the bench for the five consecutive AHA finals.
Before Lindenwood, Flesch knew head coach Gavin through the NCAA recruiting trail. “I think we always connected pretty well and kind of got to talking about the vision,” Flesch said. For Flesch, who’s from Minnesota with family in the Midwest, Lindenwood is closer to home and a return to where he started. “I was like, ‘It could be kind of a fun project, and I’ll see what we can do.’”
Building a roster
Flesch is aware that recruiting at Lindenwood brings a unique set of circumstances and challenges. “I wouldn’t say we’re always the destination school, right? It’s not a legacy school, like a Michigan or an Iowa or [a] Nebraska or something like that.”
Nevertheless, the uniqueness of the program and its young history can be part of the appeal. Flesh explained, “The best part is when you see campus, just how beautiful it is, how down-to-earth people are here. Just how nice and friendly everyone is, from the staff down. They love hockey, they love the area, and it’s just generally a good environment.”
Lindenwood is a popular stop for players whose hockey careers have taken a road less traveled, a demographic Flesch has always excelled in recruiting. Maine, Mercyhurst, and Lindenwood have all been notable for recruiting from places like Austria, Hungary, Norway, and South Korea that make up a small percentage of NCAA players. The array of backgrounds isn’t necessarily a conscious choice for Flesch. Rather, it’s a result of long-lasting relationships with coaches and the philosophy of looking for talent anywhere and everywhere.
“There’s no stone left unturned,” he explained. “So, if the player fits the mold in the culture, the skill, all that, then you go for it and you just see what happens. Hockey toughens you up pretty quick…. You get told ‘no’ the first 100 times, and you just wait for that one ‘yes,’ and [when] you finally get it, it’s the greatest thing in the world. So, I learned pretty quick that it’s okay because they’re going to tell you ‘no,’ and you just move on. You just keep turning stones over until you find the people [with whom] it’s meant to be.”
The players on Lindenwood’s roster, whether recruited by the new coaching staff or inherited, reflect this mentality, pursuing pathways that no one has before.
Take Tatiana Blichová, for example. She is one of only eight players from Slovakia to play in the NCAA, a group that also includes fellow incoming sophomore Michaela Sophia Paulínyová. Most other Slovakian players in the NCAA spent a year or more at a North American prep school or in the SDHL before college. Blichová, however, played exclusively in the Slovakian domestic league before joining Lindenwood. But Blichová didn’t skip a beat when she joined Lindenwood last season. She tied Henderson for the team lead in points with 15 goals and 16 assists in 31 games as a freshman. Lindenwood named her assistant captain halfway through 2025-26.
The incoming group of players features even more firsts. Renee Ng joins Lindenwood as the first player from Hong Kong in Division I history. Ng transferred to Lindenwood from Division III school Wilkes University, making her one of only five players to transfer from DIII to DI this offseason, and the only to transfer to an AHA school. She had 27 points in 28 games during her time at Wilkes University. On Sept. 19, she scored her first DI goal, against Post University.
Alongside Ng, Claudia Castellanos expects to debut this year as the first NCAA Division I player from Spain. A record-high four Norwegians will play on Lindenwood this season — freshmen Thea Rustbakken, Tiril Arntzen, and Tilde Simensen and returning junior Silje Gundersen. Joining Rustbakken on the blue line is Italian defender Maddalena Bedont, who played in Auroraliiga to challenge herself in a more physical and competitive league. Seven different countries are represented on the defense alone.
Coming together
Getting a team with 12 newcomers to gel is no easy task. Many are new to Lindenwood, or to DI hockey, and are living away from home for the first time. How do you get so many players comfortable with one other in such a short period of time?
Flesch, Gavin, and third-year assistant coach Arielle DeSmet make sure it starts at the top to lead by example. “If we’re not communicating and we tell the [players] to communicate, eventually that’s going to die out,” Flesch said. Regarding how working with Gavin and DeSmet has been so far, he continued to emphasize communication. “We make sure we’re always on the same page, making sure we have the same language. We’re going over things two, three times, just with our staff in general…. It’s nice already having, on the foundational level, what we want in the program, in players and how we want to be as people.”
Part of what drew him to the program was feeling he was on the same page with Gavin and DeSmet on values that he describes as “very dinner table, family accountability.”
“We have a very open-door policy and are always there to check in on how they’re doing mentally. Do [they] need anything? Do they need support?” Flesch said. “We treat everyone very equal[ly], with respect. We make sure everything’s clean, everyone’s on time. Just those little habits every day is kind of what we’re bringing to the table.”
The coaches’ ethos was reflected in Lindenwood’s opening games. Every player had an equal shot at the roster regardless of whether it was their first game or their 100th. Freshman Arntzen debuted as the first-line center. Defender Rustbakken started on the first pairing. In the second game, Ebba Ridderstolpe made her NCAA debut in goal.
Eight players would record either their first point or their first goal, including veterans Elina Zilliox and Tatem Starlight-Yellowfly. Ridderstolpe got her first NCAA win and shutout. Beating Post University was expected, but notching 5-0 and 7-0 wins while having three times as many shots made for a feel-good start.
Flesch has also seen the egalitarian philosophy of the coaches reflected in the players off the ice. “Every day’s fun. There’s so many personalities. They’ve done nothing but be great to us. They work hard every day. There’s never tape balls left anywhere. They’re in there every day, they’re working hard. They’re just friendly, they’re saying ‘thank you’ after every practice, they take care of their studies, and they’re very, very open for ideas.”
Looking ahead
The schedule ramps up for Lindenwood as the season goes on. They split a series with Merrimack to close out September and face Delaware next week. Later, there’s a rematch with Mercyhurst, who knocked them out of the AHA tournament in double overtime last year. NCAA title favorites Penn State and the University of Minnesota follow right after.
Lindenwood has played an active defense to start the season, with players like Rhaea Flint and Zillox shooting more from the blue line and making long passes out of the defensive zone. The special teams have struggled as they did last year, costing them in the first loss of the season against Merrimack. Still, there’s a very clear vision for this team to overwhelm opponents offensively, and the talent to make it come into fruition.
When asked about this season’s expectations, Flesch pointed once again to the players. ”I like the eagerness of this group,” he noted. He emphasized the culture of the roster, adding, “The group itself has been so fun this year, and I’m excited to see what we can build this year and toward the future laying this foundation.”
Regardless of the outcome this season, Lindenwood continues to build a team unlike any other in the NCAA.
Some quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
