It’s that time of year, NCAA Women’s Hockey championship season!
In the latest episode of The IX Sports Podcast, NCAA reporters Giselle Velazquez and Emma Sullivan join host Maya Smith to break down the tournament, each school, and how they think the championship will shake out.
But first, they begin the episode by discussing the biggest hockey headline of the week – the trade that was announced Monday between the Boston Fleet and Seattle Torrent.
Ahead of the March 30 trade deadline, the Fleet have acquired veteran forward Jessie Eldridge in exchange for forward Theresa Schafzahl.
“It makes a lot of sense for the Boston Fleet,” said Smith. “Jesse Eldridge is a very strong player. She has been great in Seattle, and she was great in New York, where she played until the Expansion Draft. But there are definitely some questions about why the Seattle Torrent would make this trade, and I think the reality of that is yet to be determined.”
Then, they preview the Frozen Four, which include the No. 1 seed Ohio State against No. 5 Northeastern and No. 2 Wisconsin, the defending champion, versus No. 3 Penn State. They also break down the Patty Kazmaier Award for the top NCAA DI hockey player finalists: KK Harvey, Tessa Janecke, and Abbey Murphy. The winner will be announced at the Frozen Four tournament, which begins this Friday.
“Going into the tournament two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have been able to predict this,” said Sullivan, who later noted the difference in the way the conferences compete. “Going into the season, I definitely would have predicted at least two of the four teams who made it to Penn State this week.”
Added Valazquez: “Every team goes through ebbs and flows, has hiccups, things of that sort, but I felt like Minnesota never really kind of got out of that kind of low, out of those lows. And so with Northeastern I just think they met such a hot team, such a well rounded team, somebody who came into this playoffs with just this determination to keep going. And I feel like with Minnesota, they kind of just fell flat against them. And so I feel like they just had not met a team like Northeastern the way they play, and that really just kind of took them out of it pretty early.”
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When predicting who will be victorious, the three of them ultimately go back and forth. “I think it’s tough to pick a winner,” Sullivan said, adding: “Ohio State is just such a force. And then on the flip side with Penn State, I think they can surprise some people. I do think that while they didn’t have the offensive numbers against UConn that the other teams had they still won three nothing. And I think that that ability to shut down their opponents that way is going to be pretty critical, especially against a Wisconsin team that is averaging five goals a game. But again, it’s Wisconsin, and there is no team that is more scary to me and is more scary to I think almost everyone than Wisconsin. They are just a force to be reckoned with.”
Tune in to hear from Smith, and Sullivan ahead of Friday:
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