When it comes to a new season, there’s always questions for the teams. Which program will improve? Which will take a step back? Will the players that graduated or transferred be replaced? How? By who?
Who will stand out most, when it all comes down to it?
Now, not all of these questions will be answered right away, or even before the end of the season. But what we can do is hypothesize and predict to the best of our abilities on who will take advantage of that opportunity. And that’s what I’m here to do today.
Obviously, there are the names that made the most noise last season. The top scorers, the best performers, the ones who made the highlight reels more often than not. What about the players who made some noise last season, and now are primed to make even more this season? That’s who we’re here to talk about today. Here is one player from each position who I expect to be in more of the conversations this year than they were a year ago.
Naemi Herzig – Holy Cross, F | Sophomore
Last year, the rookie talent across the conference was superb. Often it was the youngest players helping make a difference for their teams, including at Holy Cross. Violet Carroll had a strong rookie year, and finished the season leading her team in scoring — in large part thanks to her fellow first year, Naemi Herzig.
Originally from St. Gallen, Switzerland, Herzig played in just 26 games for the Crusaders last year. Because, oh yeah, she was off winning a bronze medal at the Olympics in February and missed a few weeks.
In those 26 games, Herzig registered seven goals and 15 assists, tied for second-most on HC’s roster. Her 204 faceoff wins are currently ninth all-time in the Holy Cross career record books, after just one year.
What leads me to think Herzig is someone to keep an eye out on this season is how her team performs when she’s in the lineup. While she was in Milan, the Crusaders went 0-5-2 in seven games. In those seven games the team scored just 1.71 goals per game. In the 26 games HC played with Herzig in the lineup this year, the team registered an average of 2.46 goals per game.
I’m not saying that Herzig was the main play driver, but I am saying that she was integral to the system the Crusaders had in place last year. Inevitably, that is going to be true again this year, especially considering the group of seniors that graduated the Holy Cross program in the spring. With larger responsibilities and an expected full season without the Olympics in the middle, I have a good feeling about Herzig’s sophomore campaign.
Aurora Kahlert — UNH, D | Sophomore
Admittedly, I don’t think I talked enough about UNH last season. The Wildcats were middle of the pack in 2025-26. Their record didn’t drastically improve from the year before, however they did jump a few spots in the standings.
When recapping the season, one of the things I noted was that while UNH’s offense took a step forward, their defense took a step back — particularly when it came to the penalty kill, which dropped from an 89% success rate to a 81.5.%. This was heavily contributed to by the 30 more penalties taken from one year to the next.
Which leads me to my point here: I think that number stabilizes back out. Largely in part because of the defense the Wildcats have built for 2026-27, including now-sophomore Aurora Kahlert.
Kahlert was a solid presence already as a freshman for UNH. In 35 appearances, she finished second amongst defenders in points with 15, including 12 assists. What I liked most about her game was how cleanly she played. On a team that took 124 penalties last season, Kahlert was responsible for just two of those infractions.
Her 49 blocked shots was second-most on the team, and made up for 10% of UNH’s total blocks from the entire season. With more experience and in more high-danger situations, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that number go up.
Sure, UNH doesn’t need Kahlert to be the keystone to their offense. Does she add an additional layer to it? Yes.
But the defense is where they need to see improvement this year. Kahlert I’d expect to be one part of — if not the biggest part of — that moving forward. If she can continue to play cleanly and play shutdown minutes for UNH at a high level, I think it bodes well for a team looking to sneak back up into the top three.
Kiia Lahtinen — Maine, G | Junior
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Alex Gettens is set to take over the Maine program. On that Maine roster is a plethora of up-and-coming talent, including rising-junior Kiia Lahtinen, their main starter the last two seasons. Gettens has a proven track record of helping develop professional netminders, and I’d expect that to continue in his new position. This leads me to think that Lahtinen is in a prime position to turn heads in 2026-27.
In her freshman year, Lahtinen struggled to get her feet under her. The last two months of the season saw her turn things around, and she finished the year with a .909 save percentage. Then, fairly quietly, she had a strong sophomore campaign. She finished with a .923 SV%, a 2.40 goals against average, and four shutouts, tied for second-most in Hockey East.
During Lahtinen’s first two seasons, there were always the names taking up a lot of oxygen, the most notable of those being Tia Chan, the reigning National Goaltender of the Year. But besides Chan and UConn, three other programs have seen their long-term starters graduate just this summer, leaving the door open for the next wave. With a relatively young crop of goaltenders conference-wide, Lahtinen with a slight edge in experience could and should step up into one of those top spots. This in turn bodes well for Maine, looking to get back into contention.
