As the trade portal closes, some of NEWHA’s top producers are on the market for a new team. From champions at Franklin Pierce to Post University’s top producers, 26 NEWHA players are in the portal, and only one has found a new home, according to Advanced Player EXP. It’s the second-highest average per team, at 3.25 players per team, following just the WCHA.
Franklin Pierce’s championship team takes flight
Franklin Pierce, which took home the conference championship after a hard-fought win against St. Anselm, ended their season at the team’s first ever NCAA Championship appearance. The Ravens’ final game ended 4-0, but Franklin Pierce shut out Quinnipiac for the initial 35 minutes of play time, an exceptional feat for a NEWHA team. Franklin Pierce has also arguably taken the biggest losses to the transfer portal so far.
Bo Dean, a sophomore forward, went into the portal after scoring 15 goals this season, second on the team. LIU, who will look to build back a championship-winning team after a 16-11-1 conference record this season and going out in the initial round of the NEWHA championship, has signed Dean. Along with Dean’s absence, the Ravens will also cope with the loss of Brynn Levinson (10 goals, 13 points), Hailey Anderson (9 goals, 13 points), Mariana Valeri (4 goals, 10 points) and Ella Dunn (0 points), who also declared for the portal. It means that four of the team’s top nine leading point producers are leaving.
Sacred Heart without its backstop
This year, Sacred Heart put up their worst record since in years, finishing with a 12-14-2 in-conference record. What has held the team together has been Jillian Petruno, one of NEWHA’s most outstanding goaltenders. Now, they’ll lose the senior to the portal. Petruno currently holds the fourth-highest save percentage in the country at 0.943. Additionally, seven other players will leave the roster, most notably Campbell Heger, who played 29 games and scored two goals and two assists throughout the season.
Post University’s missing producers
After finishing with a dismal 10-17-1 in-conference record, Post will be missing perhaps their two most high-impact players. Sophomore defender Caryss Kehl is not only second on the team in points, with 5 goals and 10 assists, but she also led the Eagles with 46 blocks. Her teammate, junior defender Emma Hoen, leads the team in points and goals, with nine assists and nine goals. Hoen has also been a vital defensive presence for the team, racking up 37 blocks this season. Noa Faberman and Brooke Larsen will also be missing from the roster next season after entering the transfer portal.
Lesser effects across NEWHA
The exception being St. Anselm’s Hailey Tullo, who was a necessary producer for the team this season, the Hawks made it out cleanly in terms of transfer portal losses. What the Hawks will need to make up for is the loss of Brooklyn Schneiderhan, who led the team in points and goals with 48 and 25, respectively. For reference, the second-highest producer, Lucy DeCoteau, has 26 points and 13 goals. Finding the offensive presence to keep the team at the top of NEWHA will be a hard task without Schneiderhan.
Saint Michael’s Julia Chedel, Audrey Hetman and Kyler Weatherred will all leave the roster after a dismal season in which the team won one of its 24 games. Weatherred led the team in points with six assists and four goals, but will leave after her freshman year. The losses are not terrible for the team, but they will need to build up considerably to be a competitive program next year.
Stonehill and Assumption had no transfers out, and LIU’s two players looking for transfers played a very minimal amount of game time, so it likely will have little to no impact on the team.
Time will tell whether each of these NEWHA teams can build back the high-impact talent from these losses and whether these players stay in NEWHA or shop outside.