WCHA Weekly Roundup: Feb. 7-9

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We look at big moments of the weekend including Wisconsin’s sweep of Minnesota and WCHA title win. Plus, Ohio State finds out what St. Thomas is made of and we take a look at Olympic Qualifiers and a sick goal we got from it!

Moments of the Week: 

We are changing things up this week. Instead of the usual series of the week I wanted to focus on two important moments from this weekend. We’re starting with Wisconsin’s weekend sweep of Minnesota in the Border Battle and their WCHA title win. Then we’ll check in on St. Thomas and their quest to steal a point from every ranked opponent in the WCHA including how they pushed a second-ranked Ohio State to the brink on Friday. Let’s get started!

Terrific Ten for Wisconsin

Top-ranked Wisconsin and Minnesota met for the latest installment of the Border Battle. Saturday’s game was senior night and resulted in an 8-3 win for the Badgers who were crowned the 2024-25 WCHA Julianne Bye Cup regular season champions. It is the 10th regular season title for Wisconsin and their first since the 2020-21 season. The Badgers opened the game by scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the game but the Gophers cut the lead to one midway through the period before Wisconsin added another goal. They held a 3-1 lead entering the second where they then added three unanswered goals en route to the victory. Ava McNaughton was great in net, she stopped 18 of  20 shots and recorded her 27th win of the season which leads the NCAA. Wisconsin’s 10 WCHA regular-season titles are the second most in conference history. 

The celebration didn’t end as the Badgers completed the sweep on Sunday with a 6-1 win. Another milestone was reached as fifth-year forward Casey O’Brien recorded a goal and an assist in the game. She now has 250 career points, making her the second Badger in program history to reach that milestone. McNaughton recorded her 28th win of the season in 31 games by stopping 24 of 25 shots. Wisconsin now has an 18 game unbeaten streak going.

Here is a video recap of the weekend.

St. Thomas Continues to Stun

St. Thomas has been playing incredibly well over the last few weeks. After suffering an 11-1 loss at the hands of the Badgers, the Tommies swept then number-four ranked Minnesota Duluth the weekend after, their first top-five win in program history. They beat number-11 ranked St. Cloud State in overtime in game two of their series last weekend. Now they faced the second-ranked Buckeyes. I asked last week if the Tommies could continue their streak of stunning ranked opponents and the answer is yes. That’s what they did on Friday night. St. Thomas got out to a 1-0 lead late in the first period with Lauren Stenslie’s eighth goal of the season – a player who has been lighting it up as of late.

They extended the lead on the power play with a Maddy Clough goal until Ohio State answered back four minutes later. But each time the Buckeyes scored, the Tommies answered back. That streak ended late in the third period when Ohio State pulled their goalie and scored with 30 seconds left in the game to tie at four. Joy Dunne then got the win for the Buckeyes with a tally a minute into overtime for the 5-4 win.

Rookie goalie Dani Strom made 53 saves in the game and the defense stepped up with 27 blocked shots in regulation. Devastating for the Tommies to let a 3-1 lead go but they took the number two team in the country to the brink! They held the lead for a good portion of the game too. The Buckeyes fought back and capitalized on a shorthanded opportunity and with the extra attacker on to tie the game. Think about that!! With the overtime loss, St. Thomas collected a point as well which means they earned a point against a top team and all their efforts in this game still resulted in something good. I know I sound very preachy about the Tommies, but for a team that’s had a hectic season and is still very young in their Division I careers, any win, any improvement should be applauded. 

Ohio State swept the weekend after winning again on Saturday with a 5-1 victory where Dunne recorded three points so the Buckeyes were able to bounce back with a dominant win the following game.

Around the Conference

Minnesota Duluth entered their series against Bemidji State on a six game skid and the Bulldogs were able to earn their first wins since early January. Duluth shutout the Beavers all weekend by winning 2-0 and 6-0. Caitlin Kraemer scored both goals in Friday’s win and scored another goal on Saturday. Goaltender Tindra Holm recorded back-to-back shutouts. She now has four on the season. 

Eleventh-ranked St. Cloud State visited Minnesota State where the teams split the weekend. The Huskies got on the board early with a goal from Emma Gentry who now ranks second in all-time career goals in program history. St. Cloud State beat Mankato 3-1 on Friday. The Mavericks had their revenge on Saturday by winning in the shootout and taking points from their ranked opponent. Claire Vekich and Bella Shipley found the back of the net in regulation but it was Jessie McPherson who brought home the win by standing tall in the shootout.

Two WCHA Goaltenders Named Goalie of the Year Semifinalists

Minnesota Duluth’s Éve Gascon and Wisconsin’s Ava McNaughton were named semifinalists for the Women’s Hockey National Goalie of the Year Award. They were part of nine goalies who advanced from the initial 33 player watchlist announced last month. Nominees were from all five conferences in Division I women’s hockey. The criteria for the award is a goalie with a  goals-against average of 2.10 or lower or a save percentage of .920 or higher. The winner will be announced during the NCAA Frozen Four. Congrats to Éve and Ava!

Hockey Humanitarian Award Finalists Announced

Bemidji State defender Kendra Fortin was announced as one of five finalists for the Hockey Humanitarian Award. The award is given to college hockey’s finest citizen, which is a student-athlete who makes a difference off the ice, on their team, and in their local communities through volunteerism. The winner will be announced in April.

Fortin is an advocate for organ donation, something she began doing when she first arrived at Bemidji. She advocates on the importance of organ donation registration by running an Organ Donation Awareness weekend at Men’s and Women’s hockey games at Bemidji State. Fortin also creates pamphlets with information along with t-shirts, and bracelets to be given to staff, team members, and fans. She also works closely with the BSU Athletic Media Relations staff to promote more awareness in the local region. Fortin’s passion for organ donation began with her father Cory’s need for a kidney transplant. She began the “Kidney for Cory” campaign in her hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The campaign was successful as her father was able to find a donor and made a successful recovery. Fortin is currently a senior at Bemidji State and is majoring in Nursing.

On the International Stage

The Rivalry Series concluded this weekend with Canada winning their third straight series after defeating Team USA 3-1 on Saturday with the game-winning goal courtesy of former Ohio State Buckeye Jennifer Gardiner. It was Gardiner’s first goal with Team Canada! Congratulations to Team Canada for another victorious Rivalry Series!

The Olympic qualifiers wrapped up this past week with a little drama and some cool moments. The countries that made it through to the 2026 Winter Olympics are in the following groups:

Group A: Canada, United States, Finland, Czechia, and Switzerland.
Group B: Japan, Sweden, Germany, and Italy.

Italy is the host nation and will be making their first appearance. Sweden, Germany, Japan, and France won over the weekend to qualify for the Olympics. Germany did so even after it had seemed Hungary had scored as time expired but it turns out that the goal occurred after the clock had run out.

France technically qualified but they are on the bubble of sorts due to no decision being made yet on if Russia will be allowed to participate at the Olympics next year. That decision directly ties in with France’s qualification; if Russia is allowed then France is out, if not then France will join Italy in making their first-ever Olympic appearance. We shall wait and see. Congratulations to all the teams and their players on a great weekend and their qualifications!

Something cool from this weekend was this goal from the Minnesota Frost’s Klára Hymlárová in Czechia’s game against Finland.

A reminder that the PWHL has resumed season two after their latest international break. Check out the schedule here.

Weekly Awards:

WCHA Forward of the Week: Casey O’Brien – Wisconsin

O’Brien helped the Badgers sweep the Gophers in the Border Battle series. She recorded three goals including a shorthanded one, and four assists in the two games played. She also reached 250 career points becoming only the second Badger in program history to reach that milestone.

WCHA Defender of the Week: Vivian Jungels – Wisconsin

Jungels earned her first weekly honor this season. She scored a goal in each game of the series and had an assist as well. She added 11 blocked shots including nine in Sunday’s game alone. She has a total of 47 blocks this season.

WCHA Goaltender of the Week: Ava McNaughton – Wisconsin

At this rate, it’s Ava McNaughton’s crease and we’re all just trying to score on it! McNaughton is back again with another Goaltender of the week honor. The recently named finalist for xxxx helped Wisconsin sweep Minnesota this weekend. She stopped 42 of 45 shots faced and had a .933 save percentage against the third ranked team in the nation. She now has 28 wins in 31 games played this season.

WCHA Rookie of the Week:  Caitlin Kraemer – Minnesota Duluth

Kraemer had three goals in Duluth’s sweep of Bemidji this weekend: a shorthanded goal, an even strength goal, and a power play goal over the two games. She scored both goals in Friday’s 2-0 win and is tied for the team lead in goals with 14. She also finished with a 72.7% faceoff win percentage. Kraemer has 21 points in 30 games this season.

Looking Forward:

It’s an all Minnesota weekend in the WCHA. Both Ohio State and Wisconsin are off this weekend. Two series are scheduled as a home-and-home with the Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State series being the only exception. Both games will take place in Duluth. Should be a fun weekend for the sole reason it’s awesome –when you think about it– that the state of hockey has so many women’s programs at the Division I level. 

Since it’s Valentine’s Day on Friday, treat yourself to a little treat for the sake of treating yourself! ❤️

Weekly Scoreboard:

Friday:

St. Cloud State 3, Minnesota State 1

St. Thomas 4, Ohio State 5 (OT)

Minnesota Duluth 2, Bemidji State 0

Saturday:

St. Cloud State 2, Minnesota State 2 (Tie/ Mankato wins shootout)

St. Thomas 1, Ohio State 5

Minnesota Duluth 6, Bemidji State 0

Minnesota 2, Wisconsin 8

Sunday:

Minnesota 1, Wisconsin 6

Full schedule here