The WCHA playoffs are here! All eight teams will be taking part in the conference playoffs with the WCHA First Round taking place from Feb. 27 to March 1.
Here, we will preview the first round and give a player to keep an eye on for each team. Before we get all the playoff talk started, let’s take a look at how each team finished in the final standings.
The final standings were similar to last year’s, with Wisconsin and Bemidji State facing each other again this season and Ohio State and St. Thomas also facing each other again. Minnesota State and St. Cloud State are the only teams that flipped seeding in all the WCHA this season. So we will not have a Minnesota/Minnesota State or UMD/St. Cloud State rematch again!
First Round Preview
Wisconsin and Bemidji State will face each other in the first round of the WCHA playoffs again. Photo credit: Kali Mick via uwbadgers.com
No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 8 Bemidji State
Friday at 7 PM ET, Saturday at 4 PM ET, and, if necessary, Sunday at 3 PM ET
It took the final game of the regular season, but Wisconsin won the Julianne Bye Cup for the second straight season. The Badgers finished the last month of the season down five players to the Olympics, but managed a great run to stay ahead of Ohio State and win the conference again. Newly minted captain Lacey Eden went on a tear this new calendar year and hasn’t looked back. She racked up 34 points in the new year. The Badgers finished the season with a conference record of 25-1-2 and an overall record of 38-1-2. They have three players in the top five for most points in the entire conference, with Eden finishing her regular season with 68 points, the most in the WCHA and the nation. Team USA’s Laila Edwards and goaltender Ava McNaughton are two of the Olympians who were not available for the season finale against St. Cloud State but will return for this playoff series.
Bemidji State finished with one fewer win than they did a year ago and will face Wisconsin again in the playoffs. Things didn’t go well for the Beavers last season, as they lost 3-0 in game one and 11-0 in game two in the playoffs last year. Just like last year’s preview, the secret for Bemidji will have to be good defense. That’s what worked so well and kept game one so close last year. Defender Katy Comstock led the conference in blocks, with 69, and she is just one of the pieces that can help out BSU as they enter the postseason against the Badgers again.
Who to Watch
Wisconsin: Lacey Eden
This decision was hard. With a stacked Wisconsin team, you could probably pick a name out of a hat and that player would make sense here too. But I like the story of Lacey Eden the last month. After being left off the gold-medal-winning USA Olympic hockey team, Eden went on a tear. She recorded 15 points in the final six games of the season and was held scoreless only once the entire month of February. She finished the season with 68 points. Even with the Olympians returning for this series, Eden will be hard to stop.
Bemidji State: Morgan Smith
The sophomore had her best offensive season when she finished with 26 points off of 12 goals and 14 assists. Smith took strides in her second season, becoming only the fifth Beaver to record back-to-back 20-point seasons in her first two years on the team. She is second overall in the WCHA in faceoff wins. That was one of the pieces of Smith’s game in last year’s playoffs against the Badgers that did not fare well for her, as she lost more faceoffs than she won last year. In only her second season with the Beavers, Smith will be counted on to help get the team going against the number-one ranked team in the country.
No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 7 St. Thomas
Friday at 6 PM ET, Saturday at 3 PM ET, and, if necessary, Sunday at 3 PM ET
The Buckeyes had an incredible season, keeping toe to toe with Wisconsin in the conference standings. Though they finished only two points behind the Badgers, Ohio State’s season was fantastic. Their WCHA record was 24-4-0, and overall, they finished with a 30-4-0 record. Those were both better than Wisconsin’s final record. The Buckeyes will see the return of their Olympians, including leading scorer and gold medalist Joy Dunne and freshman sensation Hilda Svensson, to help get their offense going.
For St. Thomas, it was a storybook season. The team finished with their best record to date in Division I program history in terms of both conference record and overall record. They received reinforcements this offseason that made a difference for them, including the addition of defensive pair and twin sisters JuliAnna and Jenessa Gazdik and breakout seasons from both Rylee Bartz and Ella Boerger. The latter two led the team in points this season, with Boerger recording the most assists in one season, with 17.
The Tommies were swept by the Buckeyes in the postseason last year, losing 4-1 and 5-1. But they did have two one-goal losses to Ohio State this season: a 3-2 overtime loss in October and a 2-1 loss in January. The Buckeyes did sweep the season series this year. They had two shutout wins in the second game of each weekend series, defeating the Tommies 8-0 and 5-0 in those games.
Who to Watch
Ohio State: Hilda Svensson
Svensson made an impact in her first season of college hockey. She finished fourth overall in the conference in assists, with 29, and fifth overall in points, with 44, and could easily be in contention for the Rookie of the Year. The Sweden native also had four game-winning goals. Though she’s only a freshman, she finished with similar stats to players who are in their third and fourth years, showing how much of an impact she made on the conference and her team in her first season. She will return from the Olympics in time for the playoffs after putting up seven points in seven games while in Italy.
St. Thomas: Rylee Bartz
Bartz put together the best single season in Tommies Division I program history. She finished with the most points in a season, with 30, and the most goals, with 17. The forward ranks third overall in the conference in faceoff wins and fifth in faceoff winning percentage, with a .594. Bartz is entering the postseason with some great numbers, including scoring two goals and dishing out two assists in the season finale series against Minnesota State. She also went 14-10 in the faceoff dot on Friday and 22-11 on Saturday. Hopefully, Bartz can continue her great play in the playoffs.
No. 3 Minnesota vs. No. 6 St. Cloud State
Friday at 7 PM ET, Saturday at 3 PM ET, and, if necessary, Sunday at 4 PM ET
Minnesota finished the regular season getting swept by Minnesota Duluth, which wasn’t a great note for the team to end on. Still, the sweep will probably be extra motivation for the team to enter the playoffs ready. Gold medalist Abbey Murphy will be returning to the team in time for the playoffs and will pick up where she left off right before she left for the Olympics. She finished her shortened season with 61 points, good for second in the nation. Aside from the losses this past weekend, Minnesota ended the regular season with a record of 18-9-1 in the WCHA and 24-9-1 overall.
St. Cloud State endured a season of change when new head coach Mira Jalosuo took the helm in the summer. Their first all-women coaching staff—second in all the WCHA—were tasked with a St. Cloud team that struggled this season. They did manage a great weekend against Duluth in January, with a shootout win and a regulation win the following day, but the WCHA hasn’t been kind to them. Their conference record of 7-19-2 is the worst since the 2021-22 season. It’s going to take a lot for the Huskies to come out and beat Minnesota in these playoffs. But with Olympians Emilia Kyrkkö and Laura Zimmermann back and the top two scorers in Alice Sauriol and Sofianna Sundelin ready to go, St. Cloud has the pieces of what they need to make this a series.
Something to keep an eye on: The Gophers were pushed to a three-game series the last two seasons by Minnesota State, and a good portion of these Huskies, including Kyrkkö, were on the team that defeated the Gophers at home last season too.
Who to Watch
Minnesota: Abbey Murphy
After winning gold with Team USA, Murphy will return from Italy in time for the conference playoffs this weekend. She’ll be fresh after a great Olympics run, where she finished with seven points in the seven games the USA needed to reach the final. This season in college, though, Murphy finished the season with 61 points in 26 games. Against St. Cloud this season, she recorded six points in four games. Murphy hasn’t played for Minnesota since the end of January, but with her Olympics performance, I’m sure we’ll see her on the scoresheet with no problem.
St. Cloud State: Emilia Kyrkkö
The Olympian only faced Minnesota once this season in a 5-3 loss, and between missing time due to injury and the Winter Games, she hasn’t seen this current Gophers team as much as the rest of her teammates. Regardless, Kyrkkö returned to the Huskies in time to enter Saturday’s game against Wisconsin in the third period and start Sunday’s season finale, too. The 21-year-old didn’t see game action while in Italy, but with these contests against Wisconsin out of the way and having already defeated Minnesota once last season, Kyrkkö can be the biggest difference-maker on the Huskies.
No. 4 University of Minnesota Duluth vs. No. 5 Minnesota State
Friday at 3 PM ET, Saturday at 2 PM ET, and, if necessary, Sunday at 2 PM ET
Duluth couldn’t enter the WCHA playoffs any better than they are. The ninth-ranked team in the lastest USCHO rankings swept then-third-ranked Minnesota on two overtime winners by defender Tova Henderson. It was the first series sweep by the Bulldogs since 2017. UMD ended the regular season with an overall record of 19-12-3 and a conference record of 15-10-3. There were plenty of bumps in the road this season for Duluth that even put them on the brink of possibly missing the NCAA playoffs at one point. But the combination of sweeping the Gophers and the shutout streak by goaltender Ève Gascon have them in a much better spot than they were a few weeks back.
Minnesota State happened to put together a great season, with an overall record of 15-17-3. Their conference record isn’t too great at 9-17-, but they managed wins when it mattered, including a weekend sweep of St. Thomas to finish fourth overall in the WCHA. That’s a spot they had not finished in since the 2021-22 season. Plenty of players have contributed all season to the Mavericks, including goaltender Hailey Hansen. She had a great start to the season in net after helping push the Mavs’ first-round series against Minnesota to three games last year. Other players, including the top line for the team made up of freshman Mercy Bischoff, junior Kamryn Van Batavia, and senior captain Taylor Otremba also contributed. They were the top three point-scorers on the team, with Bischoff almost reaching 30 points.
The two teams faced each other four times this season with UMD taking every game, except for game three in January that ended in a tie and where Duluth won in a shootout. Two of those games were shutouts for the Bulldogs, and the other two were a lot closer, with two-goal and one-goal losses for Mankato. Offense will be the biggest key for Minnesota State, while Gascon’s defensive abilities will be what moves her team into the next round.
Who to Watch
Duluth: Ève Gascon
Gascon ended the season with three shutouts in six games. Her season totals were 17-11-3 record, a .940 save percentage, and a 1.87 goals against average. Her save percentage is first overall in the conference and her GAA is third overall. Gascon also had nine shutouts this season, with three of those coming against Mankato. She ended the season allowing three goals in her final two starts.
Minnesota State: Mercury Bischoff
Bischoff is only 19 years old and finished her freshman campaign with 29 points. She ranks in the top 10 of goals scored in the conference, with 19. Those 19 goals are also the most scored by a rookie in program history. She had a hat trick earlier this season against the Gophers and managed two goals against Ohio State as well. Bischoff has a great net front presence that can get on the Mavs on the board without anyone noticing until it’s too late.
For more info on the playoffs, you can check out the schedule here
We’ll be back next week to preview the next round of the conference playoffs!