2024-25: D3whky

[Scott_TG]

New poll following this week's results


1) Middlebury
2) UW-River Falls
3) Amherst
4) Adrian
5) Gustavus
6) Augsburg
7) Plattsburgh
8) Oswego
9) Utica
10) Cortland
11) UW- Eau Claire
12) Nazareth
13) Trinity
14) Bowdoin
14) Colby

RV: Elmira 29, Hamline 21, St. Norbert 12, Arcadia 11, Endicott 11, Williams 8, Saint Mary's 6, St. Catherine 6, Norwich 5

[Russell Jaslow]

Maybe its early but Hilbert might be the first program not to improve after Utter leaves.

Cortland won the first SUNYAC conference championship and made their first natty. Wilkes is going to be in contention in this first inaugural season for the MAC

To be fair, it took Cortland a long time after Utter left to get to this level.

As for Hilbert, I wonder how much of this is a transitional void with Utter departing and naming an interim coach. How much recruiting was actually done during that period.

[Russell Jaslow]

If you remember my post earlier about Hilbert having to cancel a two-game series at Potsdam because of a lack of enough healthy players, I stated that their roster only shows 15, with three of them being goalies. So, that's 12 skaters. When they are all healthy...

I just looked at the roster which I hadn't done since I posted that earlier note. They now list 14 players, still 3 goalies, so 11 skaters. You can't maintain that... (The team picture shows 15.)

I also didn't realize they've had three coaches in their three years (Utter was year 2). It's a mess.

[Scott_TG]

I just looked at the roster which I hadn't done since I posted that earlier note. They now list 14 players, still 3 goalies, so 11 skaters. You can't maintain that... (The team picture shows 15.)

I also didn't realize they've had three coaches in their three years (Utter was year 2). It's a mess.

I don't think I've asked this since the Daniel Webster or when King's or Wilkes had a tiny roster, why don't they move a goalie to skater? Just to have one more player to rotate?

Moving on from our modern Daniel Webster, I was looking at the composite schedule. Here's the biggest games during finals week and the first two weeks back after the holidays

Week of 12/9
#2 UWRF vs #5 GAC (12/10)
RV Endicott vs RV Norwich (12/10)
Hamilton at #9 Utica (12/10)
Bethel vs #11 UW-Eau Claire (12/11)
UW-Stevens Point vs #6 Augsburg (12/13 and 14)

Week of 12/30
UWSP vs RV Hamline (1/2)
Hamilton vs RV Elmira (1/3)
RV Endicott vs #1 Middlebury (1/3)
RV Norwich vs #3 Amherst (1/5)
#12 Nazareth vs #7 Plattsburgh (1/5)


Week of 1/6
Losers of Norwich/Amherst and Platts/Naz (1/6)
Winners of Norwich/Amherst and Platts/Naz (1/6)
RV Hamline vs #11 UW-Eau Claire (1/6)
RV Williams vs #9 Utica (1/7)
RV Endicott vs #14 Bowdoin (1/7)
RV St. Catherine's vs #2 UWRF (1/9)
RV Elmira vs #12 Nazareth (1/10)
#8 Oswego vs #7 Plattsburgh (1/10 and 11)
RV SNC vs RV Hamline (1/10)
#14 Bowdoin vs #13 Trinity (1/10)
RV SNC vs #6 Augsburg (1/11)

As I was looking at the composite I was wondering why Midd scheduled Nichols for 1/4 after Endicott. I get not scheduling Endicott again since they faced off at Card/Panther but there's a ton of schools they would have a better SOS if they put in Nichols place. Norwich (how is that not a matchup this year?), Canton, Potsdam, Oswego, WNEU, Plymouth State even debutantes Keene State would probably be better...does SOS not matter since UWRF is the predetermined host?

One could chide Adrian for scheduling Chatham but given the geographic proximity and Chatham looked ascendant at the end of their season there was some logic. I don't think anyone expected 1-8 from Chatham this season.


The Cardinals have arguably the toughest return to action. Nazareth then either Norwich or Amherst. Then two against Oswego in less than a week.

[LongGame]

Hamilton looks like they are getting their **** together. They beat #9 Utica 1-0, outshooting them 30-8.

[Scott_TG]

Gusties jumped out to a 3-0 lead mid-2nd. Falcons had a brief "hope spot" as they call it in pro wrestling when they brought it to 3-2 but GAC put it in another gear and brought it to 6-2 Gustavus by the end of the 2nd period.

[PrezdeJohnson09]

I don't think I've asked this since the Daniel Webster or when King's or Wilkes had a tiny roster, why don't they move a goalie to skater? Just to have one more player to rotate?

Moving on from our modern Daniel Webster, I was looking at the composite schedule. Here's the biggest games during finals week and the first two weeks back after the holidays

Week of 12/9
#2 UWRF vs #5 GAC (12/10)
RV Endicott vs RV Norwich (12/10)
Hamilton at #9 Utica (12/10)
Bethel vs #11 UW-Eau Claire (12/11)
UW-Stevens Point vs #6 Augsburg (12/13 and 14)

Week of 12/30
UWSP vs RV Hamline (1/2)
Hamilton vs RV Elmira (1/3)
RV Endicott vs #1 Middlebury (1/3)
RV Norwich vs #3 Amherst (1/5)
#12 Nazareth vs #7 Plattsburgh (1/5)


Week of 1/6
Losers of Norwich/Amherst and Platts/Naz (1/6)
Winners of Norwich/Amherst and Platts/Naz (1/6)
RV Hamline vs #11 UW-Eau Claire (1/6)
RV Williams vs #9 Utica (1/7)
RV Endicott vs #14 Bowdoin (1/7)
RV St. Catherine's vs #2 UWRF (1/9)
RV Elmira vs #12 Nazareth (1/10)
#8 Oswego vs #7 Plattsburgh (1/10 and 11)
RV SNC vs RV Hamline (1/10)
#14 Bowdoin vs #13 Trinity (1/10)
RV SNC vs #6 Augsburg (1/11)

As I was looking at the composite I was wondering why Midd scheduled Nichols for 1/4 after Endicott. I get not scheduling Endicott again since they faced off at Card/Panther but there's a ton of schools they would have a better SOS if they put in Nichols place. Norwich (how is that not a matchup this year?), Canton, Potsdam, Oswego, WNEU, Plymouth State even debutantes Keene State would probably be better...does SOS not matter since UWRF is the predetermined host?

One could chide Adrian for scheduling Chatham but given the geographic proximity and Chatham looked ascendant at the end of their season there was some logic. I don't think anyone expected 1-8 from Chatham this season.


The Cardinals have arguably the toughest return to action. Nazareth then either Norwich or Amherst. Then two against Oswego in less than a week.

I think Midd got stuck short a game when Norwich didn’t have room for them on the schedule after Norwich joined that Florida tourney this year. That was an extra game they needed to find somewhere.

hopefully Midd/Norwich comes back as that definitely should be a yearly game.

Norwich 5-6 at the break though…worst record at the break since the inaugural season of the program.

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Side note:

is this the most parity and wide open D3 women’s hockey has ever been?

Seems like almost anyone can beat anybody in the top 15-20 and that has never been the case since D3 started having a championship in 2001-02.

[shelfit]

To be fair, it took Cortland a long time after Utter left to get to this level.

As for Hilbert, I wonder how much of this is a transitional void with Utter departing and naming an interim coach. How much recruiting was actually done during that period.

According to their website archived articles, on Aug. 30 they introduced her as the new full-time assistant coach with a start date of Sept. 3, and Utter was listed as one of the people introducing her which means he was still there for her arrival on Sept. 3. The next article is on Sept. 17 announcing her as the interim head coach, exactly 2 weeks after her start date, so Utter got himself fired in that very short time in between. The transitional period you're referring to is only those 2 weeks in early September, so it appears that the recruiting failure is all his to own. He utterly failed once again.

[tjoneslo]

Hamilton looks like they are getting their **** together. They beat #9 Utica 1-0, outshooting them 30-8.

Having watched that game, it wasn't as lopsided as the shot score would indicate. Many of the shots, and the only goal came on a 5-on-3, then 5-on-4 power play in the middle of the second period. Hamilton plays the same kind of aggressive fore-checking defense that Middlebury does (and no wonder). And Utica never figured out how to get through it. The Pioneers first game back from break is against Williams, which should prove to be an interesting match up as well.

[VTpucksouteast]

Having watched that game, it wasn't as lopsided as the shot score would indicate. Many of the shots, and the only goal came on a 5-on-3, then 5-on-4 power play in the middle of the second period. Hamilton plays the same kind of aggressive fore-checking defense that Middlebury does (and no wonder). And Utica never figured out how to get through it. The Pioneers first game back from break is against Williams, which should prove to be an interesting match up as well.

Every time I watch most NESCAC teams, it really is quite jarring to see the structure of their defense and how effective it is. It seems like 90% of the game is stuck on the boards, and they’re totally fine with that. It’s extremely low-event hockey with not much pace, but it works a lot of the time.

[Mr. PDub]

Endicott welcomed Norwich to Raymond J. Borque Arena for a non-conference matchup of RV teams. Casey Moritz (Trophy Club, TX) stopped all 24 shots to record her third shutout of the season as the Gulls cruised to a 4-0 win. The line of Sam Fantasia (Billerica, MA), Cammie Ahern (Oswego, NY), and Lily Anderson (St. Paul, MN) accounted for 3 of the 4 goals with Fantasia recording the hat trick - marking back to back hat tricks for the Gulls (Maggie Lynch (Quincy, MA) had the Hattie against Johnson & Wales on Saturday). Ahern and Anderson had three apples each, the second three-apple game of the season for Anderson. The Gulls return to action January 3rd when Middlebury makes the long trip to Beverly for a rematch of their Cardinal-Panther Classic game last month, which Middlebury won 4-1.

[Dit Clapper]

Side note:

is this the most parity and wide open D3 women’s hockey has ever been?

Seems like almost anyone can beat anybody in the top 15-20 and that has never been the case since D3 started having a championship in 2001-02.

In short, yes, this is the most parity I can ever recall at the D3 level. Some of the other "old timers" chime in if you disagree, but I think it speaks to how far the women's game has come in the past couple of decades and how much talent is currently being developed in this country. It's pretty awesome!

[Scott_TG]

This is the most parity there's been in the west among each other and western teams vs the east. I do think what we're seeing in the east is the NESCAC is currently at a level above the other east teams. A sub .500 NESCAC team just beat the leader of the UCHC who is ranked #9 nationwide. And Midd outskated both Endicott and Plattsburgh two of the top teams in their conference.

[PrezdeJohnson09]

This is the most parity there's been in the west among each other and western teams vs the east. I do think what we're seeing in the east is the NESCAC is currently at a level above the other east teams. A sub .500 NESCAC team just beat the leader of the UCHC who is ranked #9 nationwide. And Midd outskated both Endicott and Plattsburgh two of the top teams in their conference.

That has been the case for the last 4-5 years no doubt. It's not even close which conference has the most top to bottom depth.

The NESCAC should and most likely will get at least 2 teams into the NCAA tournament and probably even three is likely.

Bowdoin has even had a resurgence this year after quite a few down years. Bowdoin back when the NCAA started first sponsoring a championship was right there in the mix making it to the frozen four the first two years. Iron sharpens iron for sure with that league.