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2024-25: D3whky

VTpucksouteast said:
All American teams are out:

www.ahcahockey.com

2024-25 CCM/AHCA Women’s Division III All-Americans Announced - American Hockey Coaches Association

AHCA Press Release
www.ahcahockey.com www.ahcahockey.com
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Can anyone explain why this press release is done before the banquet where the players are named? It seems that when the final four is out east the press release is done after the dinner but when the final four is in the west the press release is sent out before the dinner. Is that just to embaress the west when they are hosting? And can't they even count correctly, the release stated Minnesota had seven players when eight players are listed as being from Minnesota.
 
4and20 said:
Can anyone explain why this press release is done before the banquet where the players are named? It seems that when the final four is out east the press release is done after the dinner but when the final four is in the west the press release is sent out before the dinner. Is that just to embaress the west when they are hosting? And can't they even count correctly, the release stated Minnesota had seven players when eight players are listed as being from Minnesota.
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How would that embarrass the western school hosting?

When I was working around this, they kept the AA list under lock and key and kept the key to Fort Knox basically until mid day the day of the banquet to limit chances of it leaking out.
 
Congrats to UWRF's Bailey Olsen on winning the 2025 Laura Hurd Award.

The Falcons have 3 of 4 post-Covid winners of the DIII WIH award given to the player of the year, and River Falls joins Middlebury and Plattsburgh's tie for 4 Laura Hurd Award winning players in program history.
 
Alyssa Xu leads the way with two goals as Amherst advances to the championship game with a 3-1 (ENG) won over NESCAC rival Middlebury.

They await the winner of top seed Augsburg vs host and defending champions UW-River Falls at 8PM Eastern/7PM Central
 
During the first semifinal I was thinking, how crazy it would be to face a team for the fourth time from your conference in the semifinal. That's got to be tough, you don't care for each other already, know each other and tendencies too well, and if you win have to get the emotions back in check for the final.
 
VTpucksouteast said:
Couple big names in the portal:

-Tia Lascelle is the big ticket item from Adrian. Very accomplished, and an All-American candidate in her junior season, tallying 33 points
-Dubuque's goalie, Savannah Wuitschick performed well given what she was up against nightly. (Eau Claire and Gustavus bidding war? LOL)
-Olivia Lindberg was tied for the leading scorer at NEC
-Laney Harrold was one of the best defenders for Buff State as a freshman
-Kianna Salliant was a decent scoring option for an upstart Arcadia program
-Sophomore Nicole Pietrucha showed a lot of promise on Adrian's blueline and is probably looking for some top line minutes
-Grace Joselyn wasn't a big scorer but one of Norwich's best defensive players as a sophomore
-Anneliese Klein has had a strong start to her career from Nichols, potting 8 goals from the blueline this past season
-Jordan Hancock had a decent campaign for Utica as a freshman, scoring 7 goals
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Plattsburgh forwards Ava Mattaliano and Emma McLean both entered the portal today. Mattaliano will have 2 seasons remaining and McLean one.

Mattaliano was a middle six forward for most of last season but found herself a healthy scratch most of this year. To be honest I was puzzled by her presence high in the lineup for most of 2023-24 despite a lack of production while other forwards didn't get much of a look...

McLean similarly was a player used much more frequently as an underclassman before finding herself as a bottom 6 forward or healthy scratch last year and was consistently on the 4th line this season. From my understanding she's well loved by her teammates in the locker room but has frustrated the coaches over the years with lapses in decision making on and off the ice.

McLean is more seasoned and I think the better pickup for another program but I think given consistent ice time and her confidence back Mattaliano could also be a contributing or even a top player for another program...
 
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Whenever I watch UWRF I'm amazed at how fast they fly around the first 5-10 minutes of the game. Literally winning every puck race in the beginning and swarming, but they seem to drop down a notch during the last five mins. Don't get me wrong, they're still really quick but to me it's a noticeable difference. You almost have to be like a heavy weight boxer with a knock out punch, hunker down and hold on until the barrage is over then take your chances. Survive the first half of the period and you have a chance.
 
JDHack51 said:
Whenever I watch UWRF I'm amazed at how fast they fly around the first 5-10 minutes of the game. Literally winning every puck race in the beginning and swarming, but they seem to drop down a notch during the last five mins. Don't get me wrong, they're still really quick but to me it's a noticeable difference. You almost have to be like a heavy weight boxer with a knock out punch, hunker down and hold on until the barrage is over then take your chances. Survive the first half of the period and you have a chance.
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Augsburg was doing a good job keeping it in their attacking zone after taking the lead until that penalty call. Can't give a high powered offense that much time on attack.

This Falcons team reminds me of the 2015-16 Cardinal team that beat UWRF for the natty. The highlight were their scorers in Sheeran and Meneghin but what really got teams was their depth and their use of that depth to grind teams down.
 
Stott is going to need to be in her freshman year form for Amherst to stand a chance against the Falcons Sunday and it still might not be enough....
 
Scott_TG said:
Stott is going to need to be in her freshman year form for Amherst to stand a chance against the Falcons Sunday and it still might not be enough....
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They were flying around and looked sharp tonight, that's for sure. I thought Augsburg was in good position when they briefly took the lead, but RF was unrelenting tonight. Once it became a two goal lead it was over, you just don't get enough chances. Still laughing at O'Kane being an All-American, she can be beat "if" you can get there. Probably has the easiest goalie job in all D3 hockey, how do you grade that out?
 
Looking at this game, if River Falls can find someone better than O'Kane in net they may end up hosting and winning in 2026 too...Niccum, Jones, Lavergne and Goodreau look like they could step up and replace enough of Olsen's offense to make them the favorites still...
 
JDHack51 said:
Missed the game today, was it pretty competitive or did RF have the upper hand the majority of the game?
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Falcons controlled long stretches of the game. Stott earned her her All-Tournament team nod with how she performed despite the 3 goals allowed.

Amherst just couldn't match the offensive firepower and couldn't get behind the Falcons D to get decent shots on O'Kane.

There was visible shock when Stott got the nod over O'Kane...Olsen's overly exaggerated shocked expression to being named Most Outstanding Player right after was right there with Beyonce's when she won the country album Grammy back in February. I think Olsen expected O'Kane to get it because Stott got the all-tourney team nod and Olsen has already been named to the all-tourney team...
 
Great weekend of hockey. Watching Friday’s semifinals showed four very deserving teams. But holy smokes were those games completely different styles. I was wildly impressed with Augsburg’s skating ability. I knew they were good, but they almost kept up with them. Amherst looked so slow compared to the Falcons today.

Both coaches responses in the press conferences tells the story of where the sports at right now. Matthews knew they were up against it, and tried to adjust to RF’s game as much as they could in a short timeframe.

Cranston said “we liked our matchup vs. Amherst. We didn’t change one thing. It was same with Elmira. We liked our speed game against both them” in Friday’s presser, he mentioned that Augsburg had them on their heels and they had to make major adjustments in the 3rd.

Personally, I’d vote Auggies as the #2 team in the final poll. They gave RF fits, but truly, no one was on the Falcons level this year except maybe Gustavus. And they blew their chances, and were nowhere consistent enough
 
I always love the press conferences. Such a raw emotional time for these girls. I thought the Augsburg press conference was amazing. All three seniors on the team, beyond proud of their achievements, but devastated by the result. Really good watch if you haven’t seen it
 
Scott_TG said:
It's a campus site year I don't know what eastern teams will be better than UWRF, Augsburg and GAC?
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Middlebury.

Plattsburgh (if they get back up on top) or Oswego (if they can make the next leap).

I don't what Amherst's rink is like.

If they are going to lean East, they will pick the top Eastern seed if the rink is good enough. That's been the protocol in the past. Heck, the men went to Endicott for crying out loud (though only Adrian was from the west and they didn't have any good eastern choices).
 
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