Re: What team ends the Minnesota winning streak?
It would be interesting to know how many of those wins in the UNH streak are over varsity programs. For example, the Wildcats winning streak shows three wins over Minnesota -- a club team. Also, included are Boston U, Vermont, and Connecticut none of whom have varsity programs dating back that far. Boston State -- is that U Mass Boston? There likely wasn't a huge difference between D-I and D-III back then (although the Potsdam State and Cortland State type teams didn't fare too well), but club teams would still have been at a big disadvantage.
To set the record straight re: Exhibition games, during the late '70's streak, which most here know I was a participant in from 1978 - 1982, we did play exhibition games, usually against one or two of the top teams in the Assabet league, such as the Massport Jets or Waltham Wings. These are not counted in the "streaks".
There was no divisional differentiation - at that point there were really not enough teams or depth in the women's game.
Our coach, Russell J. McCurdy in fact would often encourage players who wanted to play at UNH to go to other schools who had hockey teams. The difference between club teams and varsity teams back then was not always pronounced. Sure - there were funding differences, but another difference is that a lot of these club teams, BC for example, had some of the top youth club (Assabet league) playing for them. Peggy Cameron is just one example. She was (and still is) an incredible goaltender. Back then, hockey was only a blip on the radar for college bound female hockey players, so many of the top pre college players went to the school they chose for their education. When they found out there was hockey, they played. BU is another example of a club team that attracted a lot of top notch hockey players to their club team. They were lucky in that the geography didn't pose a budgetary hardship to most of the east coast teams. It was really no different for the club players to go to college campuses than it was for them to travel for their club games. A lot of times, if they came to Durham, everyone knew everyone, so they just crashed with us if there was an overnight involved. Also - the clubs then had a distinct advantage in being able to "bolster" their rosters if desired.
Minnesota may have been a club team back then too, but that club team managed to find money to fly out to Durham. I know when we flew to Minny, we had to do the same kind of fundraising as any club team, because things like that weren't in the budget. We wanted to play the best, and we never wanted to turn down a game, so we did what we could to schedule the tough games, and take the weaker teams off the schedule.
It's getting a bit tiring when people compare the 1970 - 80's with 2010 +. The differences between then and now are incredible, and far too many to enumerate. It's like comparing NHL hockey in it's first decade to now. There isn't a direct comparison, just two sets of separate, but of equal magnitude, accomplishments, although without one, the other might surely be diminished.
We are proud of our accomplishments, but believe me, my teammates from that era are much more proud of what we, in conjunction with all of our opponents, did for our game. We showed a very dubious public that whether or not they wanted to acknowledge us as players, and the validity of our sport, we were not going to go away, but would work to perpetuate the game we loved, and we are equally proud of those who are playing at the present level, because that was a part of our vision too.
