National Pressure

THE BEST OF THE WEST (AND NORTH)

In the past three seasons, Harvard has conquered the competition on the East Coast—only to fall to a Western powerhouse in the national title game, losing to Minnesota-Duluth in 2003 and Minnesota the past two years. Again in 2005-2006, the WCHA promises to play host to some of the fiercest battles in the nation, with the Bulldogs, Golden Gophers, and Wisconsin all duking it out for automatic entires to the Frozen Eight. Back in New England, the Crimson will play a home-and-home series with the up-and-coming Wildcats from the University of New Hampshire, many experts’ dark-horse pick to go all the way.

MINNESOTA

The Golden Gophers lost their mythic All-World line of U.S. Olympians Krissy Wendell, Natalie Darwitz, and Kelly Stephens and the effects are showing already. Minnesota has dropped as many games—two—in the early going as it did all of last season. In the absence of its top three scorers, the Gophers will look to a pair of sophomores, Erica McKenzie and Bobbi Ross, to pick up the slack on offense. Prized goalie recruit Brittany Chartier will need to be every bit as good as advertised for Minnesota to make it back to the national title game.

MINNESOTA-DULUTH

The Bulldogs feature two of the most electrifying scorers in the country on their top line in Jessica Koizumi and Noemie Marin. Sharing the ice with these two juniors is standout freshman Michaela Lanzl, rounding out perhaps the most potent unit in the land. Between the pipes for Duluth is Swiss giant Riita Schaublin, who sported a .942 save percentage a year ago. Both offense and defense were clicking in a 6-0 drubbing of Minnesota on Oct. 29 that showed the Bulldogs can be unbeatable when atop their game.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Now patrolling the large ice surface at the Whittemore Center in Portsmouth is a talented group of young players organized by coach Brian McCloskey to make a run at the trophy in this Olympic year. Senior defenseman Amy McLaughlin provides the leadership from the blue line, underclassmen like junior Nicole Hekle and sophomore Leah Craig provide the offensive spark, and netminder Melissa Bourdon is relied upon to keep opponents out of the net, as she did in allowing a mere seven goals through the team’s first five games.

WISCONSIN

By all indications, the Badgers should make it a three-team dogfight atop the WCHA, splitting an early-season series with Duluth, who also split with Minnesota. In a year when the best players head to the Olympics, junior Sara Bauer may be the most talented player left in the country. Classmate Bobbi-Jo Slusar is a force to be reckoned with patrolling the blue line. This might be the year, with an exciting freshman class in place, that Wisconsin makes the leap from Minnesota bridesmaid to a legitimate national title contender in its own right.

NATIONAL RANKINGS

As the only team at the top with unblemished record, St. Lawrence is firmly in control of first as this supplement went to print. The next three teams—Duluth, Wisconsin, and Minnesota—are all part of the WCHA and so have each had to face each other. Dartmouth and Harvard are both just starting their seasons, but could easily challenge the top five teams later on in the season.

A BRIEF RECAP OF LAST YEAR

Despite losing key players to the Olympics, most of the teams that made it to the NCAA tournament last year are the favorites to return. The order of these frontrunners has changed from last year; here is a short look at where four of the top eight teams finished their seasons in 2004-2005.

The Saints upset Dartmouth and Duluth, but lost to the Crimson in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.

The Badgers were barely edged by Minnesota for the WCHA postseason title, and then lost to Dartmouth in the NCAA quarterfinal.

Despite a successful regular season, the Bulldogs did not finish on a high note, losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament to the Saints.

Mercyhurst surprised many people last year, making it to the NCAA tournament and taking Harvard to the brink before losing 5-4 in triple-overtime of the NCAA quarterfinal.