This week Ian Kennedy and Erin Brown of The Hockey News discuss the NCAA season, make some predictions, and debate the top teams and Patty Kazmaier contenders.
This week Ian Kennedy and Erin Brown of The Hockey News discuss the NCAA season, make some predictions, and debate the top teams and Patty Kazmaier contenders.
This week to re-start Friday Face-off Erin Brown and Ian Kennedy's weekly discussions, and sometimes debate on topics in women's hockey, the duo kick it off with a special "Monday Musings." This week the pair discuss the second half of the NCAA season, talking Patty Kazmaier, who might win the national championship, and more.
Ian Kennedy: I know you’ve been touring around to see some of the NCAA’s top programs in person this season, including a recent trip to Minnesota. The Golden Gophers were climbers in the first half of the NCAA season, even jumping ahead of Wisconsin, who spent more of the year ranked #1, a spot how held by Ohio State. It’s a pretty impressive trio from the WCHA. If you had to pick one of these teams as the favourite to win a national championship, who are you going with?
Erin Brown : This is what I love and hate about WCHA prediction. The top three teams have wildly different strengths and weaknesses that I feel wins come down to who is in the zone on game day. I don’t think anyone would have predicted Wisconsin to get through Minnesota and Ohio State at the 2023 Frozen Four, but they did. And while the Badgers have gone 1-3 vs. the Gophers and Buckeyes this season, I still have a hard time dismissing them. There’s simply too much raw, elite talent. But there’s also inexperience, which sometimes shows on the ice. Minnesota, having lost so much offense from last year is priding itself on building around a defensive structure. The Gophers also have a lot of high-end talent and you could see the system starting to gel in their two-win series over a streaking Minnesota-Duluth team. But I think Minnesota expended so much mental energy in their Frozen Four rematch against Wisconsin that they were smashed in the second meeting. This is where the Ohio State’s maturity apart as the front-runners for their second title in three years. The Buckeyes are sticking to the system at all costs. Fifth-years Jennifer Gardiner and Hannah Bilka haven’t produced eye-popping numbers as one might expect given the talent, but they have delivered in key situations. I think it’s very reflective of a veteran squad committed to team effort.
Ian Kennedy: You just listed some premiere players in Bilka and Gardiner, which gets me thinking about the Patty Kazmaier Award. As good as both are, I don’t think either wins the award. If Caroline Harvey hadn’t missed six weeks, she might be my pick, but right now I give the edge to Abbey Murphy, who is really a spectacular player to watch given her skill, speed, and most notably her physicality. The other names I’m leaning toward in this discussion are the Colgate duo of Danielle Serdachny and Kristýna Kaltounková. Looking at how this Award is often handed out, I’d say Serdachny has the edge since she was top three finalist for the Award last year, and remains in the top five nationally in scoring this season, and could end up on top like she was last year.
Erin Brown: I feel like there’s still so much hockey to be played that Harvey could turn in a monster second half and sit atop the Kaz list. It’s just the numbers holding her back, and it doesn’t help that last year’s winner, Sophie Jacques, set a bar for defenders. Wisconsin also has top candidates in Britta Curl and Kirsten Simms, but they’ve been weirdly absent in big games against Ohio State and Minnesota. Out east, I’ve been impressed with Northeastern’s Gwyneth Philips putting up solid numbers while shouldering a huge workload. The same for Clarkson’s Michelle Pasiechnyk. I’d also add Cornell’s Izzy Daniel to your list of names. But I give a grit-my-teeth nod to Abbey Murphy at this point. The talent and offensive production are there… as are penalties. She’s a Brad Marchand type, though and when she doesn’t play with an edge, you can see how it impacts her team. But in observing her actions away from the heat of competition, you can see she has a switch. Case in point: During the Wisconsin-Minnesota series, Murphy took a major penalty for slashing Britta Curl. But during a lull in the action during the series, the Olympian had a decent chat with Badgers forward Laila Edwards, who was not far removed from her debut with the U.S. women’s team. Murphy gave her gave her an encouraging pat on the crest. I think if Murphy keeps producing and can stay away from the penalty box in the second half, she’ll be hard to beat.
Ian Kennedy: It's hard to stop talking about Murphy at this point, so I won't. She is truly a unique player in the NCAA right now and despite having collegiate eligibility remaining, there's no doubt in my mind she could step onto any top line in the PWHL right now...she's that good. As you mentioned about the penalty box, and the two sides of Murphy, she thrives walking that line and at the next level where players are faster and stronger, I think it will keep her on the right side of that ledge. Few combine the speed, puck skills, scoring ability, and tenacity like Murphy does. She's the most complete forward in NCAA hockey right now, with unique qualities others in this echelon don't bring. While she might spend a few minutes in the box here and there, at this point, I think she deserves more than a few minutes with the Patty Kazmaier Award, and is one of, if not the most pro ready forward out there.
Well that's it for this week's special Monday discussion. We'll be back on Friday for our usual "Face-off" where this week we'll chat PWHL predictions.