The NCAA transfer portal has been a busy place for women's hockey players in recent weeks, including the now annual reloading by Ohio State.
The NCAA transfer portal has been a busy place for women's hockey players in recent weeks, including the now annual reloading by Ohio State.
The NCAA's transfer portal has become a hot button topic in recent years. In hockey it's allowed players to switch programs for a number of reasons, whether it was a poor fit academically, lack of on ice opportunities, comfort at the school, or to pursue additional education during a fifth year at another institution.
From a hockey standpoint, it's also allowed teams to change how they recruit. From Ohio State's 2023-2024 NCAA national championship roster, the bulk of their leaders came from other programs, often cutting their teeth and developing with other teams, before transferring to the perennial powerhouse for a chance at a title. Last season at Ohio State, that list included Hannah Bilka, Cayla Barnes, Raygan Kirk, Lauren Bernard, Stephanie Markowski, Hadley Hartmetz, Kiara Zanon, Kelsey King, Makenna Webster, Olivia Mobley, and Kenzie Hauswirth.
It's become Ohio State's main recruiting pathway, with more players coming in from the transfer portal than minor hockey programs. This year Ohio State's transfer crop is well underway again as they've already secured Maddi Wheeler from Wisconsin, Hailey MacLeod from Minnesota-Duluth, Sara Swiderski from Clarkson, and Brooke Disher from Boston University, and they aren't done yet. It is rumored that other big names like Vermont's Natalie Mlynkova might be next on the list.
While Ohio State is typically the most active in recruiting via the transfer portal, there are plenty of other names who have swapped places this summer already.
One name to watch is Alexis Petford, who has lit up the weak NEWHA conference the past two seasons, and will now test her skills with Colgate. Jenna Donohue who led Dartmouth in scoring is headed to Quinnipiac and Mercyhurst's leading scorer Sara Boucher is moving to New Hampshire.
The other main position of movement this offseason has been in net with Vermont's Jessie McPherson heading to Minnesota State, LIU's Tindra Holm going to Minnesota-Duluth, and Quinnipiac's Lucy Philips going to Robert Morris, among others.
In some ways, the transfer portal has become the NCAA's own version of free agency, and there has been plenty of star power trading places already this season.