2025-26 NCAA Preview: WCHA

It is time to watch some WCHA hockey. The new season kicks off this Friday with the likes of Minnesota State, St. Cloud State, and Ohio State playing some non-conference games and some exhibition games. A lot has changed since Wisconsin won the national championship in March and I am here with a preview of the new season. We'll cover a storyline to stay on top of, a player to watch from each team, I make terrible predictions, and we wrap up with some notable additions/changes to some of the teams.

Let's begin!

A storyline to keep an eye on this season:

This week, a hot new bombshell enters the villa! 🏒

Okay, so it was actually last week that the WCHA announced a new rule that is sure to shake up the conference a bit. Though for now it’s labeled “experimental,” the conference is implementing no limit on the height of the stick for playing the puck and scoring goals according to Todd Milewski.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. There will still be a high sticking penalty but not having to worry about the height of the stick being higher than the crossbar when a goal is scored could be a good thing? Since it’s experimental I will wait a few weeks before judging this decision, but if you have anything to say about it please do so in the comments.

We'll reconvene in the spring and see if we liked this!

Players to watch:

All eight teams in this conference have incredibly talented players. Some of these players have played for a few years, others are only entering their second season, and one freshman is looking to make an impact early. Let's take a look at the player I chose to watch for each team and why.

Wisconsin: At just 19 years old, Adéla Šapovalivová is already gaining attention. The Czechia native was tabbed as the preseason Rookie of the Year in the WCHA. She enters the collegiate ranks with a wealth of experience, having won two bronze medals in four appearances at the Women’s World Championship and a silver medal with the U18 team as well. Last season, Šapovalivová played for MoDo in the SDHL and finished the season with 36 points in 34 games. That professional experience will come in handy as she settles into college but truthfully I see her well-adjusted and taking the conference by storm by mid-October.

Ohio State: Joy Dunne is entering her junior season with the Buckeyes and will reach the century mark in points roughly by the second game of the season, as she enters with 96 points. Dunne finished last season with 62 points in 40 games and was part of the runner-up Buckeyes team that lost to Wisconsin. She has already produced big numbers in just two seasons, has a national championship from 2024 under her belt, and finished Second Team All-WCHA, and yet it feels she will dominate once again this season.

Minnesota: Abbey Murphy is entering her final season of college hockey and looking to build on the incredible showing she had last year. She tallied a career-high 65 points, scored 33 goals which was second in the country, and was once again a Top 10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award. In the preseason WCHA poll, she was selected to the Preseason All-WCHA team and received votes for Player of the Year as well. With 195 career points already, Murphy will continue to add to that and grow her stock for the PWHL draft next summer, all while leading her team back to the NCAA playoffs and hopefully an NCAA championship.

Minnesota Duluth: Josie St. Martin enters her sophomore season with Duluth after transferring from Ohio State. In her lone season with the Buckeyes, she recorded 10 points in 32 games and appeared in the NCAA tournament where she recorded an assist against St. Lawrence. St. Martin starts this season with a clean slate with the Bulldogs but also brings in experience from playing on a team like Ohio State that finished runner-up in the national championship. All this to say, I see St. Martin as someone who can put up great numbers and bring offense to Duluth; offense they were desperately in need of during the postseason last year.

St. Cloud State: The Huskies lost some star power on the team with players that went pro, including forward Emma Gentry and star goaltender Sanni Ahola. As the Huskies navigate new waters this season, I have chosen Emilia Kyrkkö as the player to watch. Kyrkkö split last season in net with Ahola and that really put her front and center in only her first collegiate season. She ended with a 7-7-3 record along with a 1.98 goals against average and a .936 save percentage in 18 games. Those are pretty solid numbers for someone who was leaned on to be a 1-2 punch with Ahola. Now with a season like that under her belt and with the return of graduate goaltender Jojo Chobak, Kyrkkö is more than ready to right the ship as the Huskies enter a new chapter with a new head coach and the potential to continue to grow as they have over the past few seasons.

Minnesota State: Another goaltender on this list who has the potential to get even better is Hailey Hansen, also known as Slayley (because she slays.) She put on one of the best performances in the WCHA playoffs last season when she stood tall against the Minnesota. Hansen broke the record for most saves in a game with 66 in the Mavericks double overtime win in game two of the opening series. Though Mankato lost the following game, Hansen being as strong as she was in net to keep the team alive through almost five periods of play speaks volumes to how reliable she is and also how tenacious she is in net. While the program lost players due to eligibility running out and to transfers, like Kyrkkö, Hansen will be the driving force behind keeping the Mavericks afloat this season. That won’t be too tough of a task for Slayley!

St. Thomas: The Tommies put together a wonderful season last year: they swept Minnesota Duluth, a team that was ranked fourth nationally at the time for their first top five win in program history. While there are a lot of teams going through changes, St. Thomas has a great slate of returning players including leading scorer Madison Brown and talented transfers such as JuliAnna and Jenessa Gazdik who are joining from Minnesota State.

But, Chloe Boreen is my pick for player to watch. Last season Boreen scored nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in 33 games. She finished second on the team in points, led the team in powerplay goals with four, and added 13 blocked shots as well. I don’t think Boreen will fall into a sophomore slump or anything of that sort; I think she’s incredibly talented and now that she has her first taste of collegiate hockey, she knows what to expect playing in one of the NCAA's toughest conferences. I see Boreen reaching double digits in goals and assists and leading the team in points by the time February rolls around.

Bemidji State: Morgan Smith is another sophomore I’m expecting to see make a jump in her game. She appeared in all 37 games and led the team in points last season with 20 and also led the team in goals with 11. Smith became the first Bemidji State player with 20 points since the 2021-22 season. Those are numbers she can easily surpass and will likely do so given her immense talent. Smith will be an alternate captain this season becoming only the fourth sophomore to wear a letter for the program. Not only will she continue to make an impact on the ice but will also do so off of it.

Predictions:

I wasn't sure how to go about predictions because the WCHA feels like a conference where there is a noticeable split in the standings, so I'm approaching predictions a little differently and in a fun way.

The high sticking rule is going to be appreciated by players once a goal doesn't get called back and everyone continues playing like normal.

Wisconsin will have another long winning streak but will lose two games somewhere along the line. It's fine, it happens.

To make up for how mean that previous prediction was, I will add Caroline Harvey and Kirsten Simms are going to put up ridiculous numbers this season and Adéla Šapovalivová is going to be Rookie of the Year as chosen by the WCHA preseason votes.

The battle for first place in the WCHA will be close between the Badgers and Buckeyes. The two teams know each other well both from the regular season and the playoffs and Ohio State will be able to keep point totals much closer this season.

Bemidji's defenders will once again put their body on the line like they did last year and rack up incredible amounts of blocked shots by season's end. Alternate captain Morgan Smith will once again record two hat tricks this season... perhaps three.

St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth will not meet for the fourth straight time in the WCHA playoffs! I repeat, St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth will not meet for the fourth straight time in the WCHA playoffs!

Everyone will once again feel the wrath of the Tommies.

Additions/Changes:

With a new season comes a clean slate and some changes and additions to some of the programs around the WCHA.

For St. Thomas, head coach Bethany Brausen enters her first full season at the helm of the Tommies and is joined by a strong returning class and the addition of the Gazdik twins that transferred from Mankato. St. Thomas will also open their new home arena the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena on Oct. 24 with games from both the men’s and women’s hockey teams. This season feels like it’s a huge step forward for the Tommies both as a hockey program and as a university that may finally be completely settled in as a Division I program.

The Huskies may be the team navigating one of the biggest changes after head coach Brian Idalski departed the program to coach PWHL Vancouver (which is cool in my book because he’s qualified and deserving!) To lead St. Cloud, former assistant coach Mira Jalosuo was hired. She was an assistant coach with the Minnesota Frost the last two seasons, helping the team to back-to-back Walter Cup championships. Jalosuo was frank during WCHA media day when she stated the Huskies won’t be playing their best hockey in September and the goal is for the team to play their best at the end of the season. She followed up with The Ice Garden and said barking at the team to play a certain way isn't going to be helpful and prefers to be loving and warm to the players as she settles into her new role.

St. Cloud will also be relying on the veterans on the team which include Captain Grace Wolfe, assistant captain Laura Zimmermann and the aforementioned Kyrkkö to help during the start of the new season. St. Cloud can rejoice as they will also see the return of Chobak who redshirted last season. Chobak will also wear a letter but will be someone who will benefit from coach Jalosuo’s approach of no pressure as she sees game action for the first time in a year and a half.

Minnesota added Jamie Nelson from the portal. The former Minnesota State Maverick will play her fifth season of eligibility with a new school after finishing the last two seasons with 30 points and has 103 career points. She is a great addition to the Gophers and will slot in easily with the team when the season begins.

Ohio State brings in Finnish forward Sanni Vanhanen to start her collegiate career. Vanhanen is joining a talent set of players with the Buckeyes but with her playing experience, I think she'll be able to put together a great season while adjusting to college. She's a member of the Finnish national team having played in the Women's World Championship and the Olympics and spent last season with Brynäs IF of the SDHL and won Rookie of the Year there too. Could Vanhanen give Šapovalivová a run for WCHA Rookie of the Year honors? Perhaps.

Lastly,

The WCHA season kicks off this Friday with three non-conference games followed by five games on Saturday and two more on Sunday. You can check out the full schedule here.

See you all at the end of the month for the first WCHA monthly recap!