WCHA Monthly Recap: November and December 2025

Do you need a refresher on the WCHA after the holiday season? You're in luck because I needed it too! Let's get to it!!!

Featured Series: Minnesota State's sweep of Minnesota

A few months before this series, the Mavericks faced off against the Gophers in the WCHA playoffs for the second straight season. They pushed the series to three games once again. In game two of that series, the game went to double overtime, and sophomore goaltender Hailey Hansen played her heart out and set a new record for most saves in a game with 66.

Hansen's performance in that conference playoff series showed how talented she is. When she returned for her junior season, she started collecting weekly awards with no problem and even monthly awards too.

In this series she was the game-changer once again. She played in—and won—both games and only allowed one goal in each game. She made a total of 66 saves and finished the series with a .970 save percentage.

Hansen battles in net. Just like the playoffs, she also lost her stick and had to play without it in game one for a period of time and came out unscathed. She was part of the defense that continued to shut down Minnesota's chances throughout the weekend and stifled their attempts at finding the back of the net.

Another set of key players for Mankato were the freshman, especially Mercury Bischoff. She finished with six points, including a hat trick in game two! She scored on the power play and recorded the game-winning goal as well, for the 4-1 win. Her line with junior Kamryn Van Batavia and senior captain Taylor Otremba was the perfect combination that weekend as Batavia also finished with four points.

This was the first sweep of the Gophers by the Mavericks since 2006 and this sweep led to Minnesota State appearing in the USCHO rankings for the first time this season. It's a statement win for the team and you'll be able to read more about this series in the upcoming weeks here on The Ice Garden.

Awards Season🏆

Best player: Mercury Bischoff - Minnesota State

Bischoff scored four goals including a hat trick in game two in the Maverick’s sweep of Minnesota. The freshman forward was lights out, recording six points that weekend against then second ranked Minnesota. She played a part in six of the seven goals the Mavs put on the scoreboard. For being in her first collegiate season, Bischoff shined in such a big series and for that she was the best player of November.

Best Team of November/December: Wisconsin

I’m giving this to the Badgers for a lot of reasons: they didn’t lose in the five weeks of play in November and December, they swept Ohio State in their National Championship game rematch the first week of December, and they put up 17 goals against Stonehill in the SMASHVILLE Women's Collegiate Hockey Showcase.

Those 17 goals were a program record, too.

Nine of the goals were scored in the second period alone. Kirsten Simms and McKayla Zilisch each had a hat trick, with Simms scoring the 85th, 86th, and 87th goals in her Badgers career and Zilisch scoring the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of her career! Laila Edwards finished with five points, while Lacey Eden reached 200 career points. She is the ninth player in program history to reach that milestone.

In the first week of December, they swept the Buckeyes after winning 2-1 and 6-1 that weekend. Goaltender Ava McNaughton allowed only two goals that weekend. Simms and Kelly Gorbatenko each scored two goals, Caroline Harvey recorded three points, and Edwards had four that weekend to send Wisconsin into the long holiday break having scored 30 goals in four games.

Wisconsin continues their great season. They have remained ranked number one overall by the USCHO and lead the WCHA with 38 points and a 12-1-2 record.

Notable Performances of November/December

The WCHA was well represented during the Rivalry Series in November and December. Canada had three players on their roster from the conference: Caitlin Kraemer and Ève Gascon of Minnesota Duluth and Chloe Primerano of Minnesota. The USA had eight players: Wisconsin's Lacey Eden, Laila Edwards, Caroline "KK" Harvey, Kirsten Simms, and Ava McNaughton; Ohio State's Joy Dunne and Emma Peschel; and Minnesota's Abbey Murphy.

Edwards and Murphy put together some great performances in the series and helped the U.S. sweep Canada to end the year. Edwards played as a defender, as she usually does with Team USA, and she finished the four game series with six points, including a three-point night with a goal and two assists in game two.

Gophers' captain Abbey Murphy showcased her talents on the national stage by finishing with eight points. She scored a hat trick in game one and had four points in a dominant 10-4 win in game three.

Edwards is still playing as a defender at times with Wisconsin and returned to play as a forward in late November. Regardless of what position she plays, her talent easily transfers when playing defense with the national team, and her ability to play wherever she's needed will continue to be useful for a team like the U.S. and the defending national champ Badgers. Murphy is finishing up her final season of college hockey and she is definitely in contention for being a top-three pick in the PWHL draft. She's playing so well amongst other pros and has been lethal this season with the Gophers, too. I see pick number two at the draft this summer.

Interesting Story

St. Cloud State hosted Wisconsin on Nov. 15 and had an appearance from former Husky and current Minnesota Frost forward Klára Hymlárová. The Walter Cup was also in attendance and fans were able to meet Klára, the cup, and the current women's hockey team. That's not all! It was also a Sophie's Squad game. The nonprofit organization aims to provide education and awareness to improve the mental health of athletes. Both teams took part in the ceremonial puck drop to bring awareness to Sophie's Squad. Being able to bring together young hockey players and provide them information and fun activities is a great way to not only help grow the game, but to also bridge talking about tough topics such as mental health. Good on the Huskies and St. Cloud State for finding a way to do so!

You can learn more about Sophie's Squad on their site here.

Notable Moments

• Bemidji State pulled off an upset and defeated then-No. 14 St. Thomas on Nov. 8. It was their first win against a ranked opponent since 2022.
• The Beavers had the second-fastest goal scored to open a game when Morgan Smith scored 15 seconds into the game against Minnesota on Nov. 14.
• Speaking of that game, it was the Gophers' annual Field Trip Day game. If you’re not aware, teams will give out tickets for games at an earlier start time than usual so schools can take kids to watch a hockey game during normal school hours. Well, they gave out so many tickets that they moved the game from Ridder Arena to Mariucci to accommodate the number of tickets handed out, and that’s pretty cool!
• St. Cloud freshman forward Maria Mikaelyan had a two-goal game in November and a three assist game in December. The rookie is tied for third on the team in points with 13.
• Wisconsin’s Kirsten Simms recorded her 200th career point on Nov. 15.

• Caroline Harvey recorded her 168th career point during the Smashville Tournament, which made her the defender with the most points in WCHA history.
• St. Cloud’s Sydney Lamb scored her first NCAA goal against Wisconsin.
• After sweeping Minnesota in late November, the Mavericks made their USCHO rankings debut this season at number 15 on Nov. 24 and have remained ranked since.
• Then number 15 St. Thomas took number one overall Wisconsin to overtime on Nov. 21, though they fell 4-3. Goaltender Julia Minotti made a career-high 47 saves in that game!
• The Huskies also took the Badgers into overtime, giving the top-ranked team in the country some scares in the middle of November.
• Ohio State’s Hilda Svensson recorded her first career hat trick in the Buckeyes’ win over Clarkson on Nov. 28 at the D1 in DC Tournament.
• St. Cloud’s Sofianna Sundelin also recorded a hat trick in that same tournament against Colgate. What a great showing for the WCHA out at the U.S. capital.

• Minnesota State’s goaltenders had an incredible month of November. Hailey Hansen played a major role in the sweep of Minnesota while Kaydence Roeske recorded a shutout and helped lead the team to back-to-back weekend sweeps.
• Wisconsin had two hat tricks in the same game against Stonehill.
• Maggie Scannell helped break the record for most goals scored in a game by the Badgers, when she put goal 17 into the net in that same game.
• Minnesota’s Josefin Bouveng reached 50 career goals on Dec. 5.
• Abbey Murphy has everything going for her this season with goal-scoring prowess in the NCAA and in the Rivalry Series with Team USA. She became the all-time Gopher Women’s Hockey program leader in game-winning goals with 25.

Something You May Have Missed

It was a typical WCHA matchup in the state of Minnesota on the weekend of Nov. 14 and 15. Bemidji State paid a visit to play Minnesota in Minneapolis. You may have seen a player on each team with the last name Kaiser spelled across the back. You may have thought they were related, sisters, maybe even cousins—but you’d be mistaken. The Gophers’ senior forward Madison Kaiser played against the Beavers’ freshman forward Maddie Kaiser. Talk about seeing double. Both players recorded at least one point in game two of the series, when Maddie scored a goal and Madison recorded three assists. She also scored a goal but it was waved off due to goalie interference. No fun!

Looking Ahead

Wisconsin and Minnesota meet once again at the end of January for the latest installment of the Border Battle. How many goals will Abbey Murphy score? Who on Wisconsin will come the closest to scoring a hat trick? Will Hannah Clark or Ava McNaughton prevail in goal? We shall see!

You can check out the full WCHA schedule here.