WHKY: A letter to WCHA women's hockey

Dear WCHA Women’s Hockey,

We’ve been friends for several years now and it’s been wonderful watching some of the best and most dominant women’s hockey teams in the country under the umbrella of the WCHA. But this weekend’s Final Face-Off left me a little blue.

I spent my Saturday at the Ralph Engelstad Arena watching a two quality women’s hockey games, but I was still left wanting something a little more.  During intermission I wondered why there weren’t any intermission games. No videos before or after honoring previous winners or highlighting the successes or WCHA alumni, coaching staff or programs. How about highlighting the WCHA nominees for the Patty Kaz award? WCHA women’s hockey has so much to be proud of. Why not showcase it?

If you walked around the arena, it didn’t make you feel as if you were in a tournament atmosphere. I know these are little things that might cost a little money and time, but I think it’s worth creating a fan atmosphere.

Maybe the lack of fan engagement is a dollar and cents situation. And I get it, the Final Face-Off can’t be compared to the money or atmosphere of the WCHA Final Five, but the WCHA can do better for women’s hockey. It has to do better. You should strive to be like the Final Five of yester-year even if it seems like an impossible goal. In the same way you ask student-athletes to elevate their game on ice and in the classroom, I’m asking you to do the same for the fan experience.

I applaud the effort to offer the free youth clinic on Saturday morning. I can appreciate the fact that this was an excellent opportunity to advance girls’ hockey. I hope the attendees had an unforgettable experience.

An event such as the Final Face-Off has two opportunities: help grow girls’ hockey and increase and sustain the fan base. You have an exceptional product on the ice. Make the event unforgettable for fans, not just the players.

Sincerely,

Jackie – a WCHA women’s hockey fan

UND Takes on OSU in WCHA First Round

The regular season is now over in NCAA Women's Hockey as conference playoff first rounds begin to fire up this weekend. For North Dakota, the stars seemingly are starting to get together and making the NCAA tournament a near reality this season.

With UND being the third seed, they get the advantage of home ice yet again this season in the first round with their opponent being Ohio State this weekend. Last time against OSU, goaltender Shelby Amsley-Benzie pitched back to back shutouts and now has eight since the turn to 2015, one of which was a 3-0 shutout against the "mighty" Minnesota Gophers.

One added bonus for UND this season is the WCHA Final Faceoff is at Ralph Engelstad Arena this season. The UND ladies need to take advantage of this bonus home ice if they wish to sneak into the NCAA tournament.

Along with the stout goaltending of Shelby Amsley-Benzie, the depth of scoring on the roster is quite remarkable. Every player who has suited up for one game this season has recorded at least one point, and this includes goalie Amsley-Benzie who has one assist on the season. There are also five players above the 20 point mark on the season. Both senior forwards, Captain Andrea Dalen, and Josefine Jakobsen are among the top five in scoring. Jakobsen does hold the team lead in goals with 15.

In order for UND to advance to the Final Faceoff next weekend, North Dakota needs to continue to have great goaltending, and they also need their seniors to lead the way and keep the sense of urgency alive, although still showing some composure by staying out of the penalty box.

UND wins this series 2 games to 0, but both wins are one goal games, two if an empty net goal is scored.

UND Women vs. RIT game 2

[Link for the chat]

UND Forward lines

3 Michelle Karvinen – 63 Josefine Jakobsen – 25 Leah Jensen

19 Meghan Dufault – 17 Jocelyne Lamoureux (C) – 51 Becca Kohler

6 Allison Parizek – 2 Mary Loken – 15 Megan Gilbert

 No Player – 11 Shannon Kaiser –– 13 Layla Marvin

UND Defensive parings

22 Tanja Eisenschmid – 18 Monique Lamoureux (A)

7 Jordan Slavin – 8 Samantha Hanson

16 Tori Willaims – 9 Kayla Berg

4 Sam Lashomb 

UND goalies

1 Shelby Amsley-Benzie

30 Jorid Dagfinrud

33 Michelle Bonapace-Potvin

RIT Tigers Forward lines 

6 Tenecia Hiller (A) – 10 Kim Schlattman (C) – 23 Lindsay Grigg

8 Ariane Yokoyama (A) – 26 Kortney Kunichika 24 Chelste Brown

17 Carly Payerl – 20 Erin Zach – 22 Katire Hubert

27 Jess Paton – 18 Julie Hall – 19 Marissa Maugeri 

Tiger Defensive Parings 

4 Kristina Moss – 2 Danielle Read

3 Morgan Scoyne – 21 Emilee Bulleid

11 Ellesha Fortuna 28 Melissa Bromley

Tiger Goalies

39 Ali Binnington

35 Laura Chamberlain 

Officials:

Referees: Robert Ludwig, Shawn Thiele

Linesmen: Aaron Story, Josh Brown 

Game Time Keeper Erik Martinson (StatsonCrack)