The last week in women’s college hockey saw some of the nation’s top teams keep up their torrid paces while others stumbled, leading to some jockeying in the Power 10 rankings.
A brief reminder: These rankings are mine alone, and I base them on a combination of the PairWise (NPI), strength of schedule, recent results and trends that have emerged over the course of the season. New rankings will come out every other week until the women’s hockey tournament begins in March.
With that in mind, here is this week’s Power 10:
1. Ohio State (1) — The Buckeyes (22-2-2, 17-2-1 WCHA) are showing no signs of slowing down, winning eight straight. OSU has shown the ability to win every which way this season, sweeping Wisconsin with a 2-1 win and overtime before a 5-0 drubbing in Game 2 two weeks ago. They followed it up with a sweep of St. Cloud State this past weekend, rolling to a 6-2 victory in Game 1, then winning 3-2 in overtime the following day. Few teams have answers for the likes of Sophie Jaques, Jennifer Gardiner and co. They have a chance to keep it up at Minnesota State this weekend before their toughest regular season challenge remaining in a series at Minnesota.
OT| BUCKEYE GOAL! 🚨@jenngardiner12 with the overtime game winner!#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/nrXJc7dPuE
— Ohio State Women’s Hockey (@OhioStateWHKY) January 21, 2023
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2. Yale (2) — The Bulldogs (19-1-1, 9-1-1 ECAC) have won 11 straight, most recently knocking off arguably the stiffest competition in-conference in Quinnipiac with a 4-2 road win on Saturday. Yale hasn’t allowed more than two goals since an 0-1-1 weekend against then-No. 10 Cornell and No. 6 Colgate, giving up more than two goals just three times on the season. They’re averaging 4.09 goals per game over the streak, allowing less than one per game (0.82). They’ll face St. Lawrence on Friday before a test against No. 9 Clarkson on Saturday.
3. Minnesota (3) — Much like their peers at the top of the rankings, the Golden Gophers (20-3-2, 17-1-2-2 WCHA) are in the midst of a big winning streak of their own, taking 10 straight. They made light work of St. Thomas and Bemidji State over the last two weeks, outscoring the opposition 20-2 over the four games. Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle have taken off in the second half, with Heise (20-27–47) leading the nation in points and Zumwinkle (21-24–45) topping the goal totals. The next three weeks will be a grind with Minnesota Duluth, Ohio State and Wisconsin on tap.
No. 2-1 for 1-2! pic.twitter.com/ugC2yFKg0s
— Minnesota Women’s Hockey (@GopherWHockey) January 21, 2023
4. Northeastern (6) — The Huskies (23-2-1, 19-2-1 HEA) are absolutely rolling. They’ve won 11 in a row, last falling to No. 13 Providence on Nov. 15. The most difficulty they’ve had in this streak was a 1-0 overtime win against Boston College two Friday’s ago. Since, they knocked off Maine with a 5-0 win, took care of Merrimack in a 3-1 victory and beat No. 11 Vermont, 3-1, last time out. The streak should continue when they host Holy Cross on Friday before a midweek game with New Hampshire on Feb. 2 gives them an opportunity to take momentum into the Beanpot.
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5. Quinnipiac (4) — The Bobcats (23-4-0, 13-2-0 ECAC) stumbled in their loss to Yale on Saturday, going down 4-0 early before a failed comeback in the third period. Prior to the loss, QU had won six in a row, including wins over No. 5 Colgate and former No. 9 Cornell. Quinnipiac will be just fine in the long run, but their second loss this season to Yale, their biggest hurdle in the ECAC, should be concerning come the postseason. They get a chance to bounce back this weekend in a series against an underperforming Princeton team looking to snap a four-game losing streak.
6. Colgate (5) — Another ECAC team looking to challenge Yale, the Raiders (20-4-1, 10-3-0 ECAC) have struggled against some of the top contenders lately. Colgate lost to Quinnipiac for the second time this season two Fridays ago before dropping Game 2 against Cornell 4-2 this past Saturday, which followed a 9-3 win in Game 1. The Raiders do have a win under their belts against Yale, for what it’s worth, though. They have a good opportunity to bounce back this weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard before a series with St. Lawrence the next week.
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7. Minnesota Duluth (7) — The Bulldogs (19-6-1, 13-6-1 WCHA) took care of business in series with Bemidji State and St. Thomas the last two weekends, sweeping both to extend their winning streak to six. They outscored the Beavers 13-1 in two games before an 8-1 differential over the Tommies. UMD has put up three shutouts during the streak, which started with a sweep of Wisconsin, allowing just one goal in the other three games. They host Minnesota this weekend in their most difficult series for the remainder of the regular season.
With this pass to Anneke Linser, Gabbie Hughes becomes the seventh player to reach the 200 career point mark at UMD! pic.twitter.com/rU0zU7iMZN
— UMD Women’s Hockey (@UMDWHockey) January 22, 2023
8. Wisconsin (8) — The Badgers (18-7-1, 14-5-1 WCHA) followed up a stunning sweep at Duluth with a sweep at the hands of Ohio State two weekends ago, leading in Game 1 before the 2-1 overtime loss and eventually falling flat in Game 2, 5-0. They got back on track this past weekend with a wire-to-wire sweep of Minnesota State to snap their five-game losing streak, exploding with a 6-0 win in Saturday’s finale. Their next two series against St. Thomas and St. Cloud offer an opportunity to keep the wins going before a gauntlet vs. OSU and Minnesota to end the season.
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9. Clarkson (10) — The Golden Knights (20-6-2, 9-4-1 ECAC) are unbeaten in five straight, going 4-0-1 since a loss to Yale on Jan. 6. They took care of RPI, 2-1, and Union, 7-0, before a 2-2 tie and 3-1 win in a home-and-home with St. Lawrence. Clarkson has given up more than two goals once, and more than one twice since the start of December, averaging 1.13 goals-against in the nine games. After a road game at Brown this coming Friday, their schedule ramps up significantly as they visit Yale on Saturday before hosting Cornell and Colgate the following week.
10. Cornell (9) — The Big Red (12-7-2, 9-4-1 ECAC) have bounced back from a 1-4-2 stretch to close the first semester with a 5-2-0 run to start the second semester. Two of those losses were by way of blowout, losing 6-1 to Quinnipiac on Sat., Jan. 14, before a 9-3 result at Colgate on Friday. They responded nicely to both, beating Syracuse 4-1 last Tuesday before a 4-2 win on Saturday to split the series with the Raiders. Cornell’s schedule lightens up considerably the rest of the way, save for matchups with Clarkson and Yale, giving them a chance to go on a run heading into the conference tournament.
