A Deep Dive into Next Season’s First-Year NCAA Division I Players
With the addition of the University of Delaware, there are now 45 programs across the five divisions of NCAA Division I women’s college hockey. To date, 363 players from the United States, Canada, and Europe have committed to these schools to begin their college hockey careers next fall. American players make up 57% of the total commitments, with Canadian players comprising 39% and European players making up roughly 5%.
For Americans, the largest percentage of players come from hockey academies and private schools (52%), mostly in the traditional hockey regions of New England and Minnesota. In comparison, 29% come from AAA club programs, and 19% come from Minnesota public high schools.
Of the American hockey academies, Bishop Kearney (BK), the North American Hockey Academy (NAHA), and Shattuck-St. Mary’s led the way with 10 commitments each. Other schools with strong showings include the Northwood School (7), Lovell Academy (11), and Benilde St. Margaret’s (5). BK’s Annabella Fanale, who captained the Team USA U18 World Championship team this year and put up 9 points in the 6-game tournament, will be skating for the Minnesota Gophers in the fall. Highly-touted prospects Mikah Keller and Kassidy Carmichael from NAHA will be playing for Penn State and Ohio State, respectively.. High-scoring Shattuck’s forward Nina Rossi will be playing for the University of New Hampshire next year.
New England prep schools accounted for 42 commitments for the class of 2025, with Buckingham Browne and Nichols leading with 5, followed by Thayer Academy with 4, and Dexter Southfield, the Kent School, and Williston-Northampton with 3 commitments each. Noble’s star Molly MacCurtain will be heading to Northeastern this fall, bringing her scoring touch with her. Harvard will be welcoming Thayer Academy captain and USA U18 World Championship gold medalist Morgan McGathey, who scored 53 points in 26 games last season for the Tigers. Like many prep school players in New England, MacCurtain and McGathey also played club hockey, both for the East Coast Wizards.
The East Coast Wizards led American AAA club teams with 11 commitments, followed by the Philadelphia Junior Flyers with 9, and the Chicago Mission with 8. Other clubs with multiple commitments included Belle Tire (5), Little Caesar’s (5), Ironbound (5), and the Connecticut Jr. Rangers and Mid-Fairfield Stars with 4. The Junior Flyers’ Ava Thomas, who dominated the Junior Women’s Hockey League in recent years and who was a standout with the USA U18 team, will be heading to Boston to play for the Eagles in the fall. The Chicago Mission’s Gorbatenko sisters, Nicole and Rachel, will join their sister Kelly at the University of Wisconsin next season.
Minnesota public schools accounted for 39 college commitments for the class of 2025, which is roughly 19% of the national total. Minnetonka High School led the state with 7 college commitments, followed by Andover (5), Edina (3), and Orono (3). Over half (54%) of Minnesota players elected to play NCAA hockey in-state at Minnesota State Mankato (7), St. Thomas (6), Bemidji State (3), University of Minnesota (2), St. Cloud State (2), and UMD (1). Mercury Bischoff of Grand Rapids Greenway, who will be taking her talents to Minnesota State Mankato next year, led the state in scoring with 58 goals and 86 points. Dodge County’s Ida Huber (Long Island University) posted a 0.88 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage, the best among all Minnesota goaltenders.
For Canadian players, an overwhelming number of commitments (61%) came from the powerful Ontario Women’s Hockey League (OWHL). The Etobicoke Dolphins led the way with 10 players, followed by the Mississauga Hurricanes with 9, the Durham West Lightning with 7, Burlington, Nepean, and Stoney Creek with 6 each, and Barrie, the Ontario Hockey Academy (OHA), and the Ottawa Lady Senators with 5 each. Mississauga also led all North American programs with 5 players committed to Top-10 ranked NCAA schools. Hurricanes forward Maxine Cimoroni, who will be playing for Ohio State next season, led the league with a gaudy 86 points in 40 games. Etobicoke’s Rylan Haslam, one of four Dolphins to end up in the top ten for points, finished second in league scoring with 73 points and will begin her career at St. Lawrence in the fall.
For Canadian private schools and hockey academies, which made up 29% of all Canadian commitments, the RINK Hockey Academy led all schools with 12. Stanstead College and John Abbot College each produced 5 college commitments, followed by the Shawnigan Lake School and Delta Academy with 4 commitments each. Stanstead center Maxim Tremblay, who put up astounding offensive numbers for her team last year, takes her talents to Boston College. RINK defender Danica Maynard, who gained international experience with Canada’s gold medal-winning U18 Women’s World Championship team this year, will bring her play-driving offense to Penn State.
Canadian AAA club teams were led by the Edmonton Jr. Oilers, who boast 6 NCAA commitments. Forward Layla Matthew and Defender Ciara Lang will head to Clarkson in the fall. Quebec’s Limoilou Titans goaltender Emma Rheaume (Union) put up a .922 save percentage last year, and forward Julianne Labbe (St. Cloud State) scored 49 points in 30 games this season.
Of the 17 European players committed to play Division I NCAA hockey next year, 9 played for clubs in Sweden last year. Hilda Svennsson and Jenna Raunio, both coming from the HV 71 program of the SDHL, Sweden’s elite women’s hockey league, will be playing for Ohio State. Another cohort of highly talented Czech players with significant international experience will be making their way to NCAA campuses this fall as well. Barbora Proskova (RPI), Tereza Plosova (Minnesota), Linda Vocetkova (Colgate), Adela Sapovalivova (Wisconsin), and goaltender Barbora Dalecka (Sacred Heart) have all been a part of Czeckia’s U18 and senior teams for the last few years and will look to make big impacts on their college lineups.
By Frank Mills, Women’s Hockey Scout, Neutral Zone