Western Collegiate Hockey Association Sara R. Martin Commissioner C 303 808-9366 • F 608 829-0200 [email protected] Bill Brophy Women’s Public Relations Director O 608 277-0282 • C 303 330-5468 [email protected] March 26, 2014/For Immediate Release WCHA Administrative Office WCHA Regular Season and WCHA Playoff MSC 8302, WCHA Champion Minnesota Comes Up Just Short in 2014 2211 S. Josephine Street Denver, CO 80208-8302 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four Title Contest; League’s O 303 871-4491 • F 303 871-4770 Bruce M. McLeod Run of 14 Straight National Crowns Halted Commissioner Gophers Drop 5-4 Decision to Clarkson in March 23 Frozen Four [email protected] Carol LaBelle-Ehrhardt Championship Game in Hamden, CT; Wisconsin Falls to Minnesota in Associate Commissioner of Operations National Semifinal; Four WCHA Players Earn All-American Honors … [email protected] First Teamers are UW’s Rigsby and UM’s Ramsey and Brandt while Greg Shepherd Supervisor of Officials Gophers’ McMillen is Second Team Honoree; Minnesota’s Brad Frost O/F 651 330-5131 Repeats as Division 1 National Coach of the Year; Final Women’s [email protected] National Poll for 2013-14 Has Minnesota No. 2, Wisconsin No. 3, Doug Spencer Associate Commissioner for PR North Dakota No. 8; WCHA Teams Fashion Combined 31-12-2 Non- O 608 829-0100 • C 303 475-9283 Conference Mark [email protected] MADISON, WI – Another memorable campaign in the women’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association Women’s Member Teams concluded on Sunday, March 23 with two-time defending national champion Minnesota being upended Bemidji State University University of Minnesota by Clarkson by just a single goal, 5-4, in the 2014 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four title contest in Hamden, CT. University of Minnesota Duluth The loss put an end to the WCHA’s record streak of 14 consecutive national championships. Minnesota State University But despite that setback, the league and its eight member teams gave fans plenty of highlights through- University of North Dakota out the season. Minnesota (38-2-1), after claiming both the regular season and WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF Ohio State University championships, made its third straight Frozen Four appearance and 10th overall, pushing its unbeaten St. Cloud State University University of Wisconsin streak to 26 games (25-0-1) before the loss to Clarkson. UM, sporting a 87-2-1 record spanning the past three seasons, has won five national titles –in 2000, 2004, 2005, 2012 and 2013. Home of a Record 14 Wisconsin, which finished 28-8-2 overall, also made another trip to the NCAA Frozen Four, dropping a National Championship 5-3 decision to the Gophers in a national semifinal on March 21. The Badgers, who are now 17-4 in NCAA Teams post-season play, made their seventh trip to the Frozen Four. Wisconsin has won four NCAA titles – in 2006, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011. 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, Individually, top honors went to Minnesota head coach Brad Frost as Div. 1 national coach of the year 2012, 2013 for the second straight season and to four WCHA member-team players as 2013-14 CCM Hockey Div. 1 Ice Hockey All-Americans. Named to the First Team were goaltender Alex Rigsby of Wisconsin, defenseman 2014 WCHA Rachel Ramsey of Minnesota, and forward Hannah Brandt of Minnesota. Second Team All-American acclaim FINAL FACE-OFF March 7-8 was bestowed on Gophers’ defenseman Milica McMillen. Sanford Center • Bemidji, MN con't visit us on the web at: wcha.com 2013-14 WCHA Standings wcha.com/mobile Conference Only Overall Pts GP W L T SW Win% GF- GA GP W L T Win% GF- GA 1 Minnesota 79 28 26- 1- 1 0 .946 128- 29 41 38- 2- 1 .939 195- 49 2 Wisconsin 66 28 21- 5- 2 1 .786 86- 33 38 28- 8- 2 .763 114- 47 3 North Dakota 48 28 14-10- 4 2 .571 73- 63 36 20-12- 4 .611 96- 74 4 Minnesota Duluth 43 28 11-11- 6 4 .500 56- 65 36 15-15- 6 .500 85- 84 5 Ohio State 34 28 9-14- 5 2 .411 56- 75 37 15-17- 5 .473 82- 90 6 Bemidji State 29 28 8-17- 3 2 .339 47- 88 36 11-21- 4 .361 64-104 7 Minnesota State 22 28 7-20- 1 0 .268 46- 92 37 13-23- 1 .365 71-106 8 St. Cloud State 15 28 3-21- 4 2 .179 40- 87 36 4-27- 5 .181 48-111 (shootout win = 1 additional point) WCHA W Release • Week 26 • 032614 Brandt was also named one of three finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Winning gold medals were forward Natalie Spooner of Ohio State, Memorial Award, which ultimately went to Clarkson forward Jamie defenseman Meghan Mikkelson of Wisconsin and Jocelyne Larocque Lee Rattray. of Minnesota Duluth and ex-UMD forwards Haley Irwin and Caroline Conference champion Minnesota dominated the league’s post-season Ouelette, who was team captain. In all, 34 current and former WCHA awards, which were announced March 6 at an awards ceremony held players competed in the Olympic Winter Games, with North Dakota’s in conjunction with the WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF in Bemidji, Minn. The Michelle Karvinen being named the top forward in the tournamen Gophers placed four players on the All-WCHA First Team as selected by while Minnesota’s Amanda Kessel and Megan Bozek and Wisconsin’s coaches and team captains and the Gophers also had players who were Hilary Knight were All-Stars. named WCHA Player of the Year, WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete The final WCHA standings showed Minnesota repeating as regular of the Year, WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and WCHA Rookie of season champions with a 26-1-1 mark and 79 points in 28 games. the Year. Wisconsin (21-5-2-1, 66 points) placed second, North Dakota (14-10-4-2, UM’s Hannah Brandt, a sophomore forward who scored 14 goals 48 points) was third, Minnesota Duluth (11-11-6-4, 43 points)finished and 26 assists for 40 points in 28 conference games, was named the fourth, Ohio State (9-14-5-2, 34 points) was fifth, Bemidji State (8-17- WCHA Player of the Year and also earned the league scoring title. 3-2, 29 points) was sixth, Minnesota State (7-20-1, 22 points) placed Minnesota forward Kelly Terry was honored as the WCHA Outstanding seventh and St. Cloud State (3-21-4-2, 15 points) was eighth. Student-Athlete of the Year. She produced over 30 points in each of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth all her four seasons at UM, has a grade-point average of 3.42 (4.0 scale), won their first round WCHA playoff series and advanced to the WCHA majoring in Biology, and intends to go to medical school in hopes FINAL FACE-OFF, held for the first time at Sanford Center in Bemidji. of becoming a doctor. She is a four-time University of Minnesota The Gophers won their third straight league playoff crown with a 3-1 Scholar-Athlete, a WCHA Scholar-Athlete in both 2013 and 2014 and victory over UND in the championship contest. a three-time member of the WCHA All-Academic Team. In the final USCHO.com Div. 1 Women’s College Hockey Poll issued Chosen by the head coaches as WCHA Defensive Player of the Year March 24, Minnesota was ranked No. 2, Wisconsin was No. 3 and was Minnesota defenseman Rachael Ramsey while Gophers’ forward North Dakota was No. 8. Dani Cameranesi, who was the top scoring freshman in the WCHA with In non-conference competition in 2013-14, Western Collegiate 14 goals, 10 assists and 24 points, was named the WCHA Rookie of Hockey Association-member teams went a combined 31-12-2 (.722) the Year. The WCHA goaltending champion for 2013-14 was Wisconsin through 45 non-conference games. The WCHA was 15-4-1 (.775) vs. freshman Ann-Renée Desbiens, who had a 0.97 goals-against average, College Hockey America, 8-5-1 (.607) vs. ECAC Hockey and 8-3-0 (.727) was 9-1-0 in league action, and also owned the top save percentage vs. the Hockey East Association. in WCHA play at .961. The WCHA Coach of the Year Award went to Minnesota’s Brad March 23, 2014 Frost, who led the Gophers to a 26-1-1 conference record and to both Minnesota Falls to Clarkson in NCAA the regular season and playoff championships. This marks the fourth time Frost has been named the league’s coach of the year, with his Frozen Four Championship Game first honor coming in 2007-08 and the second in 2008-09 when he HAMDEN, CT – Clarkson brought an end to a couple streaks Sunday was co-coach of the year (with UW’s Mark Johnson). Frost also won and won the women’s national hockey championship. the award in 2012-13 when his team had the only perfect season in Clarkson scored two third period goals and ended Minnesota’s women’s college hockey history. two-year reign atop women’s college hockey, defeating the two-time Brandt was the only repeat member of the All-WCHA First Team. She Western Collegiate Hockey Association champions, 5-4 before 3,573 was joined at forward by teammate Kelly Terry and the University of fans in the National Collegiate Athletic Association title game at the North Dakota’s Michelle Karvinen, who played for Team Finland and was TD Bank Sport Center.