2024-25 NCAA Preview: Hockey East

Oh Hockey East. I think it’s fair to say this is a complicated conference – some teams could perform really well, and some teams will probably not. But there’s a lot to be excited about in the conference, from No. 1 to No. 10. Why? Well let’s see. 

First Time Champions Back Again

UConn 2023-24: 25-8-5 overall, 19-4-4 in conference
Scoring and goaltending wasn’t a concern for the UConn Huskies this time a year ago. This is a team that scored on average 2.4 goals a game in 2023-24, in a league that was not high scoring overall. Combine that with the outstanding goaltending from Tia Chan and Megan Warrener, and it was a perfect match. 

That perfect match has all the makings to continue for another season. Offensively, Jada Habisch is returning for her fifth season in Storrs. The forward’s 17 goals and 28 points led the team in both categories a season ago, and getting her dynamic play on the ice once again is massive for the Huskies. 

Add in the return of Riley Grimley (19 points), Brooke Campbell (18 points) and freshman standout Ashely Allard (16 points), and things look pretty bright. Still, replacing the 24 points of Coryn Tormala and the 18 from Kathryn Stockdale might be a little more difficult after they departed the program this offseason.

Now, my biggest concern with UConn is on the blueline. Both Warrener and Chan returning for the year is great news goaltending-wise. However, they are losing not one, not two, but three of their biggest pieces from the defensive core – Camryn Wong, Claire Peterson, and Ainsley Svetek. Losing the trio in one go following their graduate seasons, with their combined 122 blocks and 27 points, is hard to come back from. 

Bringing in Sophie Robinson from Dartmouth provides some veteran presence alongside rising-senior Ava Rinker, a solid defender in her own right. Another year of development as well from now-sophomore Maya Serdachny will be crucial, as her game in particular stood out as the team made their run to the NCAA tournament. 

It all comes down to if Chan and Warrener can produce at the same level we saw last year. If so, UConn will once again be a hard team to beat. The two combined had a save percentage over 94 percent – hard to score against, harder to replicate. The two do have a track record of performing at this level, however. Watching them should be entertaining at the very least, unless of course you’re the team on the other side of the ice. 

Huntington Huskies 

Northeastern 2023-24: 25-11-3 overall, 16-8-3 in conference
There’s a lot of changes for Northeastern heading into 2024-25, including the departure of their entire leadership core. They will be retaining some familiar faces, including last year’s leading scorer Skylar Irving (13 goals, 35 points), and now-captain Taze Thompson (20 points). 

Defensively the majority of the core is back for another season, outside of reigning Hockey East Defender of the Year (and last season's captain) Megan Carter, and Abbey Marohn who will not return for a fifth year. 

The blueline group for this season includes Jules Constantinople, who after a great rookie campaign only got better throughout her sophomore year. Plus, the group coming in shows a lot of promise, including Tuva Kandell who brings SDHL experience, and Tristan Thompson, the 6’1” defender from Ontario. 

The biggest question — if you can even call it that — for the Huskies is the goaltending job. Not every program can say they went from Aerin Frankel to Gwyneth Philips for seven seasons, but Northeastern did. Now, the next in line appears to be Swedish netminder Lisa Jönsson, who is primed and ready to take over the starting job after spending the last several seasons in the SDHL. 

What’s really going to be crucial for Northeastern is scoring. Last season was a slog to start, which was to be expected because, hey, replacing a line of 50+ point scorers is borderline impossible. However, a drop from 3.8 goals per game to just 2.4 is something that needs to be improved upon. By the end of the season the team had adjusted their plan for scoring, and growing on that is critical to bounce back to the top spot of the conference. 

While this definitely is not the same Huskies dynasty that won six-straight Hockey East titles, they’re still very much in contention for the top spot once again. If everything pans out the way they’re expected to, Northeastern will be back up in the top half for another year. 

Third Spot — A Toss Up For the Ages 

Here’s where things get a bit more complicated. 

While the league doesn’t have as many nationally ranked teams as other conferences, it’s not because the programs don’t compete against each other to the highest degree. So when it comes to predicting who's going to finish third this season, it's not a walk in the park. 

UNH 2023-24: 18-16-2 overall, 14-11-2 in conference
Last year’s number three, the University of New Hampshire, is a great top-5 candidate and probably the best bet for third; however, the turnover that the roster has undergone this summer gives me a bit of pause for how easy that path would be. 

Rae Breton, one of the best defenders in the conference, has no eligibility remaining. Additionally, former captains Charli Kettyle (who departed the blueline for Syracuse) and third-highest scorer Annie Berry (18 points) are not returning.

Goaltender Sedona Blair, who had some of the best numbers in the conference last season, is expected to return for her sophomore year. The transfers they brought in on defense — Andi Calderone from BU, Maddie Crowley-Cahill from BC, and Sara Boucher from Mercyhurst — should also bolster the blueline. Retaining Kira Juodikis, who had 15 goals and 25 points in 36 games last season is crucial, alongside Chavonne Truter (15 points), and Shea Verrier (24 points).

With the goaltending squared away with Blair, I’d like to see the Wildcats improve upon their power play, which dropped in efficiency from 22.1 percent to 14.8 percent from 2022-23 to 2023-24. While the team made great improvements on the penalty kill, in a lower-scoring league like Hockey East, that power play is critical.

BC 2023-24: 15-14-7 overall, 13-9-5 in conference
Boston College is the other team I could see in the third spot. They’re not losing many big names outside of second-leading scorer Sammy Smigliani, Caroline Goffredo, and Sidney Fess. 

Top-scorer and Hockey East Rookie of the Year Sammy Taber is returning to the team, alongside now-senior captain Abby Newhook, and third-highest scorer Gaby Roy for her fifth season. If that trio can improve upon their offensive production from a year ago, I think it’s a recipe for success for the Eagles.

The team opted to not bring in any transfers for the season, but they have a decently sized freshman group instead. This includes former Shattuck St. Mary’s captain Lauren Glaser, who put up 44 points in 55 games last year at the prep level, and defender Skyler Sharfman, who has had impressive numbers in AAA the last three seasons. 

In net is Grace Campbell, who in 36 games last year posted a .923 save percentage, good for fifth-best in the conference and the best number of the returning goaltenders in Hockey East this season. If she can improve upon that, and if the team largely performs the way they did last year, it’s another year in the top-five for BC. The real question is going to be next season, with the amount of turnover this team is expecting. But this year, I think they’ll be fine. 

The Dark Horses

Providence 2023-24: 13-17-5 overall, 12-10-5 in conference
These are the teams that are hit-or-miss in contention for the top five spots. This includes Providence, who had a lot of expectations that they really couldn’t meet for the majority of the year a season ago. Whether it be injuries or just an overall inability to mesh to start the season, Fall 2023 was not kind to the Friars. 

The good news is that Hope Walinski, after a poor start to the year, really turned it on in the back half. If she’s able to continue at the rate she was at between the end of January and the last game of the season, it bodes well for Providence goaltending-wise. We’re only 18 months removed from her run with the Friars to the tournament title game, and a .917 last year is nothing to turn your nose up at.

Similar to UNH, the Friars' power play needs to be a focus point. While the Wildcats may have seen a steep drop off from one year to the next, Providence hasn’t been successful in years, and 2023-24 was their lowest point. Their 8.3 percent conversion was dead last in the conference, and second-worst in the entire nation behind only Bemidji State. 

Hopefully the additions of Millie Sirum (Holy Cross) and Sarah Davies (Lindenwood) can provide some help on the player-advantage. Davies in particular led her previous club last year as a defender with seven power-play tallies.

Losing Lindsay Bochna (18 points) and Rachel Weiss (19 points) in the off-season is tough offensively though. I’d expect Audrey Knapp and Reichen Kirchmair in larger roles this season, and that might be more beneficial than anything for the team. 

UVM 2023-24: 13-17-5 overall, 11-12-4 in conference
I wrestled a lot with Vermont. Originally I had them finishing third, but after looking at it more in-depth, there are a few too many question marks for me in the lineup. 

Jessie McPherson is a solid goaltender, as shown by how successful UVM was in the first few years of her time as a Catamount. Losing her to the transfer portal is hard to come back from — and yet the team did with former Wisconsin Badger Jane Gervais.

The fifth-year transfer finished last season with a .921 SV%, and though she’s never had a full time starting role, slotting her in a rotating group with both Ellie Simmons and Sydney Correa (who both saw time a year ago due to McPherson being out) could pay off in spades. 

It’ll come down to how well the defense can step up following the loss of Sara Levesque, Bella Parento, and Krista Parkkonen, and in how well the team can replace the scoring Natálie Mlýnková provided. No easy feat considering she had 11 more points (32) than her next closest teammate, Evelyne Blais-Savoie (21), although Blais-Savoie’s strength in the faceoff dot arguably outweighs her ability to show up on the score sheet. 

I’m interested in how the transfers, specifically Kyla Bent (UNH) and Ashley Kokavec (Maine) fare defensively, and I’d keep an eye out for freshman forward Maisey Bojarski to see how she progresses into the NCAA after an outstanding season in the NAHA. 

BU 2023-24: 14-18-3 overall, 12-14-1 in conference 
Boston University is a bit of a gray area. They could be really good! But they also could be about where they were last year, or maybe even lower. 

There’s no way to sugar coat it – losing Brooke Disher is bad. Losing senior defenders Madison Cardaci and Andi Calderone is even worse. Bringing in Riley Walsh offensively is great, and so is the addition of Lindsay Bochna. But otherwise, there’s just not much about BU that gets me excited.

Callie Shanahan is a capable goaltender, don’t get me wrong. Her .911 SV% last season in 13 games should be improved upon as she enters her final season as the expected starter. Combine her skill and the BU penalty kill, which last season was outstanding with a 91.1% kill rate, it could make scoring on the Terriers more difficult. 

But losing all of the defenders mentioned above, plus Nadia Mattivi, leaves a lot to be desired on the blueline. There’s a lot of expectations on a very young group, and it gives me pause on how well the team will respond. The only transfers the team brought in defensively are former Saint Michael’s blueliner Jace Zapata, and Maeve Carey, who played under head coach Tara Watchorn at Stonehill as a freshman. The two are solid players in their own right, but they can’t plug every hole left in the Terriers lineup. 

I know we didn’t touch much on Merrimack, Maine, and Holy Cross and well…

Maine 2023-24: 15-18-2 overall, 11-14-2 in conference
Maine losing both Jorden Mattison and Anna LaRose in the transfer portal is rough. Freshman Kiia Lahtinen shows promise following multiple seasons playing professionally in Finland, and Julia Bachetti returning following her 17 appearances last year (.908 SV%, 2.90 GAA, two shutouts) is huge for the Black Bears.

Cleaning up the penalty kill will be critical for Maine — a 76.9 percent success rate is not sustainable in this conference, and if they don’t improve upon it I’m afraid the bottom half of the standings might be hard to crawl out of. 

Then you have to factor in the loss of scoring provided by Ida Kuoppala (39 points), Ann-Frederique Guay (28 points), and Rahel Enzler (26 points). That’s their three top scorers in one offseason, a hard feat to overcome for any team. 

Then we have the Warriors and Crusaders. Both programs took steps last season, and I really like the goaltenders in both nets. However, the overall product just isn’t as strong as the teams higher above them in the standings. 

Merrimack 2023-24: 11-22-3 overall, 7-17-3 in conference
Merrimack suffered some major losses through the transfer portal and graduation over the summer. Celine Tedenby (23 points) and Mary Edmonds (17 points) are both out of eligibility, and Ally Qualley who was sixth in scoring with 12 points transferred to St. Cloud. 

Maria Lindberg, Hayley Chang (both 16 points), and Sophie McKinley, who led the team in PPGs with three, are all expected to return this season. As is Calli Hogarth, who finished the season with a .908 SV% in 35 starts.

Overall I see them in a similar place as last season, if not slightly worse offensively. They’re a hard team to play, but compared to the other squads in front of them, they’re just not at the same compete level as of yet. 

Holy Cross 2023-24: 8-24-3 overall, 4-20-3 in conference
Holy Cross is similar. Though their losses are far bigger, in leading scorer Millie Sirum and starting goaltender Madison Beck. 

Brooke Loranger is the heir-apparent in net, after posting a .906 SV% with a 2.86 GAA through 11 starts. I like what she has to bring, including similar numbers to Beck, and building around that is a solid foundation. Alexia Moreau, who was second on the team in scoring with 21 points, will also be back.

But outside of those two, it’s a toss-up for the Crusaders. Bryn Saarela and Lilly Feeney are both not returning on offense, hard blows to the forward group alongside Sirum. Half of the D corps from last year, including Casey Borgiel and Grace Johnson, are also not returning to Worcester for 2024-25. 

There’s just a bit too much turnover on the lineup sheet for me to expect HC to make a massive step forward. I think the days of them being an easy win in HEA are over, but I also don’t see them contending for the regular season title just yet. 

Hockey East teams will start their regular season at the end of September with non-conference matchups. League play begins following that in early October.