The Wraparound: mid July

These past few weeks brought us a new Division I team for 2021-22, a fun story about Beauts goaltender Kelsey Neumann, the loss of a Russian League team for the upcoming season, and more. Find all the link to catch you up!

If you only read one a few things...

I guess maybe I should change the name of this section during the off season because there’s rarely only one piece in here when I look back at two weeks.

Tretiak’s Golden Girl | The Caviar Diplomat
Buffalo Beauts goaltender Kelsey Neumann lists Vladislav Tretiak as her favorite hockey player of all time. It is an interesting choice for a twenty-nine year old who grew up Texas, particularly in a generation that—much to our mutual chagrin—often does not comprehend his virtuosity.

In Hudson, New Hampshire, Women’s Hockey Plays On | Victory Press
Restricted to contained settings in Utah, Florida, and cities across North America, athletes in numerous sports have begun returning to competition. And in Hudson, New Hampshire, in recent weeks, women’s hockey players have quietly taken to the ice.

Sofia Reideborn leaves SDE after controversial podcast | The Ice Garden
The Swedish goaltender’s edition of the SDHL’s weekly podcast caused a huge stir on social media.

NWHL

Winnipeg’s Kayla Friesen is Set to Exceed Expectations in Connecticut | Game On Media
Despite the annual draft having been held on Tuesday, April 28, Friesen clearly recalls her level of shock and surprise at hearing her named called in the first round.

A phone call that changed the course for NWHL star from Burnaby | The Toronto Observer
Five years ago, even though Kaleigh Fratkin had just won the 2015 Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s Clarkson Cup with the Boston Blades, the news about being cut from the senior national team after a time with Canada’s development squad was a huge blow.

From rivals to teammates: Boston Pride players build on history of playing against each other | The Ice Garden
Though the rivalries might not be quite over, if team practices are any example.

Using Steady to identify shooting trends in the NWHL | The Ice Garden
Experimenting with applications for the shot metric Steady

Awarding NHL Awards in the NWHL | The Ice Garden
Who would win which NHL Award if the NWHL gave them out?

2020–21 NWHL Signing Tracker | The Ice Garden
Keep track of who signs ahead of season six of the NWHL
We’ll keep including this every time so you can keep track of the signings, especially since our roster recaps run on opposite weeks from this, so those will always be a week behind.

PWHPA

Audio: Liz Knox on where we still need to go within women’s professional hockey - Sportsnet.ca
2018 Clarkson Cup Champion with the Markham Thunder, Member of the PWHPA Liz Knox shares what goes through her head as a goalie during a potential shutout game, looked back at playing overseas in Australia for the Melbourne Ice women’s hockey team of the AWIHL, playing with Jayna Hefford in the CWHL and the Dream Gap Tour for the PWHPA, and touched on hockey culture and where we still need to go within women’s hockey.

2020-21 PWHPA Tracker | The Ice Garden
Keep up as the PWHPA announces the players who will be joining the organization for their second season.
We’ll keep including this every time so you can keep track of the signings, especially since our roster recaps run on opposite weeks from this, so those will always be a week behind.

NCAA

University of St. Thomas joins the WCHA for 2021-22 season | The Ice Garden
St. Thomas will move from Division III to Division I.

At the rink, it’s ‘Tommie Time,’ as St. Thomas moves hockey programs to Division I | The Rink Live
Amid concerns that programs could fold due to the pandemic, the NCAA Division I college hockey world got a bit bigger on Wednesday, as the University of St. Thomas elevated all of its athletic programs — men’s and women’s hockey among them — to the NCAA’s highest level of competition.

Crowell: St. Thomas is a positive addition to WCHA | KBJR
After three years of playing down a team, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) has been filled out with an eighth member.

The Recruiting Trail: Support system kept Gophers’ Heise focused throughout process | Post Bulletin
Taylor Heise doesn’t like to rush into anything. She leaned heavily on friends, family and coaches throughout her recruiting process before committing to the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team during her sophomore year of high school.

Former RIT captain Brown returning to alma mater to coach women’s hockey team, ‘feels fantastic to be back in Tiger country’ | College Hockey | USCHO.com
Rochester Institute of Technology has announced former Tigers standout Celeste Brown has been named the next women’s head coach.

Ivy League schools to postpone beginning of hockey season | The Ice Garden
6 schools have women’s hockey teams in the ECAC

Made in Michigan: Why the Univ. of Michigan deserves to go D-I in the NCAA | The Ice Garden
The state of Michigan has no shortage of women’s hockey talent or hockey fandom — so why doesn’t the state’s largest institution have a D-I program?

SDHL

In “The Ladies of the Future” we meet SDE talent Astrid Lindeberg.
At 14 years old, she had to make 31 games in the SDHL during the past season.

Summer talk in SDHL Lova Blom, Djurgårdens IF | SDHL.se
Summer is here in the elongated country Sweden and the hockey season feels like this time of year very far away. To remedy the longing to see the players go on the ice, we now take the players to the headphones through “Summer talk in SDHL”. Next in line is Lova Blom, Djurgårdens IF.

The talent of Irish origin: “Hockey is not very famous there”
Ireland is not known as a hockey country. However, AIK’s Aoife Leacy has her origins on the island and moved to Sweden when she was six years old. In today’s Framtidens Damkronor we meet the 17-year-old forward talent.

Misc

Dynamo St. Petersburg shut down, won’t play in 2020-21 ZhHL season | The Ice Garden
Pro women’s hockey under threat in Russia

Colin Muller to coach the women’s national team until 2022  | Swiss Hockey News
The 56-year-old, who already coached the women’s national team in the past season, is going to stay on board through 2021-22.