Midseason Momentum Check: Who’s Thriving and Who Has Work to Do in the 2025–26 Women’s Division III Hockey Season?

It feels as though the season has just begun as we’ve reached the ‘midway’ mark of the Division III Women’s hockey season. Regular-season play will start back up on New Year’s Eve with a non-conference game as Trine visits #9 Adrian and then the awesome New Year’s tournaments will show out in full force. Until then, we’ve got some teams such as #5 Nazareth & #8 Gustavus taking European trips during winter break to break up the season.

It’s time to take a look so far at what occurred during the fall semester and go over the main winners, teams with work to do, and what we’ve learned so far this season. There’s been a few surprises and a few non-surprises that we’ll take a look at, while also highlighting some preseason predictions if they’re relevant to the respective team, league, and/or topic!

Before we dive in, a quick note on how this list (in no particular order) was put together. Not every conference leader will appear as a “winner,” and that’s not meant to diminish what those teams have accomplished. This isn’t simply a ranking of the top records. For example, #1 Wisconsin-River Falls (9-1-0) won’t be highlighted here, not because of anything they’ve done wrong, but because they’ve largely met expectations by doing exactly what everyone anticipated: winning, and winning often.

Instead, the focus is on programs that have exceeded preseason expectations, taken a noticeable step forward, built off prior-season success, or are beginning to show real returns from a rebuild. That could mean a new coaching staff making an immediate impact, a recruiting class starting to pay dividends, or a unique situation that’s led to teams being in positions that they likely didn’t think were possible prior to the season. Of course we cannot go over every single program, but these are some I believe stand out from the rest in terms of first half storylines. Lastly, some overviews will be less in-depth than others, it simply depends on the situation and context, nothing personal. With that context in mind, let’s get into it.

The Winners

Concordia-Wisconsin Falcons (11-1-0) – NCHA

Concordia Wisconsin, a name that most are likely overlooking at the moment unfortunately, have begun their season with an outstanding record of 11-1-0. The only loss the Falcons have taken came against Saint Mary’s during opening weekend where the Cardinals split with the Falcons. Otherwise, the Falcons have had a relatively easy schedule (#65 of #79 as of 12/22/2025), not having faced the two major powers in the NCHA in #6 St. Norbert (10-3-0) & #9 Adrian College (9-3-0), but for a program that’s coming off their best season ever record-wise, finishing 20-7-1, the Falcons under 12th year Head Coach Steve Fabiilli are rolling along and on pace for another record-breaking season with their 11-1-0 start.

Most recently, Concordia (Wis.) swept Wisconsin-Stevens Point who entered the series with a record of (8-3-0), earlier this year, they swept Lake Forest, who at the time held a record of (6-0-0). Again, CUW hasn’t faced the top powers of the conference yet, but they’re beating the teams that those top tier teams would, so credit must be given regardless of the competition here as the Falcons historically aren’t a program who’ve been known for rolling through this tier of opponent.

Looking ahead, I fully expect the Falcons to have a really good record come the end of the year even if we assume the worst and they drop all four games to Adrian & St. Norbert. The Falcons will likely enter their series against the Green Knights at 13-1-0 as they face Beloit (1-10-0) for a pair coming off winter break and face a St. Norbert squad that’s had issues scoring goals this season, don’t be surprised if they snag one in that series or tie and take it to a shootout. Following that, their only roadblock left is the Bulldogs of Adrian in their second-to-last weekend in regular-season play. I really like their odds here to finish with another 20+ wins this season and after we saw them defeat Adrian 1-0 last season in the regular-season (only the fifth win vs Adrian historically), they’ve proven they can play with anyone.

Personally, maybe this is my alleged western bias showing (even though I’m 13 hours away from Milwaukee, WI), but I believe the Falcons would be getting a little more praise and recognition if they were located east of Ohio regardless of their strength-of-schedule. Currently, the Falcons sit #10 in the NPI, I don’t expect the NCHA to receive anything outside of the auto-bid as the league simply doesn’t have a strong enough SOS which is appropriate. If Concordia wants in the NCAA’s, they’ll need to win the league as the SOS won’t hold up enough, which I do feel is correct with all things being considered.

[*once again, we note… we do not have any influence on and/or create the NPI*]

#7 Endicott College Gulls (8-2-0) – CNE

Endicott, a team that historically has dominated the CNE / CCC as of late, has really made that jump we’ve been looking for as a program. The Gulls this season already have a very impressive resumé, grabbing wins over (at the time of game) #7 Plattsburgh, #3 Middlebury, & falling to #1 Wisconsin-River Falls by a slim 3-1 margin.

The Gulls open their second half with a road game at #2 Middlebury (6-1-1) on Friday – January 3, 2026 and then they treat us to a crossover game with #10 Hamline University on Monday – January 5, 2026. If Endicott can at minimum split here, they’ll have themselves arguably one of the best resumés of anyone out east to this point considering they’ll have the two crossover games mixed in there.

We’re seeing more questions being answered that might’ve been asked prior to the season, which was have the Gulls hit their ceiling? The ceiling that seemed to be winning the CNE and maybe a first round NCAA playoff game, but other than that, who knows… Well, we’ve learned very early they definitely can play with (and beat) the best this season with their semi-veteran class of five seniors & eight juniors. Another key piece this season has been sophomore goaltender Lauren Ferrari who’s currently building where she left off last season. Ferrari through 7 games has an outstanding 1.57 GAA & .945 save-percentage, while last season she appeared in 11 games as a freshman, holding a GAA of 1.27 & save-percentage of .946.

The one conference blemish so far came at the hands of the Golden Bears of Western New England who made their first-ever NCAA tournament two seasons ago when they defeated Curry 5-3 in the title game after Endicott was upset on home ice to 1-0 to the Colonels. Currently, Endicott leads the league as they’re three points behind the Golden Bears, but have two games in hand and have earned the most points relative to the number of points they’ve been eligible to earn (based on number of games played). Look for Endicott to potentially become a major player come NCAA tournament time and potentially make a run for themselves past the first round.

Currently, Endicott sits #12 in the NPI which honestly, I find ridiculous all things considered… #5 Nazareth who we’ll get to later on is off to an incredible start, but is 11-0-0 with the 59th best SOS and their best win coming over Hamilton (4-3-1). Considering the Gulls’ success so far at 8-2-0, they should be well inside the top-10. I’d like to think they could get an at-large bid if they failed to win the league, but if they suffer a loss in the CNE, I simply don’t see it being enough in the end. They’ll 99% need an auto-bid if they want in on the dance.

#10 Hamline University Pipers (8-2-0) – MIAC

Hamline entered this season with a familiar face at the helm in Head Coach Jake Bobrowski. Bobrowski formerly served as the assistant coach for the Pipers under former coach Natalie Darwitz from 2015-2021. So far, the Pipers have looked solid, especially on the goaltending end of things with their pairing of Kendra Nordick who’s played 299 minutes & Harper Powell who’s played 284. Nordick has a 1.20 GAA & .938 save-percentage, while Powell has a 1.26 GAA & .944 save-percentage.

Hamline’s biggest test so far was #11 Wisconsin-Eau Claire where they fell to the Blugolds 3-2 in a close game, while their other loss was a surprising 4-0 loss to Bethel on the road. Otherwise, the Pipers have dominated teams they’ve played, outscoring opponents 37-13 and will make a trip out east for their next games following winter break. Hamline will face #7 Endicott who as mentioned, have really made a name for themselves this season with some massive wins and taking #1 River Falls to the wire.

Interestingly enough, the Pipers will have an interesting travel schedule to say the least. They’ll face Endicott on Monday – January 5th at 5pm ET in Beverly, MA, followed by another game the next day on Tuesday at 1pm ET about an hour away at UMass-Boston. The Pipers won’t have much time to recover or turnaround time from the Monday night game, look out for the Beacons to pounce early and potentially pull an upset as the Pipers will be on little rest and recovery following their massive game against the Gulls which will have major NPI implications considering the geographical difference here.

Hamline, I believe will need the auto-bid, but given the strength of the MIAC, there’s a world where if the Pipers make a run at things including a win over the Gulls, we could potentially see the Pipers in at-large territory as they currently sit at 15th in the NPI.

#2 Middlebury College Panthers (6-1-1) – NESCAC

Middlebury is considered a “winner” this first half not because we didn’t expect them to be really good, but because they could easily be a .500 hockey team if they didn’t manage to pull off so many late victories in their typical fashion. The Panthers always a have a fair number of close games of course in the NESCAC, but this season they’ve survived a few early scares. For starters, they scored the winner on opening day against Hamilton with less than four seconds left in the game, the following day they would proceed to tie Hamilton in a tight game regardless of the shot count being in favor of the Panthers. They then scored the tying goal against Wesleyan on the powerplay with just over two minutes left in the game, then proceeded to win in the first minute of overtime.

Their signature moment this season so far came against their rivals in the North Country of Upstate New York – Plattsburgh. Middlebury defeated the Cardinals 6-1, scoring four 3rd period goals to cap off the blowout victory.

There isn’t much else to say here besides that I’m shocked at the current NPI ranking they hold of #13, which places them as the 6th best NESCAC team NPI-wise… In my opinion they should be right there with Amherst and above the rest, but that’s nor here nor there. Middlebury faces Endicott in their first game post-winter break as they’ll be looking to avenge their 3-2 loss earlier this season to the Gulls on home ice.

#5 Nazareth College Golden Flyers (11-0-0) – UCHC

Nazareth is a mystery… The Golden Flyers sit a perfect 11-0-0, ranked #3 in the NPI, but hold the 59th of 79th best schedule in Division III. The signature win so far came over Cortland, but some may say their last stretch of three games was their signature moment this season as they defeated three NESCAC opponents in a row. Nazareth defeated Trinity 3-0, Wesleyan 6-4, & Hamilton 5-3 to end their first half before they headed to Europe for their winter break trip.

Nazareth is in an interesting spot, as Scott & Myself mention in our upcoming women’s first half podcast episode, the Golden Flyers can easily finish this regular season 23-2-0 at worst, 25-0-0 at best, but the conference rating is going to destroy their NPI if they slip up against say an Elmira in the UCHC playoffs. Currently, the UCHC has a combined non-conference record of 19-23-3 (.456), but the caveat here is that Nazareth is responsible for seven of those wins, therefore placing the rest of the league at 12-23-3 (.355). Five of the eight teams in the league hold winning percentages under .350, while Albertus Magnus remains undefeated at 7-0-1 overall, they’ve played the worst schedule in Division III (#79 of #79), hence as to why they’re all the way down at #26 in the NPI rankings.

While Utica has been the main threat to Nazareth as of late in the UCHC, the Pioneers have an extremely young team this season that’s 3-6-0 and trying to find some momentum going into the playoffs. I’d expect these games to be obviously hard fought, but I would call it a stretch to say Nazareth will lose either of the two. I firmly believe Nazareth will end up with at least 22 wins in the regular season, maybe even go unbeaten or 24-1-0… but if they slip up to Elmira who’s a very good opponent and has proven more in big games, there’s a great chance the SOS knocks Nazareth out of the NCAA’s with a near perfect record.

The only way the UCHC gets the chance at two bids is if Elmira wins the league and Nazareth gets an at-large. Otherwise, it’s currently Nazareth’s league to lose.

Norwich Cadets (8-2-0) – LEC

Norwich is in a spot where if they want an NCAA tournament opportunity, then this is exactly what they need to be doing. The Cadets are a perfect 6-0-0 in conference play, while 2-2 in non-conference play with losses to Plattsburgh & Williams. Being in the Little East, they won’t receive the opportunity for an auto-bid this season, it’ll need to be earned the WIAC way, via at-large. Since there’s an extra at-large bid available with the loss of the NEHC, that opportunity is there for the taking.

If the Cadets want to qualify, they’ll need to run the table in conference play which is no easy feat, while also most likely going 2-1-0 in their final three non-conference games. They’ll face Oswego State in the first round of their home tournament in Northfield, VT, then play either Elmira/Plattsburgh on day two. Later this year on a Wednesday night in January, they visit Amherst in a game where win or lose, it’s going to help their NPI, but if the Cadets could pull this off, they could book themselves a ticket to the NCAA’s assuming no big slip ups as they currently sit #9 in the NPI.

There are no guarantees for Norwich this season or much margin for error, especially in conference play, but they’ve set themselves up where they need to be so far under first year Head Coach Justin Simpson.

College of Saint Benedict Bennies (5-2-2) – MIAC

The Bennies of Saint Benedict are much like Concordia Wisconsin in the sense that we could likely see the Bennies rolling into their MIAC gauntlet beginning with Saint Mary’s with a strong record of 11-2-2 if things go their way. The Bennies face UW-Superior (1-10-0), Dubuque (2-10-0), & St. Kate’s (6-4-0) before they face all in a row Saint Mary’s, #10 Hamline, #8 Gustavus, & #3 Augsburg…

So far, Saint Benedict has been improving and now we’re finally starting to see them string together wins that we previously didn’t always see happen on a consistent basis. The Bennies are no stranger to the penalty box and haven’t gone away from that either, averaging just over eight minutes per game, but rep an 88% penalty kill to go along with it.

We will learn more about the Bennies as the season goes on, but so far so good in St. Joseph, MN.

#11 Wisconsin-Eau Claire Blugolds (10-4-0) – WIAC

Wisconsin-Eau Claire had a lot of questions entering this season as the major change they experienced was the departure of former head coach Erik Strand for the University of Vermont (NCAA D-I) in their assistant coach role. Strand compiled a record of 183-68-17 (.715) with two WIAC championships & four NCAA tournament appearances. Prior to Strand’s arrival from the men’s team, the Blugolds held a historical record of 140-215-38 (.405). The talent on this roster was never in doubt as the Blugolds had a solid recruiting class and returning players, but the question was who will step in to fill this huge role for a program that hadn’t seen success outside of their former coach.

Now, in came first year Head Coach Jarrad Vroman, a Wisconsin-Eau Claire alum from the men’s side as a player and a former assistant coach at Augsburg University. [Listen to our latest podcast episode with Coach Vroman while you’re here]. Coach Vroman has the Blugolds plugging away so far, including a signature 3-0 shutout victory over their bitter rivals #1 Wisconsin-River Falls (9-1-0) earlier this year in Hobbs Ice Arena & a ranked 3-2 win on the road over #10 Hamline.

Despite their most recent pair of losses to Blugold alum Elizabeth Bauer’s #3 Augsburg Auggies (8-2-1), the Blugolds have found a cure to their one glaring weakness last season, goaltending. Freshman goaltender Kambelle Freije has shined above all to start the year, putting together a 1.30 GAA & .941 save-percentage in the 10 games she’s started so far. UW-Eau Claire never lacked for offense last season and their defense was quite solid, but now they’ve really homed in the netminding role with Freije and their improved returning goaltenders. Look for the Blugolds to be a contender in the NCAA tournament depending on how the NPI rankings turn out with the WIAC not receiving an automatic bid due to them only having five teams.

Speaking of the NPI, Eau Claire sits at #8 which gives them the coveted “first out” slot of the NCAA tournament. Granted, the pair of NESCAC teams in front of them (Williams & Connecticut College) aren’t both likely to be there in the end, (by this I mean I could see one of them staying strong at the top, but both would be a stretch considering who both have to play the rest of the way in the NESCAC). Check out our very own Scott Huston’s:2026 Women’s Bracketology: Edition #3 (December 17th) to read all about the current situation. If UW-Eau Claire continues to win and take another from Wisconsin-River Falls, they’ve got nothing to worry about in my opinion.

We’ve got work to do

#9 Adrian College Bulldogs (9-3-0) – NCHA

Adrian being on this list may surprise some considering the record of (9-3-0), but when you look at the bigger picture, there’s some warning signs with the Bulldogs thus far…

For starters, Adrian’s 1-3-0 in ranked matchups, getting swept opening weekend to Augsburg & splitting with Gustavus who’s shown some early season struggles in their own right. They’ve dominated their eight league games, but this is nothing new as the league outside of themselves, St. Norbert, and now Concordia-Wisconsin is extremely weak all things considered (#62 of #79 SOS as of 12/22/2025).

Besides their struggles in big games, the Bulldogs had some early season internal issues as they had multiple players enter the transfer portal prior to the first game of the season, including goaltender Annie Gilbert who has not returned to the team. Another player who entered the portal that was a key piece to the squad last season as she put up 47 points (21G, 26A) was senior Riley Johnson. Johnson entered the portal and returned back to the team shortly after in interesting fashion to which she was benched in the opening series against Augsburg. Currently Johnson has 10 goals & 6 assists in her 10 games played this season, good for second on the team in points. The only caveat to this being Johnson recorded one point against Gustavus, the only opponent ranked above 57th in the NPI that she’s faced, the other 15 points coming against extremely inferior competition since she missed the Augsburg series.

On the bright side of things, the Bulldogs have had incredible goaltending from Kiera Stack, the sophomore holds a record of 4-1-0 in her five starts. Her signature games coming against the Gusties, making 41 saves in the 3-1 loss and 32 saves in the 2-0 shutout win. Look for her to remain the key piece to this team come their series with St. Norbert and potentially the NCAA tournament if they can qualify via the auto-bid as the NCHA won’t have a good enough SOS as mentioned for multiple bids.

This is by no means saying Adrian isn’t a top-tier team, no one will be shocked at all if they win the NCHA and host an NCAA playoff game, but it’s pointing out that not all records are created equal and when you add in the odd preseason portal action with multiple key players (which can mean many things), it raises red flags everywhere that cannot be overlooked in the bigger picture.

Cortland Red Dragons (4-5-1) – SUNYAC

Head Coach Rick Filighera has really done an incredible job turning the Cortland program around since his arrival in 2016-17. The Red Dragons won their first ever SUNYAC title in 2023-24 and has a cumulative record of 104-43-12 (.692) since 2018, but this season they find themselves off to a bad start to their standards, (4-5-1). Granted, their losses have come against good teams for the most part, all of them against ranked opponents (at the time of the game) except for Norwich who’s a solid squad at (8-2-0). Despite this, I still believe Cortland can challenge for the SUNYAC title as it’ll be anyone’s game if Plattsburgh doesn’t become they Plattsburgh we know they’re capable of.

This overview is rather short, but I think this team is better than their record shows as they did manage a win over a ranked Elmira squad, but being below .500 at the break isn’t ideal as Cortland has now become a team we expect to be challenging more on a national level against ranked competition, 4-5-1 isn’t meeting that standard that they’ve earned, just like the team we’re about to discuss next.

#8 Gustavus Golden Gusties (6-5-0) – MIAC

Gustavus has been the most historically dominant team in MIAC history under longtime Head Coach Mike Carroll 541-140-48 (.775) who won the first national championship for a western team back in 2023 and since then, the west hasn’t looked back as they’ve won three straight titles from 2023-2025.

This year however, Gustavus has put themselves in quite the hole in terms of their record and NPI chances as they’ve begun their 2025-26 campaign 6-5-0 with a .500 record in conference play (3-3-0), very uncharacteristic from the Gusties. Despite all of this, they remain ranked #8 in the polls due to the heavy SOS (#6 of #79) they possess, but at some point you do need to look at how Gustavus has looked in these games and refer back to their recent history and notice the downward look this season has had on the stat sheet, record, & game-film.

Senior Lily Mortenson has been a bright spot for the Gusties, consistently scoring game-winning-goals in regulation and overtime. She scored overtime winners against both St. Olaf & #11 Wisconsin-Eau Claire and currently is the only Gustie in double figures on the stat sheet with 12 points (6G, 6A). As a team, Gustavus has scored 21 goals and allowed 20, but heavily led in the shot category as they’ve tallied up 410 shots to their opponents’ 214. On the goaltending side of things, sophomore Lily Timmons has played the majority of the minutes amongst the trio of goalies on the roster. Timmons holds a 4-3-0 record with a GAA of 1.42 & save-percentage of .935. Do not overlook her record here, she’s currently faced: #6 St. Norbert 2x, #11 Wisconsin-Eau Claire, #3 Augsburg 2x, & #9 Adrian 2x…. not an easy task by any means especially considering her impressive stat lines in these games.

To wrap this up, Gustavus remains a top tier team in Women’s Division III hockey this season, their tough schedule plays a huge role in their record and they should be given credit for playing such a great slate of games, giving us fans the games we want to see and not have to wait until March to hopefully get the bracket integrity we deserve which in turn, would give us these types of matchups. However, it’s very uncharacteristic for a team such as Gustavus to split with both St. Olaf & Concordia (Minn.) early on in the season. I could understand a split with St. Olaf as they’ve vastly improved over the years under Head Coach Tracy Johnson, but Concordia (Minn.) currently sits with a record of 4-6-0 and were 2-6-0 prior to sweeping Wisconsin-Superior who’s having a very poor season sitting at 1-10-0, simply an unacceptable game to lose.

As always, the MIAC will be a fun watch come playoff time and as the regular seasons continues. The league is extremely deep this season and is arguably the best in Women’s Division III in my opinion when you look at the pure depth of the league.

#12 Plattsburgh State Cardinals (5-4-0) – SUNYAC

Plattsburgh has set a few records this season that haven’t been the type of records you want if you’re associated with the Cardinals historically dominant program. Arguably the greatest Women’s Division III Hockey coach of all time Kevin Houle, suffered his worst loss ever at the helm, losing 6-1 to Middlebury who’s led by another legendary coach in his own right: Bill Mandigo. The Cardinals also find themselves outside the top-10 of the poll(s) for the first time in available-history (which is incredible when you put that into perspective). To add on to this, Plattsburgh ended the first half of the season on a three-game losing streak where they were outscored 11-3…

Before we go crazy here, let’s put into perspective what we’re talking about here… for the first time ever, this program isn’t ranked inside the top-10, that’s genuinely incredible as it dates back to 2006 (polls). I say that to lead into my next point that the SUNYAC will be a one-bid league guaranteed, therefore this can all be irrelevant come tournament time. The league simply isn’t very good compared to normal standards with Cortland having a disappointing start thus far and Oswego being up and down it’s hard to figure them out.

The Cardinals remain a heavy favorite in the SUNYAC, but their schedule doesn’t exactly lighten up in the near future, they’ve got #15 Elmira (6-2-1) after break in the Norwich East-West Hockey Classic and they’ll face either Norwich or Oswego depending how things shake up on day one. The Cardinals also have #2 Middlebury left for their major non-conference opponents, a Tuesday night game on February 3rd, 2026 at home where they look to avenge Coach Houle’s worst loss in history. Again, based on current NPI and SUNYAC team records, it’ll be a one-bid league and Plattsburgh cannot rely on an at-large this year with how the season has started unless they win out, then there’s a slim chance.

What we’ve learned thus far

First off, if you got down here, thanks for reading! The first half of the Division III women’s hockey season has already given us a clear reminder of just how unpredictable and layered this sport can be. We’ve seen established contenders reaffirm their place near the top, emerging programs take meaningful steps forward, and a few traditional powers navigate uncharacteristic growing pains. Context matters more than ever – scheduling strength, roster turnover, rebuilding timelines, and even the structure of the NPI all play a role in shaping the bigger picture.

As the calendar flips to January, margins will tighten and every point will carry added weight, especially in leagues where the auto-bid remains the clearest (and in some cases, only) path to the NCAA tournament. Some teams are well-positioned to build on their momentum, while others now face little-to-no room for error. One thing is certain: the second half promises even more chaos, clarity, and compelling storylines as the road to March truly begins.