<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=15QAP2_0wNXJ7ME00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=15QAP2_0wNXJ7ME00" width="1170" height="780" >It’s impossible to evaluate 2024-2025 women’s hockey without comparing the team to last year’s NCAA Tournament squad. This year’s version of the Red returns 21 of the 24 skaters who played more than five games last season, six All-Ivy players and the entirety of one of the best blue lines in college hockey.Cornell will add three impressive freshmen — two of whom have national team experience — a National Championship-winning transfer and a top line forward who missed the second half of last season due to injury.Yet what stands out about this year’s team is not the returners or the additions, but the loss. Until Izzy Daniel ’24, no Cornellian had won either the Patty Kazmaier or Hobey Baker, the awards for best collegiate hockey player among women and men respectively. Additionally, Daniel completed the “Triple Crown” (Ivy League Player of The Year, ECAC Hockey Player of The Year and the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award), led the team in goals, assists and +/-, along with being a captain and earning the praise of both current and past teammates for her leadership on and off the ice. Before being selected 18th overall in the Professional Women’s Hockey League draft, Daniel helped lead the Red to a fourth-place finish in the ECAC and Cornell’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2019. For head coach Doug Derraugh ’91 the challenge is clear: How can Cornell build on the success of 2023-2024 after losing the best player in college hockey?DefenseIt will start on defense. Last season, Cornell had one of the best defensive units in the country, surrendering up just 1.88 goals per game while maintaining an 88 percent penalty kill percentage –– both top-10 in the nation –– and leading the ECAC in shorthanded goals. Importantly, the entirety of the Red’s blueline will return, led by two first team All-Ivy upperclassmen, senior Rory Guilday and junior Grace Dwyer. Both Guilday and Dwyer have both youth and senior national team experience, with Guilday medaling with Team USA in both the USA-Canada Rivalry Series and the IIHF World Championships. Guilday, a captain and one of 11 seniors, ranked sixth overall in a preseason PWHL mock draft. The defense behind Guilday and Dwyer is deep, experienced and decorated with accolades. Senior Ashley Messier –– a captain and second team All-Ivy in 2023-2024 –– junior Alyssa Regalado, sophomore Piper Grober, and junior Sarah MacEachern, all played in 32 or more of the team’s 34 total games. They will be joined by freshman Rose Dwyer, Grace’s younger sister. The Dwyer’s older sister Rose is also a Cornell student-athlete, playing Lacrosse for the Red. Rose is considered one of the stronger incoming freshmen in the ECAC and has medalled twice with Team USA at the IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championships.Cornell’s defense was elite in 2023-2024, but with the loss of Daniel and her offensive firepower, the Red will be more reliant on its stingy play this season. Continuity in lines, playoff and national team experience and a talented goaltender should keep the Red among the best defensively in the NCAA.Newsletter SignupGoaltendingIn net will be sophomore Annelies Bergmann. Bergmann, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, posted an impressive 20-7-1 record to go along with a 0.927 save percentage and four shutouts. Bergmann has already etched her name in the Cornell record books –– her 660 saves and 20 wins in 2023-2024 are both program records for a freshman. Bergmann ended the season red hot, surrendering two or fewer goals in her final seven games of the ECAC regular season, then proceeding to shut out then-No. 9 in the nation Quinnipiac in the second game of the ECAC quarterfinals. Bergman’s success can be attributed in part to the work of associate head coach Edith Racine, who was awarded the American Hockey Coaches Association Assistant Women’s Coach Award last winter. Racine has worked extensively with Cornell’s goaltenders for over 15 years, including Lindsay Browning, Lauren Slebodnick, Amanda Mazzotta, Marlene Boissonnault and Deanna Fraser, all of whom posted impressive careers between the pipes for the Red. Backing up Bergmann in net are two seniors, Brynn DuLac and Belle Mende, who did not see the ice last season, and freshman Jeanne Lortie.Derraugh had positive words for Bergmann saying that she is coming off a “great year” and that he expects her to “continue that trend.”ForwardsWhile there are few questions about Cornell’s defense, the loss of Daniel presents both problems and new opportunities on offense. Leading the charge in 2024 will be Cornell’s sole selection to the ECAC Women’s Hockey Preseason All-League Team, senior Lily Delianedis. Delianedis finished last season second –– behind Daniel –– in all major offensive statistics and was placed 27th in the PWHL mock draft. A former ECAC Rookie of the Year, Delianedis certainly benefited from playing alongside Daniel last year, but her shot creating and scoring ability should allow her to continue to succeed. Behind Delianedis, fellow senior Kaitlin Jockims and sophomore Karel Prefontaine each racked up double digits in goals and assists last year. Named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team and Second Team All-Ivy, Prefontaine’s knack for clutch goals and late season improvement sets her up to have a breakout sophomore year. This improvement and clutch instincts was exemplified when Prefontaine scored possibly the most important goal of the season in overtime in game one of the ECAC Quarterfinals.Cornell’s season will come down to the forward production behind last year’s goal scorers. The Red’s defense and goaltending are among the best in the ECAC, and Cornell’s top line of forwards is also impressive. However, with the loss of Daniel, Cornell will no longer be able to rely on its top line to win games. “We’re gonna need contributions from three lines, maybe four,” Derraugh said. “We’re not going to be able to rely on just one line, maybe like we did a little bit too much last year.” Luckily for Derraugh and Cornell, the Red has immense forward depth on its roster. Senior Katie Chan picked up 19 points in just 13 games last season before going down with injury and could start the season on the top forward line. Some combination of senior and captain Gabbie Rud (four goals, 15 assists), junior Avi Adam (12 goals, five assists), junior Mckenna Van Gelder (eight goals, nine assists), junior Georgia Schiff (eight goals, seven assists) and senior Claudia Yu (three goals, seven assists) should form lines 2-4, alongside two new additions to the forward group.Derraugh seemed confident his forwards can achieve the goal of a more balanced attack, saying: “I think we can score goals by committee.”How sophomore transfer Delaney Fleming will fit into Cornell’s lineup is a preseason mystery. The Minnesota native won a National Championship with Ohio State last season, playing in 21 games for the Buckeyes, while registering two points. Derraugh described her as a “dangerous scorer” in an interview with Cornell Athletics. How much she and freshman Lindzi Avar will play remains to be seen, but Derraugh has expressed optimism about the Class of 2028, saying the coaching staff is “very happy with [the] incoming class.”Schedule“You like to have those tests early in the year to see where you stand,” Derraugh said. Cornell certainly will be tested early in the year, with a trip to now-No. 15 Mercyhurst to open the season before heading to Columbus, Ohio for the Ice Breaker Tournament. There, the Red took on No. 12 Penn State, to face either defending National Champion No. 2 Ohio State. Aside from a home-and-home with Rochester Institute of Technology and the annual upstate New York matchup with Syracuse, the rest of the schedule will be within the ECAC. The Red’s first chance to avenge the ECAC and NCAA Tournament losses suffered at the hands of No. 7 Colgate will be Jan. 10, 2025, and a key home weekend against No. 3 Clarkson and No. 6 St. Laurence will follow three weeks later on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. Closing ThoughtsIn 2020, Cornell was primed to win its first National Championship in school history after a 28-2-3 regular season and near perfect (19-0-3) ECAC slate. The Red was the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, led by current PWHLers Kristin O’Neill, Micah Zandee-Hart, Jaime Bourbonnais and then-freshman Daniel. “I think that our team has a bit of a chip on their shoulder since 2020,” Derraugh said. “That still sits on our program and weighs on our program and so it took a while for us to regroup and rebuild after that.” While much of the attention this winter on East Hill will rightly go to men’s hockey head coach Mike Schafer ’86’s last year at the helm of the men’s team, Derraugh has assembled another impressive roster that’s poised to make a run. Just like last year, if Cornell can get by Colgate, anything is possible.</div></body>

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Season Preview: Despite Losing Daniel, No. 11 Women’s Hockey Enters New Season Primed for Success

It’s impossible to evaluate 2024-2025 women’s hockey without comparing the team to last year’s NCAA Tournament squad. This year’s version of the Red returns 21 of the 24 skaters who played more than five games last season, six All-Ivy players and the entirety of one of the best blue lines in college hockey.

Season Preview: Despite Losing Daniel, No. 11 Women’s Hockey Enters New Season Primed for Success

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