2009-10 Season Outlook
There will be a lot of new faces on the 2009-10 University of North Dakota women's hockey team, but one characteristic the team will be looking to return this season is its winning mentality.
A season in which the Fighting Sioux re-wrote the record books and finished tied for fifth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings, their highest finish ever, a quick start to the season led to a disappointing finish to the year.
But through that disappointment brought on from being in the race for home-ice for the first-time in program history, a new perception has been formed within the locker room and among UND's peers and fans.
Head coach Brian Idalski will be entering his third season at the helm of the squad and says, "It is amazing how much the perception of this program has changed in two years".
He inherited a team that went winless within the conference and at his hiring was quoted as saying, "I am looking forward to its challenges and I am excited for the opportunity to create a culture of winning and a tradition of excellence with the UND women's hockey program."
His beliefs are coming to fruition as there is a buzz around the women's hockey community about expectations for his team.
"I think the young kids learned that there is a reason for why strength and conditioning are so important," Idalski said. "It is a long season, a bit of a grind and they have to be prepared for the whole thing. I don't think some of our younger kids were used to playing that many high-end games under those kind of circumstances. Hopefully they are better after going through that and can put together a full year this year."
Experience is invaluable and with a new highly-touted recruiting class, along with the incoming transfers of three players in All-American sophomores Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux (Minnesota), along with junior Janet Babchishin (Wayne State), the Sioux will be looking to live up to that buzz.
But the Sioux will not be returning 100 percent, as they will be looking to replace their biggest scoring threat in Melissa Jaques, who left the program as the all-time leading point score, along with veteran captain Casie Hanson and assistant captains Randi Motsko and Kelsey Fletcher.
Replacing the chemistry and leadership brought on by that group of seniors is one of the team's biggest question marks.
"That is going to take a bit of time to work out," Idalski said. "I am not sure who is going to work well with what, but we have a lot more options then we have had in the past."
Taking over those reigns will be junior captain Kelly Lewis and assistant captains Stephanie Roy (junior), Cassandra Flanagan (senior) and Brittany Kirkham (senior). Lewis set a new record for the Sioux with seven goals from a defenseman last year and five of them came on the power-play. Flanagan ate up a lot of valuable minutes from the blueline and had a team-high 98 penalty minutes. Roy was tied with Lewis for fourth on the team with 19 points, and Kirkham will be returning in net tied for the school record with six career shutouts.
"There is no doubt in how our sophomore and junior classes (of last year) developed as leaders, and how they develop from a talent perspective is going to go a long way to determining how our season goes," Idalski said.
"There are some question marks there but we see it as an opportunity for some young kids to step up and take the reigns."
Those four players' characteristics and strengths are exactly what Idalski believes the team's will be - defense and goaltending.
"Our strengths in what we see in our team is our defense and goaltending," Idalski said. "It is going to have to start there. Who is going to step up and put the puck in the net up front is a bit of a question mark to start the year, but between some of our young kids coming in and the development of our juniors and sophomores, we have kids capable of taking on that load."
Goaltending: Returning in net will be Kirkham, sophomore Stephanie Ney and redshirt freshman Jorid Dagfinrud. Last season, Kirkham and Ney stayed mentally and physically fresh by splitting time, with each getting a game per series almost every weekend. Not much is expected to change this season besides entering another talented goalie into the equation in Dagfinrud.
Finding time for all of the goalies is the biggest question when looking toward this group for the upcoming year.
"Obviously goaltending is going to be a strength of ours," Idalski said.
"Coming back with Kirkham being a senior now, with the experience and being healthy, and Stephanie splitting games and having been in net for a win over Duluth was great experience. Having (Jorid) now after red-shirting and being able to compete, with her athleticism, will definitely be an interesting problem to have. They are three quality kids that will all be looking for minutes to play."
Forwards: A talented, but young, group will be leading the Sioux offense this season as there will only be three upperclassmen in senior Alex Williams and juniors Stephanie Roy and Babchishin.
Also back is sophomore Alyssa Wiebe, who is UND's returning leading scorer (finished second on team last year) and will be trying to improve upon her marks of 13 goals and 15 assists for 28 points in 36 games. Sophomores Sara Dagenais (9-9-18, 36GP), Margot Miller (6-5-11, 36GP) and Kelsey Ketcher (0-1-1, 26GP) also return.
Six freshmen will be asked to step in and make an immediate contribution in Ashley Furia, Mary Loken, Holly Perkins, Megan Gilbert, Jessica Harren and Ali Parizek.
"We expect those kids to first of all come in and compete," Idalski said. "A lot of character kids are in that group and a lot of work ethic, which we were desiring. They are going to give us depth that we haven't had necessarily the last couple of years."
Defense: Having an abundance of solid defensemen may help a coach sleep a little better at night and this is what the Sioux hope they have in returners Lewis, Flanagan, senior Susanne Fellner and sophomore Ashley Holmes. Rounding out the group will be freshmen Jordan Slavin, Candace Molle and Alanna Moir.
"We have three freshmen but a solid core of four who are experienced, older and mature, that can definitely help us bring those three kids along easily because those three are extremely talented," Idalski said.
The Year: It is an Olympic year, meaning a number of the league's top-end talent, including two of UND's in Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux, will be out for the season as redshirts, making it an interesting year. Although many teams will have missing parts, Idalski believes the conference and league will play out much like it usually does, with the perennial powerhouses in the WCHA and NCAA being there again in the hunt for a national championship. And the WCHA is always in the hunt, winning the national title every year since the formation of the league.
"It is one (season) of not being sure of what exactly is going to happen," Idalski said. "I think sometimes it gets a little overstated, the impact that the Olympic year will have. The culture is the same in a lot of those teams that have had success in the past. Those teams expect to have it in the future regardless of who is putting on a sweater. We are going to have to continue to go out and get better. We like our chances, we think we have improved and hopefully we will take another step forward."
