The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

In this week's edition of the PodKaz, a weekly look at NCAA women's hockey from USCHO.com, hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski discuss a change to the IIHF calendar. The Women's World Championship is moving from April to November during the 2026-27 season, so players could be pulled away from their college teams for national team duty.

Nicole and Todd discuss whether enough consideration was given for the developmental path in making an accommodation for the PWHL to not have to disrupt its schedule.

Then it's a look back at last week's play, which saw important sweeps for Ohio State and Minnesota, a split between Clarkson and UConn and another stumble by St. Lawrence against Mercyhurst. Also: Delaware earned the first-year program's first victory.

We wrap up with a look ahead to games between ranked teams: No. 4 Minnesota Duluth at No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 3 Minnesota in a home-and-home series with No. 10 St. Cloud State and No. 14 Boston University at No. 8 Colgate.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

This edition of the PodKaz, the weekly look at NCAA women's hockey from USCHO.com, has hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski looking back at an upset by Merrimack against Clarkson and weighing the ramifications.

Then we reflect on Penn State's sweep of St. Lawrence and a split between UConn and St. Cloud State in matchups between ranked teams. The result of a series between Minnesota and Boston College opened some eyes.

The weekend ahead brings a featured series between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Colgate, both getting their first real action of the season. Plus, we look ahead to series with No. 9 Clarkson hosting No. 12 UConn and No. 13 Boston University welcoming No. 3 Minnesota.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

This week's edition of the PodKaz from USCHO.com features the last two segments as hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski look around at each of the five NCAA women's hockey conference at the start of the 2025-26 season.

Defending NCAA champion Wisconsin is the coaches' favorite in the WCHA, but how much with absences for the Olympics mean to the Badgers' chase of a repeat?

In NEWHA, Sacred Heart was picked to finish first after it won the playoff championship against Long Island and made its first NCAA tournament appearance.

Then Nicole and Todd reflect on the first weekend of the season and look ahead to a top-10 nonconference series in the weekend ahead.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

Conference season previews continue on this episode of the PodKaz. Hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski take a glance at the stories ahead in the 2025-26 season for Hockey East and Atlantic Hockey.

UConn is looking to return to the top of the Hockey East standings a year after beating Boston University by one point.

Penn State ran away with the Atlantic Hockey title in 2024-25 and the Nittany Lions are in position to repeat behind forward Tessa Janecke.

For a look at all of the offseason player and coach movement, click here.

Previews of the WCHA and the NEWHA are coming on a future episode.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

On the first episode of the PodKaz for the 2025-26 season, Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com discuss how preparations for the Olympics could impact the NCAA hockey landscape. It's a season unlike any others before because of the lack of centralization for the U.S. and Canadian national teams.

Changes to the NCAA tournament selection process and an experimental rule also are new this season, and we touch on those.

Then we start our previews of the five NCAA conferences with ECAC Hockey. Cornell won both the regular-season and playoff championships last season and made it to the Frozen Four. Do the Big Red have enough for another run? We discuss the contenders and a dark horse before debating whether the conference will have equal, exceed or fall short of the four NCAA tournament spots it earned in 2025.

Previews of Hockey East, Atlantic Hockey, the WCHA and the NEWHA are coming on future episodes.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

What does it take to start a new NCAA Division I women's hockey program from scratch? Coach Allison Coomey is getting that experience at Delaware, which will field a varsity team for the first time in 2025-26.

Coomey joined an offseason episode of the PodKaz with Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski of USCHO.com to discuss how she has built a staff, assembled a roster and crafted a schedule for the inaugural season.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

Natálie Mlýnková, who recently wrapped up her NCAA hockey career, joins Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski for an offseason edition of the PodKaz.

Mlýnková played four seasons at Vermont and one at Minnesota, finishing at the Frozen Four in Minneapolis in March. She looks back on moving to North America from Czechia at 16 to play hockey and how the women's game is evolving in her home country.

That was evident in April when Czechia set an attendance record in hosting the World Championship. Mlýnková talks about playing in that event.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

The offseason series of PodKaz interview episodes begins with a discussion with Wisconsin-River Falls coach Joe Cranston. It took Cranston 25 seasons to win a Division III NCAA championship with the Falcons, but his team did it in style in 2023-24 with a 31-0 record. They went back to back in 2025, with both championship victories coming at home.

Cranston discusses his journey as a coach, his influences and how he has recruited and developed national player of the year-level talent.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for us? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com wrap up the 2024-25 NCAA women's hockey season on this episode of the PodKaz.

The All-USCHO teams and individual awards are out, and Nicole explains the process and how this year's winners were chosen.

Then we take a look back at some big storylines from the season, including Wisconsin winning its eighth NCAA championship, Boston University going from unranked at the start of the season to Hockey East playoff champion, Cornell getting back to the Frozen Four and more.

And we wrap up with a look at some of the entries in the transfer portal, where teams can remake their roster in the offseason.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for our mailbag? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].

Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski from USCHO.com are back from the Frozen Four in Minneapolis, where Wisconsin won its eighth NCAA championship with a last-minute rally to force overtime and a 4-3 win over Ohio State.

The show looks back at Friday's semifinal games, where Ohio State defeated Cornell and Wisconsin ousted host Minnesota.

Then we have some thoughts on the presentation of the Patty Kazmaier Award on Saturday, won by Badgers forward Casey O'Brien.

And we wrap up with a long look back at the NCAA championship game, including a memorable penalty shot equalizer by Wisconsin's Kirsten Simms, who also scored the overtime winner.

The PodKaz is a production of USCHO.com. Have a question for our mailbag? Reach out to Nicole (@NicoleHaase) or Todd (@ToddMilewski) on social media or email [email protected].