Former NCAA Women's Players Attain NHL, Hockey Hall of Fame

The first female assistant coach in NHL history is an NCAA graduate. 

Jessica Campbell (Cornell), who spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the AHL's Coachella Valley Firebirds, was elevated this week to the same position with the parent club Seattle Kraken. In both her campaigns with the Firebirds, she helped them to two Western Conference titles and two Calder Cup Final appearances.

Campbell, 32, from Moosomin, Sask., began her coaching career in 2017-18 as an assistant with Pursuit of Excellence for two seasons, then moved on to Okanagan HA 1U18 Prep for one year. She also served as assistant with Malmo (Sweden), where she had completed her playing career in 2019-20, and then served with the Nürnberg Ice Tigers (Germany) and with Team Germany in 2021-22 before joining Coachella Valley.

A product of the Melville Prairie Fire organization, Campbell played forward at Cornell from 2010 to 2014, collecting 46 goals and 54 assist for 100 points in 131 NCAA games while helping the Big Red to six combined ECAC Hockey titles and four NCAA tournament berths, including two NCAA Frozen Fours. She then played three years professionally for the Calgary Inferno, notching 29-21—50 points in 63 outings.

Last month also saw two former NCAA women's forwards and college teammates named to the Hockey Hall of Fame, in Natalie Darwitz (Minnesota) and Krissy Wendell-Pohl (Minnesota). Both will be formally inducted in Toronto this November with the rest of the Class of 2024.

Darwitz, 40, from Eagan, Minn., scored 316 goals over four years playing for Eagan High School. At the University of Minnesota, she registered 102-144—246 points in three years, while also starring with the U.S Women's National Team, garnering five IIHF Women's World Championship silver medals, three Worlds gold medals, two Olympic silver medals and an Olympic bronze medal. She went on to work as an assistant college coach at her alma mater in two separate stints, sandwiched around a six-season tenure as head coach at Hamline University, and last year served as general manager with PWHL champion Minnesota.

Wendell-Pohl, 42, from Brooklyn Park, Minn., spent her women's scholastic career scoring 229 goals in 60 games over two years at Park Center High School. She then moved on to Minnesota, where in three seasons with the Golden Gophers she tallied 106-131—237 points while also serving as captain her junior year. Her trophy case with Team USA includes five IIHF World Championship silver medals, a Worlds gold medal, an Olympic silver medal and an Olympic bronze medal. Since 2021, she has served as an amateur scout with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Both Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl played at Minnesota from 2002 to 2005. In that span they helped the Golden Gophers to three NCAA tournament appearances, the first two national championships in program history, and four WCHA crowns.

Hershey Wins Second Straight Calder Cup

The Hershey Bears are back-to-back Calder Cup champions.

The Bears won their record 13th American Hockey league postseason title with a 5-4 overtime victory over the visiting Coachella Valley Firebirds on Monday night, before a record crowd of 11,013 at Giant Arena. Matt Strome's unassisted goal just over a minute into the extra session proved to be the deciding score. Hershey won the best-of-seven series in six games, one year after topping Coachella Valley in seven games in the AHL final. 

Cale Fleury forced overtime for the Firebirds on a goal with just under three minutes remaining in regulation, after Hershey had established leads of 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3. Pierrick Dubé scored three times for the Bears, while Chase Priskie (Quinnipiac) and Joe Snively (Yale) both recorded assists on the evening, and Hunter Shepard (Minnesota-Duluth) finished with 17 saves in net for Hershey in winning his second straight Calder Cup as starting goaltender. 

Cameron Hughes (Wisconsin) set up three goals on the night for Coachella Valley, including Fleury's late game-tying goal, while Ryan Winterton scored twice. The Firebirds have made the AHL final in each of the first two years of their existence, falling to Hershey both times in OT.

Monday also marked the final game behind the Firebirds bench for head coach Dan Bylsma (Bowling Green), who is leaving to take the helm of Coachella Valley's NHL parent club, the Seattle Kraken.

Kraken Win 2024 Winter Classic

Joey Daccord (Arizona State) recorded the first shutout in NHL Winter Classic history on Monday when his Seattle Kraken blanked the visiting Vegas Golden Knights, 3-0, in an outdoor game at T-Mobile Park, home of MLB's Seattle Mariners.

Daccord finished with 35 saves to backstop the Kraken, who got a goal in each period on New Year's Day, including one in the second stanza from defenseman Will Borgen (St. Cloud State). Vegas forward Jack Eichel (Boston University) had five shots on goal for the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights, but couldn't solve fellow Massachusetts native Daccord in front of 47,313 on-lookers.

It was the first Winter Classic appearance for either club, and the 39th outdoor game in NHL history.

Beniers Claims 2022-23 Calder Trophy

Matty Beniers (Michigan) is the 2022-23 recipient of the Calder Trophy as top rookie in the National Hockey League. The award was presented Monday night in Nashville, site of this year's NHL Entry Draft that will commence on Wednesday.

Beniers, 20, recorded 24 goals and 33 assists for 57 points and just two penalty minutes in 80 regular-season games this year for the second-year Kraken franchise. He then added three goals and seven points in 14 Stanley Cup Playoff contests as Seattle ousted the defending Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in the first round, before falling to the Dallas Stars in the second round, both in seven games.

Originally committed to play for Harvard, Beniers. a center, instead pivoted to Michigan when the Ivy League schools decided to sit out the 2020-21 campaign due to COVID-19. In two years and 61 outings at Michigan, he notched 30-37–67 points and 16 PIM in helping the Wolverines to two NCAA tournament berths, including the 2022 NCAA Frozen Four in Boston, plus a Big Ten tournament title. He actually made his NHL audition by playing 10 games with the Kraken soon afterwards last spring, registering three goals and nine points points in that span, and has recorded a total of 27-39–66 points in 90 NHL regular-season appearances to date.

A native of Hingham, Mass. and a product of the U.S. National Team Development Program, Beniers was originally selected second overall by expansion Seattle in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

Harvard's Donato Scores Kraken's First NHL Goal

Ryan Donato (Harvard) made Seattle Kraken history on Tuesday night.

The former Crimson forward tallied the first goal in the expansion NHL franchise's annals, at 11:32 of the second period in Las Vegas. The goal pulled Seattle to within 3-1 at the time, in an eventual 4-3 loss to the host Golden Knights.

Max Pacioretty (Michigan) scored twice for Vegas, and also assisted on the game-winning goal in the third period, less than a minute after the Kraken had come back to forge a 3-3 tie.

The Kraken will now continue its season-opening five-game road trip before returning to Seattle for its home opener on Oct. 23, against the Vancouver Canucks at Climate Pledge Arena.

Former NCAA Players Taken by NHL's Kraken

Several former NCAA players were selected in last night's NHL Expansion Draft to help stock the league's newest club, the Seattle Kraken, who will begin play in October.

One player was chosen by Seattle from each of the 31 other NHL clubs, save for the Vegas Golden Knights, who only began play in 2017. Among the players taken by the Kraken were defensemen Gavin Bayreuther (St. Lawrence), Jamie Oleksiak (Northeastern) and Carson Soucy (Minnesota-Duluth), forwards Mason Appleton (Michigan State), Colin Blackwell (Harvard) and Brandon Tanev (Providence), and goaltender Joey Daccord (Arizona State).

Bayreuther, 27, skated for St. Lawrence from 2013 to 2017, where he recorded 35 goals and 76 points for 111 points over four seasons. He has three goals and three assists for six points in 28 NHL regular-season games with Dallas and Columbus.

Oleksiak, 28, played at Northeastern during the 2010-11 season, where he put up four goals and nine assists for 13 points with the Huskies before turning pro. He has registered 24-48—72 points in 369 NHL appearances with Dallas and Pittsburgh. and also helped Dallas to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final.

Soucy, 26, played four years at UMD, where he collected 12-35—47 points in 147 NCAA contests, and also captained the Bulldogs to a national championship game berth as a senior in 2017.  In 108 career NHL games, he has put up 8-23—31 points, all with Minnesota.

Appleton, 25, played at Michigan State from 2015 to 2017, scoring 17 goals and adding 36 assists for 53 points over 72  games with the Spartans. He has 20-23—43 points in 138 NHL outings, all with Winnipeg.

Blackwell, 28, skated for Harvard from 2011 to 2015, collecting 19-39--58 points in 94 games for the Crimson. He has 15-17—32 points in 80 NHL appearances with Nashville and the New York Rangers.

Tanev, 29, a member of Providence's 2015 NCAA title team, tallied 35-42—77 points in 149 games with the Friars from 2012 to 2016. In 295 NHL contests with Winnipeg and Pittsburgh to date, he has scored 42 goals to go with 50 assists for 92 points.

Daccord, 24, who backstopped ASU to its first-ever NCAA tournament berth in 2019, posted a career record of 32-40-7 with 3.07 goals-against average and eight shutouts in three seasons with the Sun Devils, including a 21-13-1 mark and seven shutouts in his third and final campaign. He has gone 1-4-1 with a 3.50 GAA in nine NHL appearances, all with Ottawa.

UND's Hakstol to Coach NHL Seattle

 

The National Hockey League's new Seattle franchise has already gotten Kraken with the naming of former NCAA player and coach Dave Hakstol (North Dakota) as its first-ever head coach.

Hakstol, 52, spent the past two seasons as an NHL assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He served as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers from 2015 to 2018, with whom he fashioned a regular-season record of 134-101-42 while also earning two Stanley Cup Playoff berths.

Hakstol took the Flyers job immediately following 15 seasons coaching at his alma mater, all but four of those as head coach. He led North Dakota to 11 NCAA tournament appearances and seven Frozen Four berths, while also winning six regular-season or playoff championships in the old Western College Hockey Association, and one such crown in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. His career record at UND as head coach from 2004 to 2015, while claiming those aforementioned laurels, was 289-143-43 (.654).

Hakstol, who hails from Warburg, Alberta, skated on defense for UND from 1989 to 1992. In three seasons with the then-Fighting Sioux, the last two as team captain, he tallied 10 goals and 36 assists for 46 points to go with 191 penalty minutes. 

He played five seasons in the old International Hockey League before getting into coaching with Sioux City (USHL), serving four seasons (1996-2000) with the Musketeers before returning to UND. He also helped Team Canada to silver-medal finishes as an assistant coach at both the 2017 and 2019 World Championships.

The Seattle Kraken will begin play this fall as the 32nd and newest NHL club.