The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

Ohio State took over the No. 1 spot in the USCHO.com Division I women's poll, and now the Buckeyes put it on the line with a trip to play No. 3 Minnesota.In this episode of The PodKaz, hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski look into the series between the Buckeyes and Gophers and some of the other key series to watch this weekend.Among them: No. 6 Northeastern at No. 4 Quinnipiac, focusing on whether Quinnipiac can generate a more dynamic offense beyond Kahlen Lamarche's finishing.No. 8 UConn plays No. 7 Princeton and No. 14 Cornell hosts No. 15 Vermont as the Ivy League schools get started. Also keep an eye on No. 10 St. Cloud State at St. Thomas in the WCHA.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 teams that have won the last seven NCAA women's hockey championships are playing each other this weekend, with No. 1 Wisconsin traveling to No. 2 Ohio State. But the games will be impacted by absences.PodKaz hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski cover the Canadian national team camp that's removing 14 current college players from their teams. Five of them would have been playing in the Wisconsin-Ohio State series.This episode also looks forward to St. Cloud State playing at Colgate, Clarkson and St. Lawrence playing a home-and-home series and newly ranked Vermont traveling to Franklin Pierce.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].

PodKaz hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski go through some of the rules changes in NCAA women's hockey, specifically the attempt to clarify what's legal contact and what should be penalized as body checking.They recap a media webinar with NCAA secretary/rules editor Steve Piotrowski outlining guiding principles (including shoulder-to-shoulder pursuit, end-wall pursuit, forward angle/cutback, and 50/50 battles) and emphasizing judging the action that creates contact rather than the outcome, plus a definition of body checking as a distinct moment of impact using overt hip/shoulder/arm/torso action to separate the puck carrier. Check out the NCAA rule changes here.The NCAA rules page is here.This episode also includes a look ahead at this week's big games: No. 9 Clarkson vs. No. 12 UConn, No. 13 St. Cloud State vs. No. 15 Minnesota State, Providence vs. No. 6 Quinnipiac and our first look at No. 5 Northeastern.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 PodKaz continues its series of episodes talking with NCAA women's hockey head coaches in new locations with a conversation with Syracuse's Brian Idalski.Idalski is back in college after a season coaching the PWHL expansion team in Vancouver, and he talks about how this change has been different than others in his career, which also includes college head coaching jobs at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, North Dakota and St. Cloud State.He also is coaching Czechia, and he discusses how the scheduling change for the Women's World Championship will impact college teams.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].

A change came out of the blue for Providence's Nicole Norton this offseason, and she moved up from assistant coach to interim head coach. She's our guest on this edition of The PodKaz as we continue preseason conversations with new head coaches in NCAA women's hockey to launch Season 4.Norton discusses the departure of previous Friars head coach Matt Kelly, which was announced Aug. 16, and touches on the support she has received from Providence administrators and Katie Burt, who moved up from an assistant coach to become interim associate head coach.Norton also touched on the importance of building relationships with players to give the Friars the best chance at success this 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].

The Jan. 15, 2026, episode of the PodKaz from USCHO.com has hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski talking about Princeton's 11-game winning streak. The Tigers are one win away from tying a program record, and they've shot to the top of ECAC Hockey.We also look back at the first night of the Beanpot, where Harvard and Boston University won to set up their second game with a trophy on the line in January. They also played for the title of the Friendship Series in Belfast, Northern Ireland.The viral sensation of last weekend was Minnesota's Abbey Murphy juggling the puck through the legs of a Minnesota State defender to set up a goal by Bella Fanale as the Gophers completed a home-and-home sweep. See that video here.We also take a look back at results between Penn State and Mercyhurst and Minnesota Duluth's shootout win against Wisconsin before the Badgers rebounded. The race for the NEWHA title also got tighter with last week's results.Nicole checks in from Nova Scotia with an update from the Under-18 Women's World Championship, which moves into the quarterfinal round Thursday.And we finish with a look ahead at some games to watch around NCAA women's hockey this weekend.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 this episode of the PodKaz, USCHO.com’s weekly look at NCAA women’s hockey, hosts Nicole Haase and Todd Milewski wrap up the first half of the 2025-26 season with a look at some of the teams that surprised, both positively and negatively.Northeastern and Princeton are both in the top 10 of the USCHO.com rankings after being lower in the preseason poll. Colgate, however, started at No. 5 and is heading to Christmas at No. 14.Then we check out the conference leaders compared to preseason predictions, and the biggest change is in NEWHA.We finish the first segment with a look at players to watch in the second half of the season for the Patty Kazmaier Award chase.The mailbag comes out for the second segment. Nicole and Todd respond to four listener questions.And we wrap things up with a look back at the final two games of the Rivalry Series, where the U.S. wrapped up a four-game sweep of Canada.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].