Season Preview (Video)
Series Notes
- The Lindenwood women's ice hockey team will begin the 2012-13 season on the road at Ohio State. Game one of the series will take place on Friday at 7 p.m. (eastern time). Game two of the series will be on Saturday at 4 p.m. (eastern time).
- The 2012-13 season marks the second year that Lindenwood will compete against a NCAA schedule. The Lady Lions went 8-21-0 in their inaugural campaign, including six straight wins to end the season.
- Lindenwood will be a first-year member of College Hockey America this year. The Lady Lions will join Penn State and RIT as new members of the league. Existing members include Mercyhurst, Robert Morris, and Syracuse.
- Lindenwood returns 93.5 percent of its goal scoring from last year, including all three members of its “Triple A” line.
Alison Wickenheiser led the team with 19 goals, 17 assists, and 36 points.
Alyssa West was second on the team with 24 points, including 16 assists.
Allysson Arcibal finished with six goals and six assists.
- The Lady Lions also return both of their goalies from last season and their top three defensemen.
Taylor Fairchild started 24 games in goal and made 984 saves, one of highest marks in the NCAA.
Megan Cox and
Brett Lobreau made up the team's top defensive line for most of the 2011-12 campaign.
- Despite returning 16 players, Lindenwood is still a very young team with 13 of its 23 players being freshmen or sophomores. The program also has four seniors and six juniors.
- Lindenwood has seven newcomers on the squad, including two transfers.
Jocelyn Slattery joins the team after two years at Connecticut and
Chelsea Witwicke comes to the Lady Lions after playing at Niagara.
- Ohio State is coming off a 16-16-4 season last year and it finished fifth in the WCHA with a 13-14-1 mark. The Buckeyes return 17 of their 22 letterwinners from last year.
- This is the first meeting between Lindenwood and Ohio State. The Lady Lions went 0-6-0 against WCHA teams last season. Ohio State was 3-0-1 against CHA programs.
A Look Back At 2011-12
- Lindenwood, which was an independent last season, played seven nationally-ranked teams and had just four home games in a challenging first-year schedule.
- Lindenwood won its first NCAA game with a 7-1 victory over Saint Benedict, and it won its first NCAA Division I contest with a 4-0 shutout over Sacred Heart.
- The Lady Lions ended their season on a six-game winning streak. In that span, they outscored opponents by a 33-13 margin.
- Lindenwood's
Alison Wickenheiser was one of the team's top players. Her 1.24 points per game average would have ranked fifth among NCAA Division I rookies if Lindenwood would have been eligible to be included in the statistics leaders list.
Lindenwood Notes
- Senior
Brett Lobreau will be the team's captain for the second straight year, and
Allysson Arcibal will be an assistant captain again. The second assistant captain position has not been named yet.
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Caitlyn Post was Lindenwood's second-leading goal scorer last season with 13. She scored five goals on the power play.
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Taylor Fairchild was the team's number one goalie last season. She had a 6.62 GAA and made 984 saves on the season.
- One of the players who will compete with Fairchild for playing time is true freshman
Nicole Hensley. The Colorado native helped High Plains High School win the 2012 state championship.
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Jordyn Constance scored just five goals last year, but picked an opportune time to strike. She tied for the team-high with two game-winning goals, including the first in the program's NCAA history.
- Lindenwood averaged 2.7 goals a game last year and allowed 6.3 goals a contest. The team scored on 15.2 percent of its power-play opporunities, and allowed goals 34.6 percent of the time on penalty kills.
- One of the team's main additions in the offseason was assistant coach
Cory Whitaker. Whitaker, who previously coached Grand Valley State's women's club team, will be Lindenwood's goalie/video coach.
- Lindenwood will be home for the first time on Oct. 5-6 for the Texas Roadhouse Classic Series against No. 2 Wisconsin.
- The Lady Lions have eight games this year against teams in the preseason national poll, including six at home.
College Hockey America
- Lindenwood was selected fifth in the CHA preseason coaches poll. Mercyhurst topped the poll, followed by Robert Morris, Syracuse, RIT, Lindenwood, and Penn State.
- Mercyhurst is the lone nationally-ranked team out of the CHA. The Lakers are No. 8 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, and No. 10 in the USCHO.com poll.
About The Buckeyes
- Ohio State returns nine forwards, five defenders, and all three goalies from last year's team.
- The Buckeyes were 17th in the nation (out of 34 teams) in scoring offense and 26th in scoring defense in 2011-12. The team was also in ninth in penalty minutes, 18th in power play, and 30th in penalty kill.
- The top returning scorer is Ally Tarr. Tarr scored 17 goals, including six game-winning goals, and had 10 assists last year.
- Lisa Steffes played 36 games in goal last year. She made 1,085 saves and had a 3.11 GAA.
- Head coach Nate Handrahan is in his second season at the school.
