Series Notes- Lindenwood women's hockey opens the 2014-15 season this Friday and Saturday against No. 2 Wisconsin. Game times are 7 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Lindenwood Ice Arena in Wentzville.
- The Lady Lions are beginning a new era as
Scott Spencer takes over as head coach. He is just the second head coach in history of the program. Spencer was the Director of Female Hockey at Pursuit of Excellence for the past two years. He has NCAA women's assistant coaching experience at Robert Morris and Ohio State.
- Lindenwood is starting its fourth year as a NCAA program, and its third season as a member of College Hockey America (CHA). The Lady Lions finished fifth in their first two seasons of play in the CHA.
- Wisconsin has won all six previous meetings between the two schools, including both games played in Wentzville. Lindenwood has made the results closer each year they have met, including final scores of 5-1 and 4-1 in 2013-14.
- The Lady Lions are 1-1-1 in their last three games against ranked teams. Lindenwood picked up the first win in program history over a ranked opponent last year with a 4-2 win over Robert Morris, and it also tied Mercyhurst by a 2-2 margin.
- Wisconsin reached the Frozen Four last year. It marked the seventh time over the last nine seasons that it reached at least the NCAA Tournament semifinals. The Badgers won NCAA National Championships in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2011.
Lindenwood Notes- Lindenwood improved its defensive numbers for the third consecutive year last year, having a 3.53 GAA for the season. That mark was 0.54 better than the 2012-13 season, and a 44 percent improvement over its inaugural year.
- Redshirt freshman defenseman
Tae Otte will serve as the captain for the 2014-15 Lady Lions. The alternative captains are junior defenseman
Brooke Peden and junior forward
Shara Jasper.
- The top returning player for the Lady Lions is goalie
Nicole Hensley. Hensley was a second-team all-CHA selection last year for the second straight year. She made 1,198 saves in 2012-13, the third-most in NCAA Division I history for a single season.
- Lindenwood has four seniors this year in
Jordyn Constance,
Katie Erickson,
Caitlyn Post, and
Alyssa West. The four players are the only remaining members from Lindenwood's inaugural season.
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Lyndsay Kirkham is the top offensive player returning from last season. Kirkham was second on the team with 10 assists and 16 points, and was fourth with six goals.
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Alyssa West and
Katie Erickson are the top returning goal scorers from 2013-14. Both players scored seven goals.
- The Lady Lions lost both of their first-line defensemen from last season. The returners at that position are juniors
Rachel Weich and
Brooke Peden, and sophomores
Carrie Atkinson and
Katie Nokelby.
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Carrie Atkinson is the top returning scorer among defenseman. She had two goals and four assists last season. Atkinson was also the top scorer from last year's freshman class.
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Katie Erickson scored over 30 percent of Lindenwood's power-play goals last year with five. Four of those five came in CHA play.
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Alyssa West is the top Lindenwood active player in points with 55 for her career. She is also number one in assists with 33.
Caitlyn Post has 23 career goals, the most among active Lady Lions.
- Lindenwood has six true freshmen this year in
Sarah Bobrowski,
Kaitlyn Davidson,
Darby Dodds,
Britannia Gillanders,
Emily Gunderson, and
Xylia Lang. Bobrowski, Dodds, Gunderson, and Lang are all from Minnesota. Davidson is from Pennsylvania and Gillanders comes to Lindenwood from Saskatchewan.
- Eighteen of the 23 Lady Lions come from the United States, while the other five are from Canada. The most popular states are eight from Minnesota and three from Michigan. Lindenwood has one local player as
Rachel Weich is from St. Charles, Mo.
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Nicole Hensley was a member of the under-22 United States national team that went 3-0 in a series against Canada in August. Hensley started the final game of the series and helped Team USA to a 3-2 shootout victory. Hensley made 12 saves in the game and stopped three shots in the shootout period.
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Jordyn Constance is a two-sport athlete at Lindenwood as she also plays on the women's lacrosse team. She was a member of last year's lacrosse squad that advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals in the program's first year of eligiblity for the postseason tournament.
- Lindenwood was picked sixth in the preseason College Hockey America coaches poll. The Lady Lions went 5-13-2 in league action last year.
- This week's series will be the first two of 11 games this season against members of the WCHA. Lindenwood plays two-game series with St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth, and Bemidji State. It also plays three games with Minnesota State.
- Lindenwood will be in action again on Oct. 10-11 with a two-game road series at St. Cloud State.
