NCAA Women’s Hockey Power Rankings: Preseason Top 10
As the color of the leaves starts to change around college campuses across the United States, college hockey is finally upon us.
This weekend, the 2025-26 NCAA Women’s Hockey season is set to get underway. After a thrilling end to the Frozen Four last spring, there’s a lot of excitement for what’s to come.
Despite this being a new campaign, there’s an expectation that many aspects will remain the same, primarily the dominance of the WCHA. Each of the past four national championship games has come between conference rivals. However, a few ECAC and Hockey East schools will look to make their mark, while a few individual stars are dragging their teams into the limelight.
Let’s look at the top 10 teams heading into the new season:
1. Wisconsin
I know, this is a very boring pick for the top spot.
When you look at what the defending champions are bringing back, you’d be hard-pressed to find a team more poised for another run at the championship than Wisconsin. The team brings back all but four of the players who won the program’s record eighth national title, with last year’s Patty Kazmaier Award winner, Casey O’Brien, getting drafted into the PWHL. Four of the seven leading scorers last season – Kirsten Simms, Laila Edwards, Caroline Harvey and Lacey Eden – are also back for another run.
On top of the strong veteran core, featuring star netminder Ava McNaughton, Mark Johnson’s team has a number of young stars entering the fold. Along with sophomore forward Maggie Scannell, Czech star Adéla Šapovalivová enters her freshman season after making a name for herself on the international scene.
2. Ohio State
I really wanted to knock Ohio State down a peg, but it’s hard to ignore Nadine Muzzerall’s lineup and how they have the tools to win a national championship.
Joy Dunne established herself as a star in the making last year, finishing sixth in the nation with 62 points. She returns along with fellow junior Jocelyn Amos, who chimed in with 52 points as the Buckeyes made it to the national championship game for the fourth year in a row last spring. OSU welcomes a couple of talented Europeans who have shone on the global stage, as Finland’s Sanni Vanhanen and Sweden’s Hilda Svensson look to bring some offensive firepower in their freshman campaigns.
The Buckeyes also have some assurance between the pipes. Amanda Thiele, who certainly wasn’t as good as Raygan Kirk was two years ago, is now in the PWHL. Hailey MacLeod was solid in a limited role last season but has the ability to be a No. 1 goaltender, something she showed a couple of years ago at Minnesota Duluth.
3. Minnesota
Yes, the Golden Gophers lost top scorers like Ella Huber, Natálie Mlýnková and Peyton Hemp, but they still have the dynamite goal-scoring star in Abbey Murphy, who elected to play a fifth season in Minneapolis rather than get picked first overall in this year’s PWHL Draft. Minnesota also has the dynamic Chloe Primerano patrolling all areas of the ice, and the excellent Josefin Bouveng, who’s expected to have a bounce-back performance this year.
Head coach Brad Frost has a couple of impressive rookies entering the fold, as Tereza Plosova comes to Minnesota after impressive showings internationally with Czechia, as well as Bella Fanale, who led the U.S. in scoring at the 2025 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship.
4. Cornell
The Big Red made it to the Frozen Four for the first time in six years this past March and are hoping for a repeat performance this season. Doug Derraugh’s team might not have the bombardment of scoring the prior teams have, but it has the defensive structure and timely offense that keep them near the top of the ECAC charts.
Cornell returns six seniors, including leading scorers Avi Adam and McKenna Van Gelder, both hoping to bring a little more offense in their senior campaigns. They have the Dwyer sisters, senior Grace and sophomore Rose, with the younger of the two hoping a year under her belt allows her to develop into the type of defender we saw when he won gold with Team USA at the U-18s two years ago.
The Big Red’s greatest strength is in net. Annelies Bergmann led the country with 10 shutouts last season, finishing third in the country in goals-against average (1.35) and tied for fifth in save percentage (.943).
5. Minnesota Duluth
Rounding out the WCHA powers is the other powerhouse in the State of Hockey.
The Bulldogs will have a tougher time hanging with the Gophers, Buckeyes and Badgers, especially with the losses of Olivia Wallin, Clara Van Wieren, Olivia Mobley, Hannah Baskin and Nina-Jobst Smith. Yet, former Canada U-18 standout Caitlin Kraemer is ready to step up in her second season with the program. She’s part of a young core that includes freshman Ava MacLeod and Ohio State transfer Josie St. Martin.
Ève Gascon is back for her junior season and is certainly becoming Canada’s next goaltending star. Along with being a finalist for the Goalie of the Year Award, the Quebec native earned a spot on Team Canada’s roster at the IIHF Women’s World Championship. The defending WCHA Goaltender of the Year hopes to lead Duluth to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2022.
6. Colgate
Is this the year Colgate takes a true step back? Probably not.
After losing Danielle Serdachny, Kayle Osborne and longtime head coach Greg Fargo to the PWHL two years ago, the Raiders had a great team, led by future New York Sirens No. 1 pick, Kristýna Kaltounková, and starting goaltender Hannah Murphy.
Even with both of those players in the PWHL, and talented forward Kaia Malchino transferring to Ohio State, Colgate has several names that make them a strong contender to win the ECAC. Senior Elysaa Biederman, who led the team in scoring last year, is flanked by the returning Emma Pais and Sarah Stewart, all players proving to be dynamite offensive weapons.
Junior Avery Pickering and senior Casey Borgiel lead a blueline that will have to play well in front of the unproven netminder Farah Walker, who played sparingly behind Murphy last year.
7. Clarkson
Like Duluth, Clarkson saw a lot of talent move on, as Haley Winn, Nicole Gosling and Anne Cherkowski all had their names called in the PWHL Draft.
That said, Clarkson isn’t totally bereft of weapons. Rhea Hicks and Sena Catterall lead a lighter senior class that is hoping to make a run at a conference title, and maybe more. Senior defender Lara Beecher brings talent and experience to the back after leaving Vermont. She’ll be joined by Kate Manness, who, along with her twin sister and fellow Clarkson rookie Sara, helped Canada win gold at the U-18s in January.
Holly Gruber split time with Julia Minotti. However, with Minotti having transferred to St. Thomas, it’s Gruber’s job to lose. She took over the reins, helping the Golden Knights get to Minneapolis last spring.
8. Penn State
It’s hard to truly judge how good Penn State truly is, playing in the relatively weak Atlantic Hockey America. But any team with Tessa Janecke on it has a chance to do something special.
The three-time defending AHA champs are led by the senior, who is an easy preseason pick to win the Patty Kaz and is an odds-on favorite to be a first-round pick in next year’s PWHL Draft. Janecke, who finished eighth in the NCAA with 53 points a season ago, has plenty of veteran experience around her. Seniors Katelyn Roberts and Maddy Christian have the firepower to potentially help push the Nittany Lions further than they’ve ever gone before.
Penn State will get a little bit of help from Taylor Lum, who transferred to the program from St. Lawrence for her senior season. Reigning conference goalie of the year Katie DeSa is ready for another solid season in net in Hockey Valley.
9. St. Lawrence
Speaking of the Saints, they enter the new season after losing their star player for the second year in a row. After Julia Gosling departed for the PWHL in 2024 and Abby Hustler this past year, head coach Chris Wells will have his work cut out for him. St. Lawrence lost its top five scorers from last season, with senior Kennedy Wilson returning to a team that has a lot of fresh faces.
The Saints bring in nine freshmen this season, including a plethora of OWHL alums. Fifth-year defender Alexa Davis brings some needed experience to the back end after transferring from Colgate.
What will give the Saints success (again) is goaltender Emma-Sofie Nordström. The Danish backstop has been one of the best netminders in the ECAC for the last couple of years, and could be the reason St. Lawrence makes a run to another national tournament berth.
10. Connecticut
After a stunning loss to Northeastern in the Hockey East Semifinals last season, the Huskies are hungry to get back to the national tournament for the second time in program history.
Similar to some of the other teams on this list, goaltending is going to be crucial if UConn wants to make it into March. Graduate student Tia Chan has been one of the HEA’s best netminders since she represented China at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Last season, she finished tied for second in the country in save percentage (.945), with her 1.54 GAA sitting as the best in the conference.
While the Huskies no longer have Jada Habisch and Ava Rinker, both drafted to the PWHL, the team brings back top scorers Claire Murdoch and Ashley Allard, along with Boston College transfer Julia Pellerin, who was a standout player on a surprising Eagles team last year.
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