2019–20 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season

The 2019–20 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season is the 19th season of competition in the National Collegiate division of NCAA women's ice hockey, the de facto equivalent of Division I in that sport. The season began in September 2019 and will end with the 2020 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey tournament's championship game at Agganis Arena in Boston on March 22, 2020.

2019–20 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season
NCAA tournament	2020
National championship	Agganis Arena Boston, Massachusetts
NCAA Division I women's ice hockey seasons ← 2018–19 2020–21 →

Changes from 2018–19

The most significant change from the 2018–19 season was the recognition of the New England Women's Hockey Alliance (NEWHA) as an official NCAA conference. The NEWHA was founded in 2017 as a scheduling alliance by the six schools that then competed as National Collegiate independents—full Division I members Holy Cross and Sacred Heart, plus Division II members Franklin Pierce, Post, Saint Anselm, and Saint Michael's. Holy Cross left after the first NEWHA season of 2017–18 to join Hockey East. Shortly before the 2018–19 season, the remaining five members formally organized as a conference and began the process of gaining full NCAA recognition.[1]

In the meantime, LIU Brooklyn had announced that it would add women's ice hockey effective in 2019–20, and would join the NEWHA at that time.[2] Shortly after this announcement, the school's parent institution, Long Island University, announced that it would merge the athletic programs of its two main campuses (Division I Brooklyn and Division II Post) into a single Division I program[3] that would later be unveiled as the LIU Sharks.[4]

With the conference membership returning to six for 2019–20, the NCAA officially approved the NEWHA as a Division I conference shortly before the start of that season. This action also meant that there would be no independent programs in that season, since the NEWHA membership included all of the previous National Collegiate independents.[5]

Polls

Regular season

Standings

2019–20 College Hockey America standings
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#10 Mercyhurst*	20	13	4	3	29	68	40		34	19	10	5	107	73
Robert Morris	20	13	5	2	28	67	40		34	19	11	4	111	82
Syracuse	20	11	7	2	24	69	40		34	13	19	2	99	89
Penn State	20	7	8	5	19	38	42		34	12	14	8	65	75
RIT	20	5	13	2	12	39	72		34	12	18	4	76	103
Lindenwood	20	3	15	2	8	26	73		33	5	23	5	42	117
Championship: March 7, 2020 indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com

2019–20 ECAC Hockey standings
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#1 Cornell	22	19	0	3	41	84	16		31	27	1	3	121	28
#6 Princeton	22	17	4	1	35	77	40		31	24	6	1	114	54
#7 Clarkson	22	14	4	4	32	63	29		36	25	5	6	110	50
Harvard	22	15	6	1	31	69	53		32	18	13	1	93	85
Yale	22	13	9	0	26	53	49		32	17	15	0	86	81
Colgate	22	11	8	3	25	71	43		38	17	15	6	110	84
#10 Quinnipiac	22	11	9	2	24	63	43		37	20	14	3	104	70
St. Lawrence	22	8	10	4	20	34	43		36	13	16	7	73	83
Union	22	5	14	3	13	39	74		34	5	24	5	52	115
Dartmouth	22	4	15	3	11	36	70		29	7	19	3	52	91
Brown	22	2	18	2	6	24	85		29	3	23	3	33	119
RPI	22	0	22	0	0	14	82		34	0	33	1	21	122
Championship: March 10, 2020 indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com

2019–20 NEWHA standings
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
Sacred Heart	21	19	2	0	38	77	31		31	20	11	0	89	77
Franklin Pierce	20	13	7	0	26	75	40		29	18	11	0	107	63
St. Anselm	20	11	8	1	23	52	35		30	14	13	3	71	63
LIU	21	11	10	0	22	79	53		32	14	18	0	100	107
Saint Michael's	20	4	15	1	9	24	66		26	5	18	3	32	82
Post	20	2	18	0	4	23	105		29	7	22	0	52	136
Championship: March 8, 2020 indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com

2019–20 Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings
	Conference									Overall
	GP	W	L	T	SW	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#2 Wisconsin	26	17	4	3	2	56	97	48		34	27	4	3	156	60
#3 Minnesota	24	17	5	2	0	53	86	40		35	27	5	3	137	57
#5 Ohio State	26	13	6	5	2	46	81	56		36	22	8	6	116	79
#9 Minnesota-Duluth	27	11	8	5	3	41	69	60		35	18	11	6	98	77
Bemidji State	24	9	13	2	0	29	46	68		37	16	18	3	71	91
Minnesota State	27	4	16	4	3	19	40	83		37	11	20	6	71	108
St. Cloud State	24	2	21	1	0	7	32	98		35	6	25	4	62	122
Championship: March 8, 2020 indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com

2019–20 WHEA standings
	Conference								Overall
	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF	GA		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA
#4 Northeastern	27	24	3	0	48	106	20		36	30	4	2	137	35
#8 Boston University	27	18	6	3	39	77	43		36	24	8	4	108	58
Providence	27	15	10	2	32	58	53		36	18	14	4	85	71
Boston College	27	14	11	2	30	76	69		36	17	16	3	94	97
UConn	27	13	12	2	28	60	54		37	18	17	2	89	80
New Hampshire	27	12	12	3	'27	58	53		36	18	14	4	83	70
Maine	27	9	11	7	25	61	62		36	15	13	8	92	75
Vermont	27	7	14	6	20	65	84		36	10	18	8	85	109
Holy Cross	27	5	20	2	12	27	98		33	5	23	5	36	117
Merrimack	27	2	20	5	9	39	91		34	5	24	5	57	111
Championship: March 8, 2020 indicates conference regular season champion; * indicates conference tournament champion Rankings: USCHO.com

Player stats

Scoring leaders

The following players lead the NCAA in points at the conclusion of games played on November 11, 2019.[6]

Player	Class	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Daryl Watts	Junior	Wisconsin	12	10	19	29
Jaycee Gebhard	Senior	Robert Morris	12	7	19	26
Sophie Shirley	Sophomore	Wisconsin	12	10	14	24
Abby Roque	Senior	Wisconsin	12	9	13	22
Elizabeth Giguère	Junior	Clarkson	12	11	10	21
Grace Zumwinkle	Junior	Minnesota	12	11	9	20
Gabrielle Davis	Freshman	Clarkson	12	6	13	19
Taylor Heise	Sophomore	Minnesota	12	8	11	19
Alina Mueller	Sophomore	Northeastern	9	5	14	19

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders lead the NCAA in goals against average.[6]
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Player	Class	Team	GP	Min	W	L	T	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
Tera Hofmann	Senior	Yale	4	232:48	4	0	0	1	3	.983	0.26
Lindsay Browning	Junior	Cornell	6	364:02	5	0	1	3	3	.976	0.49
Aerin Frankel	Junior	Northeastern	9	532:23	8	1	0	8	3	.959	0.90
Michaela Kane	Senior	Saint Anselm	4	243:09	3	1	0	4	1	.945	0.99
Samantha Carpentier-Yelle	Sophomore	Connecticut	5	297:28	4	1	0	6	2	.934	1.21

References

1. "NEWHA announces intent to be recognized as NCAA national collegiate women's hockey conference". USCHO.com. September 26, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
2. "Women's Ice Hockey Added as Varsity Sport at LIU Brooklyn; Morgan Tabbed as Inaugural Head Coach" (Press release). LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds. September 10, 2018. Archived from the original on July 11, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
3. "Long Island University Announces Unification Into One LIU Division I Program" (Press release). LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds. October 3, 2018. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
4. "Welcome to the Shark Tank: Long Island University Chooses the Shark as New Mascot" (Press release). Long Island University. May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
5. "New England Women's Hockey Alliance approved for NCAA Division I status, effective with '19-20 season". USCHO.com. September 4, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
6. "Women's Division I Overall Hockey Statistics: 2019-2020 Stats". USCHO.com. November 11, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2019.