The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s hockey team opens the 2026-27 season on Friday when they head up to Bemidji for a two game series against the Beavers. It will be a year of transition for Minnesota as they have a new head coach in Boom May, and will need to learn to deal how to play in the always tough WCHA post-Abbey Murphy who is now off to the PWHL. The Gophers brought in a strong freshman class and added a trio of hopefully highly talented transfers and does return 17 players
off of last year’s team. But if Minnesota wants to return to the top of the NCAA, they still need to find a way to get past the Double B’s who have ruled the WCHA and the NCAA for the last decade in the Badgers and Buckeyes of Wisconsin and Ohio State. Will this year be the year?
Who is Gone?
The two biggest names on that list are Brad Frost and Abbey Murphy. Frost was fired by Mark Coyle after coaching the Gophers for the past 19 seasons leading them to four NCAA national championships, 10 NCAA Frozen Four appearances, seven WCHA regular-season titles, and four WCHA Final Faceoff championships. But, the success had dropped off. While Minnesota was the best team in the nation in the 2010’s, in the 2020’s they were third at best behind Wisconsin and Ohio State, not to mention some of the eastern teams like Clarkson and Northeastern who had knocked the Gophers out of the NCAA Tournament in recent seasons. So after a third consecutive third place finish in the WCHA, Frost was out the door. While many Gopher fans clamored for the U to do whatever it took to get Gopher alum and current Ohio State head coach Nadine Muzerall back to the U, she instead signed a new deal with the Buckeyes and will be in Columbus for the foreseeable future. So Coyle instead looked….on Frost’s own coaching staff and hired Gopher assistant Boom May as the new head coach for Minnesota.
How Minnesota adjusts on the ice with no Abbey Murphy will determine how the Gophers fare this season. When Murphy was missing either for the Olympics, or due to injury the Gopher offense in past seasons has been nearly non-existent. The Gophers will need to regroup and find a way to reorganize their style back around a team game rather than a star led one.
Also gone besides Murphy are a huge core-contributing group from last season. Off to the PWHL are a pair of forwards in Josefin Bouveng and Jamie Nelson, and a pair of defenders in Nelli Laitinen and Sydney Morrow. That’s five of the Gophers top seven scorers from a season ago now off to the professional ranks. That’s a huge gap for Minnesota to need to figure out how to fill. Add in forward/defenseman Allie Franco who played all but one game for Minnesota a season ago and there are six major holes to fill in your roster.
Who is Back?
Minnesota does return 17 players from last season’s roster, so the cupboards are not bare. But lots of players will need to step up into larger roles and continue to take the next step in their development for this Minnesota team to be successful. Minnesota’s top returning scorer is junior Ava Lindsay. She finished with 15 goals and 43 points a season ago, but was definitely aided by playing on a line with Murphy. This season she needs to take her next step forward to prove she is a quality player on her own. The third member of that line sophomore Bella Fanale also is back She was second on the roster a season ago with 20 goals as a freshman and must continue to step into her role as a budding star on this roster.
Four other forwards return after scoring 15 or more points a season ago in senior Emma Kreitz, 5th year Madison Kaiser, and sophomores Tereza Plosova and Kendra Distad.
One player Minnesota will look to have a big bounce back season will be 5th year forward Sarah Paul. The Princeton transfer started off the season hot a year ago recording eight points in eight games before suffering a season ending injury. If she can return to those type of scoring numbers, she could be a major player for the Gophers in 2026-27.
While the Gophers lose a pair of All-American defenders, they still return one of the best in the world in junior Chloe Primerano. She scored a career high 10 goals a season ago and has recorded more than 30 points both years as a Gopher. She was named to the Preseason All-WCHA team by the conference coaches this fall.
Returning with Primerano are three other players who saw action in nearly every game a year ago. Senior Molly Jordan is in her second year after transferring from Boston College and scored 16 points a season ago. Junior Gracie Graham recorded 15 points a season ago, while sophomore Carlie Humphrey added a pair of assists on the season. All will be needed to take another step forward on the Gopher blue line this year.
Minnesota returns four other sophomore skaters who played a year ago in Sydney Bailey, Sienna D’Alessandro, Avery Hovland and Olivia Kortan.
The Gophers do return both goaltenders who started all 39 games for Minnesota. Junior Hannah Clark will look to improve on her 2.08 goals against average and her .920 save percentage from a season ago. She ended the season with a 19-9-1 record. Sophomore Laila Hemp also saw a good chunk of time starting 11 games for the Gophers. She went 7-3-1 with a 2.14 GAA and a .912 save percentage. Expect both goalies to split time early in the season before May chooses a total #1.
Who is New?
Let’s start with the coaching staff. As said before former Gopher assistant Boom May now takes over the head coaching role this season. May has said repeatedly the Gophers need to play a gritter style of hockey and have all it’s players even the top stars work and grind like a fourth-liner. We shall see if the current crop of Gophers can make those adjustments.
As May’s assistants he brought in a trio of coaches well known in Minnesota women’s hockey circles. Marty Sertich is from Roseville and played at Colorado College winning a Hobey Baker Award in 2005. He has spent the last nine seasons as an assistant with the St. Thomas women’s team, Joining him are a pair of Gopher legends in Winny Brodt Brown and Amanda Levielle. Brodt Brown won the inaugural Ms. Hockey award at Roseville in 1996 before playing at New Hampshire for a season prior to the Gophers starting their program. She returned home to Minnesota for her final three seasons. With the Gophers, Brodt Brown ranks second all-time among defenders in program history with 134 points and third with 41 goals, helping lead Minnesota to its first national championship. Levielle was the backstop to three of the Gophers NCAA Championships in the mid-2010’s finishing her career ranked second in program history with 98 wins.
Minnesota brough in nine new players to fill out the 2026-27 roster—three transfers and six freshmen. All three of the Gophers transfers have had extensive college hockey success and should make immediate impacts into the Gopher lineup. Senior forward Ashley Allard comes to the Gophers from UConn after scoring 28 points a season ago for the Huskies. She was masterful in the face-off circle winning over 615 of her draws.
Minnesota added a pair of juniors in forward Julia Schalin from Mercyhurst and defender Lauren Goldsworthy from Minnesota State. Schalin recorded 31 points in 33 games for the Lakers a season ago and missed six games playing in the Olympics for Finland. She also scored 32 points in her freshman year as well and was named the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year. Goldsworthy is a Minnetonka native who in two seasons with the Mavericks recorded 17 career points.
Minnesota brought in six freshman including one named the Preseason WCHA Rookie of the Year. The class is headlined by Adrianna Milani. One of the best young players in Canada, Milani in the three game U18 series between Canada and the US this simmer led all skaters with nine points, including five goals and four assists. Milani also represented Canada at the 2026 U18 Women’s World Championship, helping the team earn a silver medal. She scored 10 goals and added three assists during the tournament to earn a spot on the U18 Women’s World Championship All-Star Team.
Joining Milani are a pair of Canadians who also played on the same Etobicoke Dolphins junior team with her. Maddie McCullough recorded 38 goals and 52 assists for a total of 90 points in just 46 games with the Dolphins last season. She also represented Team Canada at the U18 Women’s World Championships in 2025 and 2026 and posted four goals and three assists in just six games during the 2026 U18 Women’s World Championships. Rachel Piggott also played for the Canadian U18 squad at the 2026 U18 Women’s World Championships where she tallied seven goals and five assists for 12 points in just six games and was named one of the top-three players on Team Canada. All three now wear the maroon and gold.
Minnesota also added a trio of Americans to their freshman class. Defender Slone Harmetz is originally from Pennsylvania and played for Shattuck St. Mary’s. Last season she recorded a career-best 13 goals in 2025-26 along with 26 assists for 39 points. She played for the USA Team at the U18 Worlds the past two seasons and has scored three goals and added four assists for seven points across her 12 career U18 Women’s World Championship appearances. Katia Sander is a defender from Chanhassen who played high school hockey for Holy Family. At the 2026 U 18 Worlds she tallied three assists in six games with a +13 rating for Team USA.
Goaltender Peyton Rolli comes from Warroad where she earned a career record of 68-18-1 and helped the Warriors to the MN State Class A title in 2024. She will mainly be the Gophers third goalie behind Clark and Hemp.
So What Are the Expectations?
For better or for worse, what the conference and nation sees in the Gophers is the exact same prior to the coaching change. The Gophers were predicted to finish in third place in the WCHA behind Ohio State and Wisconsin by the conference coaches in the preseason poll. In the preseason national polls the Gophers were ranked…yep you got it, third behind the Badgers and Buckeyes. It will be interesting to see if the gap between the top two and the rest of the country widens or remains the same. Wisconsin also lost an incredible amount of talent to the PWHL this season and does not have a single player on the preseason All-WCHA roster while the Buckeyes have three. But Wisconsin still have star goalie Ava McNaughton in net and are bringing in one of the top freshman classes in the nation led by Slovakian phenom Nela Lopusanova. UMD while ranked fourth has a forward star in Caitlin Kramer and arguably the best goalie in the nation in Eva Gascon. The WCHA once again will be far and beyond the toughest conference in all of women’s college hockey. May is still playing with house money. If he can get the Gophers to the top four in the conference and an NCAA Tournament berth, then his first year will be a success. But the pressure will rise each and every season until the top two are finally toppled.
This Weekend:
The Gophers open the season with a series at Bemidji State. The Beavers finished in last place in the WCHA last season going 6-27-3 with the Gophers sweeping all four matchups by a combined 31-8 score. Minnesota is 103-9-7 all-time against Bemidji State and is currently on a 31-game winning streak. Bemidji was predicted to finish in last place once again this season by the conference coaches.
Bemidji’s top returner is junior forward Morgan Smith who scored 13 goals and 15 assists last season.
Minnesota owns a 26-3-0 all-time record in season openers and has outscored opponents 145-32 in those games.
This will be the first to back to back weekends Minnesota will see Bemidji State as they will come to Ridder next weekend for a non-conference matchup on Sunday. Minnesota hosts Maine in the East/West Showcase and will play the Black Bears on Friday while the Bears and Beavers play on Saturday.
This weekends action will face off at 6 PM Friday and 2 PM Saturday. Both games will stream on B1G+ and will air on TV on Fox9+ in Minnesota.
