For the first time ever, Penn State women’s hockey has found themselves ranked in the top five for the AHA. The No. 4 Nittany Lions have taken the season by storm, racking up a 16-0-0 record on the season so far.
At the midway point of the regular season, Penn State has amassed 16 wins with 12 stemming from AHA conference play. In an already historic season, the team has seen standout players like rookie Danica Maynard and Kendall Butze putting up big numbers against opposing teams.
Many of Penn State’s successes this season result from its offensive and defensive collaboration. Both leading the team in assists with 14 each, defensemen Maynard and Butze have contributed immense skill and leadership to the team.
“Having a great team and a great group of girls here has helped our success,” Maynard said. “They’re always in the right spots and I can trust myself to find the best place to put it and trust that they will finish the play for us. We’re really good with our deception too and we’ve been working on that in practice to make sure we’re pulling people in and dishing the puck out.”
In her current freshman campaign, the defenseman has tallied six total goals and 14 assists, with two of those goals creating a career game high in the win over RIT on November 22. Assistant coach Jennifer Wakefield has seen the importance of Maynard and other players’ collaboration, and how that has helped the team reach this point.
“We do a good job working as a five player unit,” Wakefield said. “When we talk about offense we don’t only talk about forwards. When we talk about the defensive side of the puck, we don’t only talk about the defense, which is the old school way. The combined effort from those players in taking pride in possessing the puck and playing a deep team defense has been great.”
Defender Butze has been a key presence for the Nittany Lions squad as well, recently earning AHA Defenseman of the Week honors after a standout weekend against Syracuse. She recorded three assists, marking the ninth multi-assist game of her career—and her second with three or more.
“I just take weekends like that and continue to stay on high and play with confidence while getting ready for the next weekend,” Butze said.
The Nittany Lions haven’t just been succeeding this season, they have been dominating. Eight total shutouts on the season have proved that Penn State has been putting its all into each game.
“We have a lot of talent and a lot of scoring happening here,” Wakefield said. “We have great goaltenders and I think a lot of the offense gets noticed too. From a competing standpoint, we play fast and we play physical. The competition is the driving force that lets the skill set shine through.”
On the offensive side, Penn State has gathered a lineup of scorers like rookie Matilde Fantin from Como, Italy. So far in her freshman run, Fantin has collected 16 points from a combined seven goals and nine assists. Maintaining a +16 on ice rating, the offensive player has helped lead Penn State to its accomplished run.
“The way we play has gotten us this far,” Fantin said. “We have so much speed when we get into the zone and we’ve had a lot of goals from rushes. Also, we’re just eager to score and our system is to play hard.”
Penn State will head to Boston on Friday, November 28 to face No. 7 Northeastern. Puck drop is set for 3:30 p.m.