During my time in Oxford, Ohio at the USA Hockey Girls 16/17 Camp I had the opportunity to ask a non-Top 10 DI Head Coach a bunch of Class of 2025 recruiting questions. Specifically, I wanted to better understand the specifics of how the coaching staff actually went about securing commitments for the incoming class of 2025. Here is a summary of what I learned about that school’s recruiting efforts…
Over a the first few days that coaches were allowed to talk to the Class of 2025 (beginning on June 15th) the coaching staff reached out to ~15-18 players and offered them spots on the team.
These players would be considered the highest rated players for 2025 according to the coach.
The coach explained that the top players are likely getting multiple offers on June 15th (or thereabouts) and in order for many schools to be competitive with these in-demand players, the teams need to make offers immediately.
The coach told me that most of the players had never contacted their school – so the school was being proactive in reaching out to the players without knowing if the players had any interest in their school.
In addition to the players that received immediate offers, the coaching staff reached out to another set of 15-18 players to express an interest in those players and to understand if the players interest reciprocated.
During the weeks following June 15th, the staff is continuing to have conversations with this second tier of potential recruits. Based on how many commits the school receives from the top tier players, then conversations and visits are likely to progress deeper with the next level of recruits
Once again, the way I understood it, a large number of the next level of recruits that were contacted had not necessarily reached out to the school directly prior to June 15th.
The coach then explained that their recruiting efforts are likely to progress into the fall and winter. If there were spots still open after working through the first two levels in the funnel of potential recruits, then again, they will continue to scout and reach out/respond to individual players that might meet the requirements for the remaining roles on the team. This might be by position or specific type of players (e.g. goal scorer vs. puck-moving D).
The coach also reinforced that the coaching staff was recruiting heavily in both Canada and the U.S. and that one of the challenges was being able to calibrate players between the two countries. This is likely because there are only a few events that in-season teams from both side of the border compete against each other (e.g. Stoney Creek, PIP Labor Day Fest and USA-Canada Cup).
Note: To-date I have not heard of any 2025 players publicly announce committing to the school in question
Champs App lets players create beautiful, free hockey resume that facilitate the college and prep hockey recruiting process.
“How do I know coaches will remember me after the PIP 617 Boston Harbor Style Showcase?”
By connecting directly with coaches, players can know that coaches will continue to follow them after the PIP event during the regular season (see their schedule, video & profile updates). Coaches can not only get more details about each player, but also see their upcoming schedule, regular teams and coaches.
Step 2: To make it easier for the PIP 617 Showcase coaches to find you – add your 617 PIP Showcase team as your current team to your Champs profile and make sure to include your jersey #
Step 3: Review the list of the 617 PIP Showcase coaches above to connectwith and then send connection requests to the coaches/schools you are interested in from within Champs App.
Champs App lets players create beautiful, free hockey resume that facilitate the college and prep hockey recruiting process.
“How do I know coaches will remember me after the PIP 585 ROC City Style Showcase?”
By connecting directly with coaches, players can know that coaches will continue to follow them after the PIP event during the regular season (see their schedule, video & profile updates). Coaches can not only get more details about each player, but also see their upcoming schedule, regular teams and coaches.
Step 2: To make it easier for the PIP 585 Showcase coaches to find you – add your 585 PIP Showcase team as your current team to your Champs profile and make sure to include your jersey #
Step 3: Review the list of the 585 PIP Showcase coaches above to connectwith and then send connection requests to the coaches/schools you are interested in from within Champs App.
Champs App lets players create beautiful, free hockey resume that facilitate the college and prep hockey recruiting process.
“How do I know coaches will remember me after the NGHL NCAA Camp?”
By connecting directly with coaches, players can know that coaches will continue to follow them after the NGHL event during the regular season (see their schedule, video & profile updates). Coaches can not only get more details about each player, but also see their upcoming schedule, regular teams and coaches.
Step 2: To make it easier for the NCAA Exposure Camp coaches to find you – add your NGHL Team as your current team to your Champs profile and make sure to include your jersey #
Step 3: Review the list of the NGHL NCAA Exposure Camp coaches above to connectwith and then send connection requests to the coaches/schools you are interested in from within Champs App.
Champs App lets players create beautiful, free hockey resume that facilitate the college and prep hockey recruiting process.
“How do I know coaches will remember me after the CHS Girls High Performance Camp?”
By connecting directly with coaches, players can know that coaches will continue to follow them after the CHS event during the regular season (see their schedule, video & profile updates). Coaches can not only get more details about each player, but also see their upcoming schedule, regular teams and coaches.
Step 2: To make it easier for the CHS Girls High Performance Camp coaches to find you – add your CHS Girls High Performance Camp team as your current team to your Champs profile and make sure to include your jersey #
Step 3: Review the list of the CHS Girls High Performance Camp coaches above to connectwith and then send connection requests to the coaches/schools you are interested in from within Champs App.
Ohio State women’s ice hockey head coach Nadine Muzerall is a winner. Muzerall, who won two national championships as a player and four as a coach with the University of Minnesota, has instilled a winning culture at Ohio State. She has a proven track record of success in her seven years at OSU. With Muzerall at the helm, Ohio State women’s hockey team has made the Frozen Four the last three years, won the National Championship in 2021-22 and appeared in the finals again this past March.
Coach Muzerall Wants to Win Every Year
A key ingredient in OSU’s ability to compete these last few years for a National Championship has been to add high-end, experienced talent from other schools via the transfer portal. In 2021-22, OSU had 8 upperclass players transfer from other schools n their roster (including 3 from Robert Morris University which had just folded). In 2022-23 there were 5 players who came to OSU via the transfer portal including Makenna Webster (from Wisconsin who finished 4th in scoring on the team), Lauren Bernard (D from Clarkson who played in all 41 games) and Kenzie Hauswirth (from Quinnipiac who finished 8th in team scoring). So these players were significant contributors to the team’s success this past season.
Want to Win Before Your Career Ends? Transfer to OSU
With as many as 8-10 players leaving the program this spring, Coach Muzerall’s strategy is not to rebuild, but to reload. Over the past few weeks, Coach Muzerall has reloaded with more experienced high-end talent via the transfer portal by adding Olympian defender Cayla Barnes from BC , Patty Kaz Top-10 Finalist Kiara Zanon from Penn State, BC’s leading scorer Hannah Bilka, Kelsey King from Minnesota State and D Stephanie Markowski from Clarkson. Needless to say, a very talented group of transfers.
While there may be multiple reasons for these transfers to move on from their previous schools (e.g. graduated, no longer a fit etc.), the appeal of winning a national championship is pretty clear. For these new players, they know there is a very high probability they will be competing at the Frozen Four next March – while they may not have had the same opportunity if they stayed with their previous program. Why not go for it?
At the same time, there were at least 5 OSU players who entered the transfer portal this spring, all with multiple years of eligibility left. Most notably, Sydney Morrow, a first-year D who tied for team scoring with USA Hockey at the U18 Women’s IIHF tournament in scoring last summer, transferred to Colgate. From what I could tell watching the Frozen Four, while dressed for the last two games, Morrow saw little-to-no ice time as the 7th D.
Implications for Incoming Recruiting Classes
With the increased number of transfers, potential recruits must recognize that freshmen may find themselves in a more competitive environment at schools like OSU and may struggle to find playing time early on. Furthermore, coaching staff may give priority to more experienced players over freshmen, and this may impact player development. As a result, incoming freshmen may have to consider the challenge in earning their spot on the team and how hard it would be to make a meaningful contribution to the program in all four years of eligibility. While the transfer portal provides more opportunities for players to explore their options and find the best fit for their needs, it also creates a more challenging environment for incoming freshmen to establish themselves in the team.
Creates an Environment Between the “Have” and the “Have-Nots” Hockey Programs
The women’s hockey transfer portal has essentially created a two-tier system between the top talented schools and everyone else. The portal has provided top-tier programs with the ability to attract and acquire the best players in the country, leaving other schools having to figure out to replace the top talent they lose to these programs. The top schools have the resources and coaching staff to offer a highly competitive environment and the opportunity to compete for national championships, which makes them attractive destinations for talented transfers. On the other hand, smaller or less successful programs may struggle to keep up, which creates a divide in the quality of play between the top programs and everyone else. While the transfer portal has created new opportunities for high-end players to explore and find the best fit for their needs, it is creating an uneven playing field in women’s college hockey.
It will be interesting to see if other Top 10 schools begin to copy the Ohio State strategy of picking off several top players via the transfer portal in order to better compete with the top recruiting schools like Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northeastern and Minnesota-Duluth who have not yet adopted this strategy (even though all schools have the occasional top talent transfer).
What Happens When No More 5th Year (Covid) Eligibility?
It will be interesting to see how things go with the 2025 recruiting class for Ohio State. The last class of Covid year grad students is 2024, so the pool of 5th year transfers will be much smaller and potential players would likely need to be move prior to graduating from their current schools. Will the top players from the incoming class of 2025 be concerned about transfer portal players at OSU and thus look elsewhere? We will find out this fall.
Implications For Potential Recruits and Which Schools to Consider
As a high school player trying to figure out which program is right for you, it would be important to be realistic about your own talents and where you might fit in the line-up over all four of your years. Even if you are a national U-18 team member, you might still struggle to get ice time at a top tier program that brings in experienced top talent with 1 or 2 years of eligibility left.
During the recruiting process, understanding the coaching staff’s player development process over 4 years and ice time philosophy is an important conversation to have before a decision is made.
This is an update to a previous post from December, 2022 on “Q4 2022 DI Women’s College Hockey Commitment Rate Update”. The number of announced commitments for 2024 continues to lag all previous recruiting years despite 2 new teams coming on board this fall.
DI Women’s Hockey Commitment Rate by Months Prior to College
2023 Commits
2023 commits are tracking at about 20-25 less announcements than the last two years (~12% less commitments). Between the transfer portal, 5th year eligible players this is consistent with our recent analysis on forwards and goalies. There are probably only a handful of spots remaining at the DI level, mostly related to unexpected roster changes from players leaving their current schools.
2024 Commits
The 2024 commits continue to be even further behind the 2023 commitment rate as of mid-April, 2023 by about 15% (85 2024’s vs 102 2023’s at this time last year). While there should be at least another 70 spots that haven’t been announced, many schools have been telling players they are full at the moment.
2025 Commits
The first few commits for 2025 have been announced. With June 15, 2023 quickly approaching, by the end of the summer, this number will grow dramatically.
Goalies
There are only 16 2023 commits and 10 2024 commits that have been publicly announced. In a “normal” year there should be about 33 freshman goalies per year (44 teams x 3 goalies per team / 4 years). As mentioned above, the extra year of eligibility or red-shirting has provided a glut of goalies already at the NCAA level who are filling spots that would normally be filled by the incoming classes. Very tough for all goalies these last two years. And even if they get an offer, there is no guarantee of playing time. Note: No goalies from (re-)starting programs RMU and Assumption, which should have 3 incoming goalies each this fall, have been publicly announced, but surely have commits.
Creating your Champs App athletic profile typically takes about 20 – 40 minutes depending on how much content you want to include in your profile. You can always come back to add more details, especially when you have new games scheduled or videos you want to add.
STEP 1 MAKE SURE YOU ADD 3 IMAGES
1) Profile image – a good headshot which shows your full face (no helmet!) 2) Hero image – a traditional hockey pose like a 3-point stance or taking a shot 3) Cover photo – pick a cool photo like an action shot, something which shows your personality or a great team picture.
STEP 2 COMPLETE YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE SECTIONS
1) Personal – Basic personal information 2) Student – Your school level, grades and expected graduation 3) Athletic – Auto-populates based on your Team details below 4) Additional Information – Interesting info about yourself
STEP 3 ADD YOUR TEAMS
1) List of all the teams and coaches you have played for
2) Include your level, jersey number and additional information
STEP 4 ADD YOUR INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Put in your player or goalies stats for each season
STEP 5 VIDEO GALLERY. COACHES LOVE TO SEE YOU PLAY!
Add links to YouTube videos of your games, highlights and other helpful footage of you demonstrating your skills
STEP 6 SCHEDULE
Put in past and future games so coaches know who, where and when you are playing. Coaches will be notified of upcoming games each week, so it is important that you keep you schedule up-to-date if you want them to know that you are playing this weekend.
STEP 7 ADD SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
At the top of your profile you can add links to your Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snap and Facebook accounts.
Most users tell us it takes between 15 and 30 minutes to complete the basics of their profile. You can then come back and add more video and details whenever you like.
3. WHAT DO I NEED TO CREATE A PLAYER PROFILE?
Three images (profile picture, action shot and a cover photo)
Personal profile information (personal, academic and academic information
Add your team information (current and past)
Videos with highlights and games showing off your talents
Schedule – add recent and future games and events to let coaches know where to find you play
4. WHAT DO I DO NEXT
You can connect with players and coaches by sending them a link to your profile by email. Or you can also invite other coaches and players to connect by visiting their Champs App profile and tapping the “Connect” button. Here is the current list of NCAA Coaches with Champs App profiles.
