With the 2025 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoffs right around the corner, the Pipers are tied for third place in the MIAC standings with Saint Mary’s sitting at 31 points. Both Hamline and Saint Mary’s face tough weekend matchups as they take on the co-conference leaders, Saint Mary’s versus Augsburg and Hamline versus Gustavus.
With the standings this tight, the last weekend of the season is guaranteed to be pressure-packed. Speaking of pressure-packed, no position in sports faces more pressure than a goalie does in hockey.
To be a goalie, you need to be equipped with critical skills like hand-eye coordination, strong reflexes and a good sense of mental fortitude. For freshman netminder Harper Powell, these skills come with ease.
Powell, who currently holds a 1.17 goals against average and a .923 save percentage, knows exactly what is needed to help lead her team to a national championship.
“This is definitely a new thing for me, but I think just keeping my marbles together and just staying calm and collected is the biggest thing,” Powell said.
The MIAC women’s hockey playoffs are a “one and done” tournament. Lose and you are out. The winner of the playoffs goes on to the NCAA regional championship with a chance to play in the final four and earn their championship title.
For each team competing, of course, the end goal is to win the national championship. For the Pipers, it would mean way more than just winning the title.
“​​As a team, our goal is to go all the way and make it to the national championship. We have worked hard all season to put ourselves in the position that we are in now, and now it's about executing and finishing when it matters most. We are going to do whatever it takes to come out with the win,” first year Ashlyn Abrahamson said via email.
While winning a national championship would be a dream come true for the Pipers, they know the effort and dedication required to win is what will help lead them to success.
“Obviously [when] playoffs come around it is a zero-zero record, so you start fresh. Everyone needs to be bought in at this time. No matter what year you are, just [give] it everything you have and [take] it one game at a time and go from there,” fifth-year forward Haley Eder-Zdechlik said.
The high-stakes intensity of playoff hockey can come across as overwhelming sometimes, but the team knows that steering away from fancy plays and unrealistic routines will be the key to maintaining the level of strong competition they are seeing.
Eder-Zdechlik, being a fifth-year, has a strong sense of routines and a slick understanding that keeping it simple and sweet is what will pay off in the end.
“I have a pretty good routine going on and when playoffs come around I like to keep it the same and treat it just like any other game. Obviously, there is a little more on the line and it could be one and done at any time, but keeping it the same and keeping my routine the same I think helps with [my] confidence a lot and going into the game ready to go,” Eder-Zdechlik said.
For Abrahamson, being a first-year and about to enter her first college hockey playoff experience, she is still incredibly confident in her abilities to contribute to the team to help them make a long run for the championship.
“I haven't played in college playoff hockey yet, but I know that it is a whole different level of hockey. Playoff hockey is do or die, so the intensity will be very high. There isn't a ton of room for mistakes, but we are human and mistakes are going to happen. We are going to try to limit the amount of mistakes we make and good things will happen! Playoff hockey will be a grind, but it's all about performing under pressure and rising to the occasion,” Abrahamson said.
With a short tournament, the Pipers have a prepared mindset and are planning to give it everything they have.