The first year under any new coach is often full of transitional moments, frustration and a shift in philosophies. Under new head coach Natalie Darwitz, the women’s hockey team has been dealing with all three.

Last weekend’s series against the St. Catherine Wildcats was a near-perfect example of the Piper’s play to date. The team deluged the Wildcat goalies with 73 shots, scored just two goals and split the series one game apiece. The Wildcats only managed 36 shots and also scored just two goals. The issue for the Pipers?

“It sounds simple but we definitely need to keep working on getting pucks into the back of the net,” said junior forward Jena Kosley.

The Pipers’ faint chance at making the playoffs was eliminated with their 0-1 home loss to St. Kate’s on Friday, January 12 but rebounded Saturday the 13th with a 2-1 victory at St. Kate’s. The Pipers are showing that this year wasn’t necessarily focused on getting to the playoffs.

“What we’re doing now hopefully sets the tone for what we want to do next year,” said Darwitz.

With just a weekend home-and-home against Gustavus left on their schedule, senior forward Chelsea Koehn reflected on her time at Hamline.

“The last three years we’ve had a losing record and been towards the bottom of the MIAC,” said Koehn. “This year we’ve really stepped it up while having a new coach and I think overall this has been the best year that I’ve played here.”

Koehn gave Coach Darwitz a lot of credit for her hands-on approach to coaching.

“We changed up our game this year; we’re playing a different defensive zone and forecheck than we did last year,” said Koehn. “If she’s teaching us and we’re not doing the technique correctly, she’ll get out there on the ice and show it to us.”

With the program being rebuilt under Darwitz’s tutelage, the key word is accountability.

“There’s always someone better than you, and you’re not always number one,” said sophomore goaltender Jessica Cole. “Never stop working hard or pushing your teammates. Be accountable for your own actions.”

Darwitz is seeing the hard work of the girls translate to their play on the ice, even if it hasn’t shown on the scoreboard just yet.

“We’ve been on the short end of the stick where we outplay teams but the scoreboard says otherwise,” said Darwitz. “Hard work creates a lot of opportunities, and we’re working hard enough to play with every team this year.”

The team will be looking to finish their home schedule off on a high note this Friday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. before heading to Gustavus for their 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20 season finale.