The women’s hockey team under head coach Natalie Darwitz had it’s best season last year, capturing a MIAC playoff title and making a historic trip to the frozen four.

The team finished with a 22-5-3 record overall to compliment a 13-3-2 record in MIAC play. This record lead them all the way to a third place finish in the country before ultimately beating Plattsburgh State to end the season.

Darwitz was announced as the head coach of the program back in 2015 and it has been a quick turnaround. In her first season running the helm, they went 9-13-3, and in her second season going 12-13-1, and then their historic finish last season.

Darwitz knows her stuff, as she is a three time olympic gold medalist, three time All American for the University of Minnesota, and has represented team USA in three olympics, eight World Tournaments, and 10 4 Nations Cups events. She also earned Women’s Hockey player of the year award in 2005. She’s using these experiences differently, now that she’s coaching.

“We have a pair of experienced, organized coaches, who have very high expectations for us, because they believe in us as a team,” said first year Forward Annika Patterson.

This years team will have a huge target on their back this season in every game they play. Everyone will want to attempt to knock Hamline down after finishing third in the country last year.

“I think one of the biggest obstacles will be the fact that we have a huge target on our backs because of our success last year,” said senior and team captain Forward Becca Zarembinski. “This can be a good thing too because we are all competitors and love to compete at a high level.”

The women’s hockey team right now holds a 7-1 record while sitting with a 5-1 record in the MIAC with their lone loss coming to St. Benedict in conference play which has them fourth in the conference.

Being a team captain, Zarembinski plans to lead both on and off the ice for this team.

“On the ice I will lead them by working my hardest to help the team, giving us the best chance to success,” she said. “Off the ice I will lead them by trying to take the first years under my wing and be there to support the rest of my teammates.”

The hockey team is young with only four seniors set to graduate at the end of the season, so they have a ton of girls returning from last year that know what it takes to get it done.

“We have a great group of returning players that lead the way for what needs to be done to be successful which  the new girls can build off of,” said other team captain and senior Forward Leah Schwartzman.

For now, the team needs to take it one game at a time to reach their ultimate goal and not look too far ahead.

“We have to take it one game at a time and focus on our upcoming opponent and not overlook any team,” Leah said. “Each game and point in the rankings matter in the end, so not getting ahead of ourselves is important.”