Saint Anselm women are Division I -- and acting like it
Oct. 17—GOFFSTOWN — Dave Flint built the program. Kerstin Matthews led it to seven 20-win seasons and five conference tournament titles.
Now, as the Saint Anselm College women's hockey team steps onto the national stage, first-year coach Jen Kindret wants to continue the team's championship culture.
Saint Anselm's conference, the New England Women's Hockey Alliance, in 2019 began adhering to Division I recruiting rules and offering athletic scholarships. The NEWHA is eligible to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Championship and will add Stonehill College as its seventh member next season.
Conferences must play a minimum of two seasons with at least six members to receive an automatic NCAA tournament bid, which the NEWHA will have done after this school year. The NEWHA did not host a regular season or tournament and some members like Saint Anselm chose not play last year due to the pandemic.
The Hawks (1-3), who were the 2019 NEWHA runners-up, opened this season with a 3-2 triumph at Maine in their first non-conference NCAA Division I game and lost to two teams ranked among the top 10 in the country: Quinnipiac and Northeastern, which was last year's national runner-up.
Saint Anselm lost, 4-3 and 5-0 at No. 8 Quinnipiac before falling to Flint's No. 5 Northeastern team, 5-0, at Sullivan Arena last Wednesday.
"I definitely want the culture to be a family culture — they have each other's back, they play as a team, they're a five-player unit out there," said Kindret, who spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. "Something I'm definitely taking from my time at Robert Morris is (being) a family. Nobody knew who we were on the map. We were a smaller school but what made it so great was the people."
Kindret, who took the helm at Saint Anselm in June, graduated from Robert Morris in 2013 and started the women's hockey program at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in 2016 before returning to her alma mater.
Robert Morris won the College Hockey America conference championship and made its second NCAA tournament appearance last season. The university discontinued its men's and women's hockey programs in May.
In talking with her players over the summer about not playing last year, Kindret sensed it was tough on them but they came into this campaign motivated and excited, she said.
Hawks senior defender Kendra Currier said as soon as she and her teammates found out their season was canceled last year, they immediately started focusing on this season. Classmate and center Erin Meyers said the team continued training even after Sullivan Arena's ice came out last school year. Players stayed in touch this summer by updating each other on what individual training they were doing and some worked out together, Currier said.
"Not playing in 500-plus days, that was kind of hard but we did a lot of team bonding," Meyers said. "We just stayed connected. We reached out to the incoming freshmen. Even the sophomores this year are technically incoming freshmen as well. ... I think we really just stuck together and everyone's just loving it."
Kindret said she wants the Hawks to play hard and use their speed while utilizing a looser style. She considers energy, speed, goaltending and defense to be among Saint Anselm's strengths this season.
Junior goaltender Allie Kelley, who transferred from Quinnipiac, has made at least 40 saves in every game.
"Being solid defensively kind of opens things up but we definitely don't want to pack it in," Kindret said. "We've had a challenging start to our schedule and we're facing some pretty good teams but we want to set the tempo with them and play with them. That's how we're going to get better. We want to bring it to any opponent each night."
On Wednesday, the the Hawks gave Northeastern all it could handle, Flint said. The teams played to a scoreless deadlock over the opening 20 minutes before the Huskies scored three goals in the second period and two more in the final period in front of 1,086 fans.
"They're very disciplined, they work hard, they're strong on the puck, they battle and they're going to win hockey games doing that," said Flint, who said Northeastern will continue scheduling games against NEWHA teams.
Meyers said it has been a little challenging bringing the Hawks' 15 underclassmen up to speed but they have been receptive to feedback and try to step up however they can. Kindret has been impressed by freshman forward Audrey Jackson's skill and freshman forward Tyra Turner's relentless pursuit of the puck and ability to create plays.
Turner was named the NEWHA rookie of the week last week after recording three assists in her collegiate debut — the Hawks' 4-3 setback at Quinnipiac on Oct. 8.
"I think we have a lot of young skill on the team," Currier said. "We have to use that skill and we need to build upon that and build those individual skills together as a collective, really skilled team where it's a team game and all of us move the puck as quick as we can. ... and just learn how to work off of each other."
Kindret, whose responsibilities at Robert Morris included recruiting, said Saint Anselm just completed its 2022 incoming class. Good character and compete level and a skillset to match the program's fast play style are important to Kindret, she said. The program does not yet offer full scholarships and has fewer than more established Division I programs.
Matthews crafted Saint Anselm's schedule for this season before she left to become an associate head coach at Boston University. Kindret said she wants to continue scheduling challenging out-of-conference teams going forward, like Matthews did this year.
The Hawks' next two games are at Yale and Harvard. Saint Anselm will complete its non-NEWHA schedule next month with a home-and-home series with Dartmouth College and a home game against Brown.
"I think to be the best, you've got to play the best," Kindret said.
Currier said it has been great playing in the type of environment that comes when facing teams like Maine, Quinnipiac and Northeastern.
"Ever since we were little, we've all dreamed of playing D-I hockey and now we're finally here," Currier said. "Those teams that have been well established, we wouldn't be able to realize the caliber of those teams unless we play them. Our first time playing Maine, we were like, 'Wow, this is the speed that we have to go in order to be successful.' And none of us are OK with just trying to get by or trying not to lose."
Kindret said success will follow as Saint Anselm grows as a team and family.
"Everyone wants to see the wins and championships but I believe in doing things the right way," Kindret said. "If we ingrain these habits and this culture in this team, I think all those things are just going to naturally fall into place."
