Nina Lindberg

Over the course of the past four years, the Yale women’s ice hockey team has successfully conquered adversity both on and off the ice. From bouncing back after disappointing seasons to overcoming invisible barriers that separated the squad during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bulldogs have continued to exhibit their resilience and look forward to building off of the success of their historic 2019-20 campaign

The 2017-18 season kicked off to a rocky start as the Blue and White endured back-to-back winless homestands. Despite the difficulty they faced to post consistent wins throughout the year, the Bulldogs still managed to score big wins against conference rivals Quinnipiac in early Jan. of 2018. The team went on to snatch the final spot in the ECAC playoffs and secured their position as the 8th seed, pitting them against No. 2 Clarkson.

In spite of a first-round exit and a 10–17–4 record that exactly matched their record from the previous season, the players remained optimistic and chose to reflect on their overall development as a team. 

“We saw a lot of growth over the course of the season and we have become such a tight-knit group,” forward Jordan Chancellor ’19 said after a series loss to the defending national champion Golden Knights. “It was a tough draw having to play Clarkson first but our team showed resilience throughout the series and didn’t let the results get us down. I’m so proud of this team and how we have come together as a group throughout this season.”

While the squad had lost seven seniors at the conclusion of the season, many of their key players returned to the Whale for the 2018-19 campaign as the Bulldogs looked to extend their ECAC playoff appearance streak to three years. However, Yale was unable to find the success it had anticipated and were ultimately eliminated from ECAC playoff contention. The season also marked the first time that the team failed to reach 10 wins in four seasons. 

“Our season didn’t turn out how we wanted it to,” defender Saroya Tinker ’20 told the News at the time. “We didn’t get the points we needed to and we’ve got to come to terms with that and move forward and improve our program from here. We hold ourselves to a high standard and not making the playoff cut is simply unacceptable.”

Less than a week after the Bulldogs concluded their season, Yale women’s ice hockey head coach Joakim Flygh resigned from his position on Wednesday Feb. 27. Flygh served as head coach for the squad for nine years, guiding the Blue and White to the ECAC playoffs in four of the last six. 

Despite this loss, the new addition of head coach Mark Bolding sparked great enthusiasm. After a thorough six-week search, the four-time American Hockey Coaches Association National Coach of the Year award winner from Alberta and former coach at Norwich University was appointed to the position by Yale Athletics in early April of 2019

In the fall of that same year, the Bulldogs got off to a solid start to their 2019-20 season, posting five wins in their first six contests. Success followed the squad into 2020, where they picked up a six-game win streak and entered the postseason as the fifth seed with great momentum. With their 16 regular season and 13 conference victories, the team had also tied the program record for number of regular season wins in a year and broke the record for conference wins. 

Although the Bulldogs dropped Game 3 to Harvard in the first-round, they ended the season with an electrifying and hard-fought triple overtime decider

While the team had hoped to build upon last year’s success, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancelation of the winter sports season. Subsequently, a large number of players spent the majority of their time away from campus, with many of them declaring leaves of absence. Despite this, the team has found different ways to stay active away from New Haven

Some skaters, such as MeiLan Haberl ’24, pulled on their rollerblades and took to the streets to practice their stickhandling, while the few who resided on campus were able to train in small groups at Ingalls Rink in order to stay in shape and refine their skills. 

Even though regular team Zooms did not fully compensate for in-person meetings, First-Year Haberl was still able to get a sense of how tight-knit and encouraging her older teammates and coaches were and anticipated the day she could step on to the ice with her fellow Bulldogs.

“Though being separated is hard, our coaching staff and upperclassmen have been really supportive,” Haberl explained. “Our team is incredibly diverse: internationally, ethnically, in our backgrounds, majors and extracurricular pursuits. My experiences during this year are only a small piece of the full picture.”

Despite the uncertainties and obstacles brought upon by the pandemic, this past year also marked a time of great accomplishment for the Bulldogs, both past and present. 

Defender Tabea Botthof ’23 returned home to Germany to help her team, ESC Planegg, capture their eighth championship title in the top-tier German Women’s Ice Hockey Bundesliga, while Yale women’s hockey alumnae Mallory Souliotis ’18 won the Isobel Cup with the Boston Pride in the 2021 National Women’s Hockey League Playoffs after a brief postponement due to COVID-19 health concerns.

As the Bulldogs bid farewell to their one graduating senior Lauren Moriyama ’21 — who departs the Blue and White with three ECAC All-Academic Team selections — they remain hopeful for the next season. With many players returning from their 2019-20 campaign and the tentative return of hockey in the winter, the women’s ice hockey team is gunning to embark on another successful run. 

“Our group is just so excited for the future, I don’t think they’re dwelling on the negatives,” Bolding said. “They wanna build on their great momentum from a year ago and obviously like all other students get back together on campus to enjoy their time, their learning, and their Yale camaraderie!”

The Yale women’s ice hockey program began as a club sport in 1975 before gaining varsity status beginning in the 1977-78 season.

TRISHA NGUYEN
Trisha Nguyen covers men's ice hockey and field hockey as a staff reporter. Originally from St. Louis, she is a sophomore in Saybrook College majoring in molecular, cellular and developmental biology.