Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: November 3, 2009

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The 2009-10 Season Preview

The Concordia women’s hockey team will be looking to be a little more casual in 2009-10. The Cobbers are hoping to get rid of the ties and make more games casual Friday’s and Saturday’s. Last year the Cobbers recorded a team-record five ties, including four in conference play. Despite the four ties, CC finished fourth in the league standings and hosted only their second playoff game in program history.

Concordia fourth-year head coach Ace Gregg returns 11 players from last year’s team and has a core of players that have been to back-to-back MIAC playoffs. The Cobbers finished fourth in the MIAC last year after ending up in third place in 2007-08. The top-level conference finishes should help Concordia through the long grind of the five-month long season.

The Cobbers return four of their top seven scorers from last season. Leading the way up front will be Kayla Thorson (Sr., Rugby, N.D./Minot HS). Thorson was named to the MIAC All-Conference Honorable Mention Team last season. She finished the year with five goals and 12 assists for 17 points. She led the team in assists and her point total and assist total were career highs. Thorson had three goals and seven assists in the MIAC and was in the top 15 in the conference for assists. She started the conference season by recording a point in six of the first eight games and also had at least one point in eight of the first league games.

Joining Thorson as top returning scorers will be Kaylee Black (Sr., Barrie, Ont./York University), Katelyn Dold (So., St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Tech HS) and Emily Sell (Jr., Williston, N.D.). Black finished 2008-09 second on the team in assists with 10 and fifth in overall scoring with 15 points and had a career-high three assists in two different games last year. Sell had seven goals and four assists last year and had a hat trick against Concordia University on Jan. 3.

Leading the way on the blue line for the Cobbers will be sophomore Allie Bondy (Moorhead, Minn.) who was named to the MIAC All-Conference Team as a freshman last year. She was the team's most consistent defenseman last year and played on the power play and penalty kill units for the Cobbers. Bondy only finished the year with one assist but was one of the top Concordia players as far as logging a ton of ice time. Sara Sonnenberg (Jr., Minneapolis, Minn.) will join Bondy in giving CC experience on the blue line.

Senior Maddie Haroldson (Sartell, Minn.) will need to be the anchor in goal for the Cobbers. Haroldson is the lone returning netminder. If experience is the key to success for a goalie, then Haroldosn should have another successful season. She has played in over 2,000 minutes for the Cobbers and during that time has posted a solid 2.42 goals against average. Haroldson also has a career save percentage of 92.0% making her one of the top returning statistical goalies in the conference.

Concordia will open the season with three non-conference road games before squaring off against UW-Superior in their home opener on Nov. 13-14. The Cobbers will then open their conference schedule at home on Nov. 20-21 against St. Olaf.

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2009-10 MIAC Preseason Coaches Poll

St. Paul, Minn. – Gustavus, winner of the past five Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) women's hockey regular season titles, is favored to win the 2009-10 Championship. The Gusties topped the Preseason Coaches' Poll with eight first place votes. St. Thomas placed second in the poll and received the two other first place votes. The Tommies are the only team other than Gustavus to win a MIAC title in the last nine years. St. Thomas last won championships in 2002-03 and 2003-04.

St. Olaf, Concordia, and Bethel round out the top five in the coaches' poll. All three teams, along with Gustavus and St. Thomas, made up the MIAC Playoff field in 2008-09. St. Catherine and Saint Benedict tied for sixth in the poll, while Saint Mary's, Hamlne, and Augsburg finished up the rankings.

The 2009-10 season gets under way with non-conference games on Friday, October 30. The first MIAC conference game is scheduled for November 19.

Coaches voted for every team in the conference except their own team. Points were assigned for each vote (1 for first, 2 for second, etc.) Teams are ranked in order of lowest point total to highest with first place votes shown in parentheses.

1. Gustavus (8)
2. St. Thomas (2)
3. St. Olaf

4. Concordia
5. Bethel

T-6. St. Catherine

T-6. Saint Benedict

8. Saint Mary's

9. Hamline

10. Augsburg