How a late commit powered this Wisconsin women's hockey dynasty
One of only three 200-point scorers in the history of DIII almost never played college hockey, but her late-breaking commitment change the course of college hockey
River Falls, WI — One of the most accomplished college hockey players to ever hit the ice almost never played the collegiate game at all. After a recruiting process during which Megan Goodreau admits she dragged her feet, she committed to the UW-River Falls Falcons, where she has become one of only three players in NCAA Division III women’s ice hockey history to log over 200 career points.
Often, athletes commit to hockey programs multiple years in advance of their enrollment, but Cranston jokes that Goodreau “committed a week before school started.”
A product of Centennial High School, just north of Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Goodreau chose to forgo Division I opportunities out east to stay closer to home. She considered not playing college hockey and enrolling at the University of Minnesota or the University of St. Thomas. A plethora of DIII programs in the Midwest could have been options, but a late commitment to head coach Joe Cranston and the River Falls Falcons “all worked out.”
In reality, Goodreau’s decision finally came in January of her senior year of high school, but that late-breaking commitment helped change the course of the Falcons’ next four years and has Goodreau in position to finish that journey with a third-straight national title in River Falls.
Megan Goodreau breaks records, but improves her game for four years
Following her commitment, Goodreau made an immediate impact on the ice. As a rookie, she led all first-year players nationally in goals, assists, and total points (19-16-35) en route to first-team All-WIAC honors.
That was a jumping-off point for a player who has gone on to become a three-time All-American and laid claim to nearly every scoring record in the UWRF book, but she is still on a record-breaking spree.
The forward’s power-play goal in Friday’s national semifinal set three more new benchmarks. Her 97th career goal surpassed former UW-River Falls captain Callie Hoff’s (2017-22) 96 for a new program record. Plus, Goodreau’s 18th power-play goal of the year and 35th overall are new single-season and career NCAA DIII bests. Fewer than ten players in the nation have ever hit the back of the net 100 or more times in a career.
Goodreau found the net on that record-setting play after salvaging a broken play. A disrupted zone entry forced her to fight for the puck on the boards before getting it back to the middle of the ice. It was a fitting way to set another milestone, because winning board battles like that is one facet of the 5-foot-5 winger’s game that she has been working on for years.
“How many times you heard me say get the puck off the boards for four years?” Cranston remarked when breaking down the play.
“Too many,” Goodreau joked in response.
“Thousands, and thousands,” Cranston added.
Never one to take too much credit for her own success, Goodreau pointed to lessons learned from watching her former linemate on the Falcons’ power play, Maddie McCollins (2019-2024), and another former UWRF captain, Kora Torkelson (2017-2022), for her continued development as a hockey player.
“Just the way they play hockey, I feel like I learned a lot being there from them,” Goodreau said. “Because last year, I feel like I kind of struggled on the wall.”
200-point scorer with a chance to win third national title
Goodreau has been rewarded in her quest for constant improvement. She leads the nation in goals, assists, and points (37-40-77), and is one helper shy of breaking UWRF’s single-season assist record (she already surpassed the previous-best marks for goals and points in a single campaign).
“She’s just a smart hockey player,” Cranston said. “She makes plays that other people don’t even see.”
Those assists, comprising a slight majority of the Lino Lakes, Minnesota native’s 208 career points, are where her game perhaps shines the brightest, according to Cranston. Only DIII all-time leading scorer Laura Hurd (Elmira 2002-05) has tallied more career assists (117) than Goodreau’s 111.
“She’s a better playmaker than she is a goal scorer,” the head coach in his 27th year said. “And that’s kind of crazy to say because she’s had a million goals, but, just, she always makes—she’s a great decision-maker and playmaker.”
Goodreau has had a plethora of teammates able to capitalize due to her elite “vision of the ice.” Since 2023, the Falcons have boasted 15 All-Americans. This season, a program-record four UW-River Falls standouts received first-team All-America honors. Additionally, Goodreau received the Laura Hurd Division III Women’s Hockey Player of the Year Award. She joins McCollins and Bailey Olson (2021-25) as the third-straight recipient from UWRF. No program has ever had three consecutive winners of the honor.
“It isn’t about a player, it’s what players does it take,” Cranston said of his program’s run of winners. “I mean, I look at—the previous ones wouldn’t have been Laura Hurd if they weren’t skating with [Goodreau].”
Those players together have helped define the greatest stretch of success in program history. After breaking through and winning UWRF’s first national title two seasons ago, the Falcons followed up with another in 2025 and look to do the same again this weekend inside a sold-out Hunt Arena.
On Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Central, Goodreau looks to cap her time in college hockey the same way McCollins and Olson did: by captaining the UW-River Falls Falcons women’s hockey team to a national title on home ice.
You can watch Goodreau and the top-ranked Falcons take the ice against the No. 3 Nazareth Golden Flyers streaming for free on NCAA.com
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