Inside Wisconsin's new hockey dynasty: UWRF secures 3-peat
Winning NCAA championships has become the standard at not one, but two University of Wisconsin women's hockey programs.
River Falls, WI — A standout Wisconsin Badgers graduating class fueled a dynastic run to four-straight Frozen Fours and three national titles. A few hours northwest of Madison, another crop of seniors made their mark on another college hockey power in the state. Now, after the UW-River Falls Falcons captured a third-straight national title, there is no doubt about it: Wisconsin is home to not one, but two women’s college hockey dynasties.
“We just won three national championships, and it’s because of these guys,” Joe Cranston said about forward Megan Goodreau and defender Makenna Aure following his team’s 4-0 victory in the 2026 national title game. “They’re crazy good hockey players, and they’re awesome people, so I’m very proud of them.”
Before Goodreau and Aure arrived on campus, the Falcons had never won a national championship. In the fall of their rookie year, UWRF traveled out east and beat the reigning undefeated national champion Middlebury Panthers and the Plattsburgh State Cardinals on back-to-back days. Before Middlebury’s title, Plattsburgh had won five of the previous six NCAA Tournaments.
Cranston and Goodreau called that weekend “a big turning point.”
“That was the first time, I think, that we really did something unique,” the two-time American Hockey Coaches Association Coach of the Year added. “Ever since then, we’ve been playing really well.”
Since the beginning of that Thanksgiving weekend, the Falcons are 105-7-3.
That 2022-23 UWRF squad was later ousted in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinal by the eventual national champion Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties. Since then, however, the Falcons have enjoyed an unblemished record in postseason play and their most successful stretch in program history.
Falcons senior standouts add yet another feather to the cap
Several members of Cranston’s squad turned down scholarship offers from DI programs to play for the Falcons in western Wisconsin. Playing close to home (26 of the 27 players on UWRF’s roster hail from Wisconsin or Minnesota), they helped make River Falls the team every other DIII program is trying to beat.
Goodreau, the Falcons’ all-time leading scorer, and Aure, the program’s only four-time All-American, are among the list of players who, despite scholarship options, chose River Falls. With that decision came unimaginable individual and team success.
In 2024, UW-River Falls completed a perfect 31-0 season by winning its first national championship in program history. In 2025, UWRF again won a national title on home ice after the Falcons were selected as the first pre-determined championship site in over a decade. With their third title in 2026 (again won inside UW-River Falls’ Hunt Arena), the Falcons have posted a combined 87-4-2 record in the past three seasons.
Before that run of national titles, the Falcons enjoyed plenty of NCAA Tournament success, qualifying 12 times and reaching the Frozen Four on five occasions. It still took a special group to get one of the winningest programs in DIII history over the hump.
Goodreau has rewritten UWRF’s record book, claiming nearly every individual scoring record. In Sunday’s title game, she assisted on the game-winning goal, putting her single-season points total at 77. That mark had only ever been reached before by Laura Hurd (Elmira 2001-05), for whom the National Player of the Year Award is named.
Cranston noted that accomplishment “is something that people talked about forever, and saying that will never happen.”
Aure, a remarkable two-way player, is one of just four DIII women’s ice hockey blue-liners over the past 20 seasons to tally 40 or more points in a single campaign, and boasts a reputation among her teammates that precedes her.
“She’s something. She’s crazy,” Goodreau said of her teammate. “I call her Mrs. Clutch, because every time we need a goal, she just is there to score.”
With a pair of assists in the national title game, Aure finished her career on an eight-game point streak and earned NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors.
“She worked hard this summer. She worked her butt off, and really came in in shape,” Cranston said of the four-time first-team All-WIAC honoree. “And she worked so hard this year to be that player, to finish the year like she did. And, you know, I don’t make any secrets about it. [Goodreau]’s the best goal scorer that’s ever played for me, and Makenna Aure’s the best hockey player that I’ve ever coached in 42 years.”
Hard work and family define the UW-River Falls women’s hockey experience
Before accepting the MOP award, the Alexandria, Minnesota native took a tumble on the ice while attempting to corrall a loose puck in the corner behind the Falcons’ net.
“We almost had to get the shovel and dig her a grave there,” Cranston joked.
Aure said that team training staff wanted to take her off the ice and away from the rink because she was already positioned near the UWRF team tunnel. She insisted, however, that she spend the last few minutes of her senior season on the team bench, even as she was unsure whether she would be able to return to the ice.
The 5-foot-3 talent did wind up returning to play, blocking a shot in the final minute to help finish the improbable run for a senior class she described as “family.”
Goodreau noted that those seven graduates have also lived together for the past four years.
Aure said that the lasting memories of her graduating class come from the adversity they overcame together, including some intense drills Cranston put them through in practice. Although the coach, in his 27th year leading the Falcons, calls those skating sessions “all fun.”
“But, no, we’ve had—I’d say that we’ve had a lot more good times than we’ve had bad times in our senior class, and that’s what makes us so close. I’m definitely going to miss them for sure.”
“They know they’re not going to get anything for free,” Cranston said. “They’re going to work their butts off. Anything worthwhile has a price tag, and they show up, and, like, we don’t ever talk about winning national championships.”
For the players and coaches inside UWRF’s standout facilities, hard work on and off the ice has come to define the Falcons even more than the results that follow.
“It always just comes down to great kids,” Cranston added when discussing his team’s work ethic. “They’re all awesome, and they all work for each other. And we don’t have selfish players. We don’t have lazy players. There’s just no me, me, me, it’s all, ‘what can I do to have success?’ And that’s what happens. You end up doing that.”
Future remains bright for the Falcons
That wildly accomplished senior class will be moving on soon, but the future remains bright in River Falls. The Falcons boasted a program-record four first-team All-Americans this season, including rookie forward Sophia Hess.
Despite Hess never having played center before, Cranston moved her to the middle this season because he wanted to put her on a line with Goodreau. The decision proved wise as Hess finished the season as the nation’s second-leading scorer, trailing only Goodreau.
“To put those two on a line together, and I mean, they’re, they’re—Well, they are unstoppable,” Cranston remarked about the offensive combination.
After contributing two goals on Sunday, Hess has already logged one of just 15 60+ point seasons in DIII women’s ice hockey history. Only Hurd and Plattsburgh State’s Elizabeth Gibson (2001-05) tallied more in their first season of play.
“She pushes hard, she’s a great kid, great hockey player,” Cranston of UWRF’s young star.
Hess could in line to be the next great Falcons player. She was a finalist alongside Goodreau for this year’s Laura Hurd Award. Goodreau wound up taking the honors, making her the third-consecutive winner from UW-River Falls and the fourth in five years.
Alongside Hess on the opposite wing sits Alexa Niccum, a sophomore who just posted a 33-point season in her own right. Rookie defender Brooklyn Riley added 24 points from the blue line this season, and her 5-foot-9 frame figures to make her a threat for years to come.
A tremendous senior class and a happy coincidence allowed UW-River Falls women’s hockey to bourgeon into a dynasty at just the right time to host the national championship on home ice three seasons in a row. Although a tweak to the DIII championship structure means that might not happen again, the Cranston will likely have the Falcons right back in the mix to compete for a national title again next year in Plattsburgh.
“It just takes so many people to get that one thing,” Cranston said of the accolades piling up for his team. “You know, it’s like Coach of the Year. Well, that’s—that’s all about them. They’re the ones that go out on the ice and sweat and work their butt off every day so that we have that respect for our program.”
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