WCHA 2025-26 previews: Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs
Minnesota Duluth women's hockey has reloaded through the transfer portal
Ahead of WCHA conference play beginning this weekend, Badger Breakaway is previewing each of the eight teams in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Next, is the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.
UMD knows all-too-well that re-arranging the pecking order in the conference has proven mighilty difficult in recent years. The Bulldogs have finished fourth in the league each of the past four seasons and in seven of the past eight. Although Duluth has made the WCHA Final Faceoff each of the past seven seasons, it has yet to get past the conference tournament semifinal since 2017.
Perhaps the being backstopped by the reigning conference goaltender of the year, a jump from the most-recent conference rookie of the year, and contributions from a heralded group of incoming transfers can help UMD get over the hump.
Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs preview, at a glance
WCHA returning production spreadsheet
2024-25 record: 22-15-2, 14-12-2 WCHA
2024-25 WCHA finish: 4th
2024-25 postseason: 2-0 sweep of St. Cloud State Huskies in WCHA Tournament quarterfinal, 3-1 loss in to Wisconsin Badgers in WCHA Final Faceoff semifinal, 1-0 loss to Cornell Big Red in NCAA Tournament Regional Final
2025-26 WCHA Preseason Coaches Poll prediction: 4th
2025-26 preseason national polls: 6th USCHO/5th USA Hockey
Preseason All-WCHA honorees: Goaltender Ève Gascon (forward Caitlin Kraemer receiving votes)
Returning production (conference rank)
Goals: 54 (4th)
Points: 131 (5th)
Goals percentage: 47.37% (7th)
Points percentage: 44.41% (7th)
Returning skaters games played percentage: 52.11% (6th)
Goalie starts returning percentage: 76.92% (5th)
Class breakdown
8 rookies
6 sophomores
3 juniors
6 seniors (3rd)
Minnesota Duluth needs transfer help to replace offense
Minnesota Duluth is looking to replace as much veteran offensive production as any team in the WCHA. The Bulldogs lost nine players to graduation in the offseason, tied for the most in the conference with the Minnesota State Mavericks. Of those nine, five are forwards, tied with the St. Cloud State Huskies for the most losses at the position due to exhausted eligibility. When factoring in another two transferring forwards, Duluth remains atop the league in total forwards lost this offseason, tied alongside St. Cloud and the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
It all adds up to the loss of 60 goals from last year’s roster. Only the Mavericks can match that number in the WCHA. No other team in the conference, however, is in UMD’s predicament of having lost a pair of 40-point performers in forwards Olivia Wallin and All-WCHA third-team honoree Clara Van Wieren.
To help replace that veteran leadership and production is the largest incoming transfer class in the conference. A group of five skaters that head coach Laura Schuler says has plenty of “maturity that they’re able to bring to our team this upcoming year.”
Schuler will rely on Thea Johannson to provide an immediate offensive spark. The senior forward has played at just under a point-per-game pace in her collegiate career. In three years with the Mercyhurst Lakers, Johansson racked up 51 goals and 43 assists in 109 games.
Standout defender Ashley Messier should generate some offense for the Bulldogs this season as well. The graduate student comes to Duluth after four seasons, one of which was an injury-shortened campaign, with the Cornell Big Red. The two-way blue-liner tallied double-digit points in each of her three full seasons in Ithaca, New York, with a minimum of 47 blocked shots each year to boot. In 2024-25, the Saskatchewan native led all Big Red defenders in goals and points.
UMD’s portal x-factor, however, might not be a veteran add. It could come in the form of sophomore Josie St. Martin, a player Schuler admits candidly, “was definitely one that we recruited really, really hard.”
St. Martin has one season of experience in the WCHA under her belt. During her rookie season with the Ohio State Buckeyes, the forward notched five goals and five assists on the scoresheet in 32 games. In international play, she helped Team USA medal at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 U-18 World Championships.
“We’re just so excited she deicded to take the chance on us,” Schuler said of the Stillwater, Minnesota native. “What a quality person. Oh, my gosh! So, not only is she talented in terms of, like, what she can do on the ice, but who she is as a person. She’s electric. Brings so much great energy to the program. Is fitting in seamlessly with our team and our culture right now.
“Just really, overall, so excited. And not only thatm she’s a sophomore. So, you know, we’re going to continue to invest in her and continue to develop her, and I just am so excited to wait to see where she goes over the next three years with our program.”
Handful of Bulldogs are Olympic hopefuls
The monkey wrench that every team in the WCHA will be dealing with this February, particularly those in the top half of the standings, is the roster changes to come as many of the league’s top players compete in the Olympics. Minnesota Duluth, a program that has produced 41 total Olympians, could be missing players up and down its lineup.
Johannson and junior defender Ida Karlsson will likely be suiting up for Team Sweeden this winter in Milan. Senior defender Krista Parkkonen has skated for the Finnish national team in each of the last four World Championships and is projected to make her Olympic debut. Sophomore forward Caitlin Kramer, who tallied 31 points her rookie season with the Bulldogs en route to winning conference and national rookie of the year awards, has at least an outside chance at making Team Canada after setting Canada’s U-18 all-time scoring record.
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The most-impactful loss UMD could have in February is undoubtedly Ève Gascon.
The Quebec native is arguably the best goaltender in the NCAA. Gascon took home the 2024-2025 WCHA Goaltender of the Year, beating out Wisconsin Badgers goaltender and Team USA Olympic hopeful Ava McNaughton. The Hockey Commissioners Association, however, awarded McNaughton its national Goalie of the Year Award. That debate aside, Gascon is the only netminder on Duluth’s roster with collegiate experience.
Redshirt sophomore Anna Byczek has yet to see game action. Joining the Bulldogs this fall is rookie Sophia Villanueva. How Schuler manages the balance between playing her elite goaltender with a potential need to get the feet wet of her reserves before February should be of interest in the early-goings of the season.
Regardless of the potential losses, Schuler is “so excited for them and for this opportunity” before the Olympic hopefuls on her roster.
“At the same time” as those players have a chance to represent their country, “huge opportunity for some other of our teammates to be able to step into some critical roles and be able to showcase their strengths and contribute to our team,” Schuler said. “So all in all, to me, it’s just a really exciting time.”