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June 11, 2004 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
Midwest Elite Sends Record Number of Girls to D-I, D-III College Programs
The Midwest Elite Hockey League Girls Division announced today that a record 64
seniors from its 2003-04 teams have committed to Division I and Division III college
hockey programs throughout the U.S. After a successful third season, in which the
league’s 19U teams made up half of the field at the 2003-04 USA Hockey National
Tournament, the league's announcement brings to more than 160 the number of players
sent by its Girls Division to the nation's best women's hockey programs.
Players who have announced their college choices for the 2004-05 season are:
TEAM ILLINOIS/CYA
Team Illinois/CYA, this year's Illinois State Champions, will bid farewell to five seniors
heading to Division I and Division III schools in the east. At the Division I level, forward
Sonja Novak will pack her bags for New Jersey and the ECAC's Princeton Tigers, while
Rachel Crissy (who won a state basketball championship the same weekend as her TI
state hockey title), will also head east to play at Providence College of the Hockey East
Conference. At the Division III level, Allie Morrow will become a new Eph as she enrolls
and plays for small Ivy League school Williams College in the NESCAC Conference,
while Karen Levin will head to NCAA Division III Champion Middlebury College, also in
the NESCAC Conference. Finally, Leigh Reisberg will continue her net-minding skills at
the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, New York.
COLORADO SELECT
The newest member of the MWEHL Girls Division, the USA Hockey Rocky Mountain
District Champion Colorado Select, will see four of its seniors move east to continue
their hockey and academic caeers. Two of its seniors, Jesse Cloutier and Laura
Schnitker, will pack their bags for independent Division I Clarkson University. In
addition, Elysha Fuchs will head to Minnesota to play for Division III Hamline University
of the Minnesota Inter-Collegiate Athletic Conference, while teammate Ali
Parpal-Trinity will travel to Connecticut to enroll and play for the University of Hartford.
HONEYBAKED
HoneyBaked, the USA Hockey Michigan District Champion and National Tournament
Semifinalist, will see six of its 2003-04 seniors continue their college and hockey careers
out of state. At the Division I level, Jodi Helminen will become one of the newest
Mavericks at Minnesota State University-Mankato of the Western Collegiate Hockey
Association, while Jenna Keilch will enroll at Hockey East powerhouse Providence
College. Teammates Katie O'Brien and Katie Markovich will head to Hancock in the
Michigan Upper Peninsula to play for the new Division III program at Finlandia University
of the North Central Athletic Conference, while Rachelle Arnott will move to New York to
enroll and skate for Division III SUNY-Plattsburgh in the ECAC West. Finally, Amy
Madden will head west to Winona Minnesota to join the St. Mary's University Cardinals of
the MIAC.
LITTLE CAESARS
Little Caesars will bid farewell to five of its seniors moving to the Division I or Division
III levels. Ellen McNamara will continue her career in New York at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute as it moves to the Division I level in the East Coast Athletic
Conference. Two teammates will also move east to the Empire State to play in the
ECAC West Conference, as Kelsy Wortman signs up to become a Pioneer at Division III
Utica College, and Mary Cohen prepares to enroll and play for the Buffalo State
Bengals. Katie Obryan will also travel east to hit the ice for the Division III Connecticut
College, a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference, while Casey
Cole will make the trip north to enroll and play for the Division III Finlandia University
Lions.
In additional Little Caesars news, the organization announced that Stephanie Sabo has
accepted a scholarship to play softball for Eastern Michigan University.
MADISON CAPITOLS
Another team that won a berth at the National Tournament, the USA Hockey Central
District Champion Madison Capitols will see seven seniors continue to play hockey in
college. At Division I, Jessie Vetter and Jinelle Zaugg will stay close to home to enroll
and play for the University of Wisconsin Badgers in the WCHA, but they will still see
plenty of their teammate Mallory Peckels as she joins WCHA rival Ohio State University.
Also going Division I from Madison is Becky Sonn, who heads east to Detroit to join
Wayne State University's up and coming program in the College Hockey America
Conference. At Division III, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (North Central
Athletic Conference) will take on a decidedly Capitols appearance, as Jess Suter, Katy
Lankey and Korryn Brooks travel north to join a strong Pointers program.
MICHIGAN CAPITALS
The Michigan Capitals, still one of the youngest teams in the league’s 19U Girls Division,
will end the 2003-04 season with a farewell sendoff to two of their 2003-04 senior
players, who will continue their hockey careers at the collegiate level. The Capitals duo,
Ashley Leitch and Corinne Czekaj, will head north to become Lions at the Michigan
Upper Peninsula's Finlandia University of the NCHA.
MINNESOTA THOROUGHBREDS
The Minnesota Thoroughbreds, who took the top spot in last year's regular season
standings, will once again send a solid list of seniors to D-I and D-III colleges. At
Division I, Samantha Hough will head north to play for the University of
Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs of the WCHA. Also, the Hockey East Conference's Boston
College will have a decidedly Minnesota flavor next year as three Thoroughbreds, Erin
Blood, Rachel Wedig and Cristin Stuart arrive at the Chestnut Hill campus to become the
newest Eagles. Staying a bit closer to home to continue their careers will be Kelly
Snedeker, who will enroll at the NCHA's University of Wisconsin-River Falls, and Katrina
Clifford, who will travel to St. Joseph, Minnesota to become the newest Blazer at St.
Benedict College of the MIAC.
OHIO FLAMES
Another of the league's National Tournament participants, the USA Hockey Mid-American
District Champion and National Tournament Semifinalist Ohio Flames, will see two of its
2003-04 seniors advance to the Division I level. Netminder Rebecca Allen will see lots of
Ivy as she travels to New Jersey to tend goal for the ECAC Princeton Tigers. Her
teammate, Kristen Erickson, will also travel east to upstate New York, to enroll and hit
the ice for the Mercyhurst College Lakers in the CHA.
The Flames have also announced that senior Kristen Wilson has accepted a scholarship
to play soccer at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.
SHATTUCK ST. MARY'S
Shattuck-St. Mary's, the MWEHL Post-Season Playoff and USA Hockey Minnkota District
Champions, will send eight seniors to Division I and Division III schools next year.
Noelle Needham will travel to west to join the WCHA's Minnesota State University-Mankato, while three of her teammates will go east to enroll at ECAC and
Hockey East Division I schools (Frankie Williams to the ECAC's University of Vermont,
Carly Aimi to ECAC member Union College and Nikki Petrich to Northeastern University
of the Hockey East Conference). Advancing to the Division III level are Renae Bergh
and Kacie Anderson who will line up together for the NCHA's University of Wisconsin
-River Falls Falcons, Kristen Van Slyke who is heading to the NESCAC Conference's
Connecticut College, and Jennilee Moe who will stay a bit closer to home to enroll and
play for the MIAC's Augsburg College Auggies.
WASHINGTON PRIDE
Another MWEHL representative to the National Tournament, the USA Hockey Southeast
District Champion Washington Pride, will send five of it 2003-04 seniors to the next
level, to pursue their hockey and academic careers at several New England and New
York area Division I and III schools. The Pride's Division I products include Ashley
Kilstein who will enroll and take the ice at the Schenectady, New York campus of Union
College of the ECAC, Laura Falk who will pack her bags for Fairfield, Connecticut and
Division I Independent Sacred Heart University, and Diana Fink who begins the next
phase of her hockey career as the newest Catamount at the University of Vermont.
Rochester Institute of Technology, a Division III school in the ECAC, will welcome
Kiersten Shinrock to its campus to continue her college hockey, while Division III
Williams College will open its doors to another MWEHL graduate, Caroline Goodbody.
WISCONSIN WILD
The Wisconsin Wild will this year send the league's largest number of seniors to Division
I and Division III schools. In fact, on the heels of its runner-up finish in the league's
Post-Season Playoffs, every one of the team's fourteen seniors is advancing to the
Division I or Division III level.
Heading to the ECAC’s Brown University Bears are Rylee Olewinski and Emilie
Midtling, who will likely face off sometime next year against teammate Jessica MacKenzie who is
headed to Harvard University. Staying a bit closer to home at the Division I level are
Kendall Newell who will enroll and play at the WCHA's St. Cloud State University in
Minnesota, Britney Schaeffer who heads to cross-state and WCHA rival Bemidji State
University, and Kristina Leng who will travel to Michigan to skate for the College Hockey
America Conference's Wayne State University.
The Wild will also send an impressive array of players to Division III schools in the New
England Small College Athletic Conference and the ECAC, including eastbound seniors
Katie Coyne (to the Bowdoin College Polar Bears), Sarah Nowakowski (another MWEHL
graduate to become an Eph at Williams College), Katharine Kelly (a new Lady Jeff at
Amherst College in Massachusetts) and Kelsey Hunt (to new ECAC entrant St. Anselm
College in New Hampshire). Not to be outdone by some of their teammate’s more
distant destinations, Amanda Dowdy and Amanda Bockmann will both hit the ice next
year for Augsburg College of the MIAC, Erin Shepet will skate for another MIAC school
as she enrolls at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, and Toni Donaldson will
head south to the NCHA's Lake Forest College near Chicago.
Commenting on this year’s senior college commitments, Girls Division Chair Greg Thiess
said “we are very proud of the academic and hockey accomplishments of this year’s
MWEHL graduates, who are headed to college hockey programs throughout the U.S.
Through their hard work in the classroom and on the ice, these players demonstrate the
best of what it means to be an NCAA student-athlete, and we know they will continue
their successes next season at the collegiate level”.
The MWEHL wishes all of its student athletes success both in the classroom and on the ice for the upcoming 2004-2005 season.
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