Girls High School Hockey Losses via Graduation

One of my typical offseason activities is to take a look at the program from the State Hockey Tournament and any other rosters I've accumulated over the season to see which players have graduated from different programs. This year is no exception, and tonight I'm taking a look at the Girls High School Teams.

Of the four programs that advanced to the State Tournament, Fond du Lac/Waupun is easily graduating the most talent/has the most talent to replace. The other three teams lose very little in the way of players that contributed to their teams last year with Superior probably next on the list for talent loss, followed by Hudson and Onalaska who lose about the same amount of talent.

Fondy/Waupun loses their leading scorer and Captain Maggie Bresser. They also lose their four-year starting goaltender Lauren Post who has been spectacular for them when needed. On defense, they lose Amanda Finnstad who was also their third-leading scorer as well as Julia Stollfus who played a regular shift.

Superior graduates first line winger Candace Zatko, but she's a player that only scored one point in the regular season. They also graduate Nicole Klobuchar who played a regular defensive shift for them. As they played as many as five defensemen last season they should be able to make up for Klobuchar, but will likely need to reload up front with an incoming Freshman as they didn't seem to have much forward depth last season.

Onalaska loses second line center Julie Scott who had 17 points in the regular season, as well as their two top Forward "reserves" in Melissa Fox (8 points) and Lacey Leppert (8 points). As they don't skate a lot of kids, I'm not sure anyone has been developed that can jump into their lineup, other than incoming Freshmen. Onalaska also only played three defensemen all season, so an incoming Freshman defenseman is a big need for them.

Hudson graduates Samantha Aarthun who played a regular defensive shift for them, as well as third-line forwards Ashton Hannack and Kirsten Weber. As the team that was clearly the weakest of the four teams at State Tournament, Hudson has the most ground to make up of the four, in addition to replacing their losses.

Four other teams had pretty good seasons last year that did not make the State Tournament....St. Croix Valley, Madison, Baraboo and Milwaukee North Shore.

St. Croix Valley retains all their top defensemen, but up front lose their leading scorer Alison Luunzer, third-leading scorer Alisha Ellertson, as well as some other forwards that contributed lead by Leah Peterson. They have a total of 6 Seniors graduating.

Madison graduates their "big gun" Rachel Dearth, who lead the WIAA in scoring this season with 51 goals, 19 assists for a total of 70 points. They also lose their starting goaltender Tina Worm, second line winger Samantha Archibald and Caity Laubach, a combo forward and defenseman.

Baraboo graduated a large and talented class of Seniors, leading them to carry on next season as a Co-op due to reduced numbers in their program. Unfortunately, I do not have a roster to name the specific players they lost, but with the new co-op there will be a lot of players to potentially improve their team. Also, as long as Danielle Vander Schaaf will be back for them in goal, they will always be competitive.

Milwaukee North Shore only graduated three Seniors. They are fourth leading scorer Lauren Franchi, defenseman Sarah Padway who also contributed thirteen points to their offense, as well as defenseman Kristy Parks.

Altoona and Appleton are probably the best of the nine incoming teams next season, but I don't have rosters with grade levels for either of those teams.

So what does all this mean for next season? Well, until we find out the quantity and quality of incoming players for each team, it's too early to tell. It is easy to see though that some teams have a lot more work to do than others to replace their losses.