Lindenwood–Belleville Lynx women's ice hockey

2014–15

Lindenwood–Belleville announced the addition of women's (and men's) hockey on November 25, 2013, with the program scheduled to begin play during the 2014–15 season.^[2] The nearly-one-year lead time paid large dividends, as first coach and director of hockey operations Craig Buntenbach landed a gigantic 15-player freshman class that helped ensure the team's immediate competitiveness. The diverse inaugural group included future stars like Americans Ashley Dietmeier and Alexandra Brown, Canadians Reagan Fuller, Maddy Millar and Jessica Moon, and New Zealand's Firth Bidois. Jaylene Anderson and Delaney Peters, both of whom came over from perennial ACHA Division 2 contender Rainy River Community College, provided an immediate veteran presence, while big Alaskan Alahna Stivers joined the roster late in the season.

For much of the year, things proceeded in a better-than-expected fashion for a first-year team, as the Lynx generally struggled against the ACHA's better teams but managed to reel off wins against most others. The first games in program history were 10–1 and 12–1 thrashings at defending national champion Miami, but LU–B recovered to sweep its first home games against Wisconsin at the Ice Zone the following weekend.

The Lynx entered the ACHA rankings for the first time in the November 23rd edition of the poll, checking in at 14th, a position the team would hold for the remainder of the season. Lindenwood–Belleville was 11–8–1 at the time of the ranking and were coming off of a pair of closer–than–expected losses to national title contender Adrian.

By late January, LU–B's record was 15–11–1, although four of the wins came against non-ACHA team Iowa, four others were over fellow first-year team Midland, and two more involved ACHA Division 2's Iowa State as the opponent.^[3] There wasn't a ton of indication as to what would come next: the Lynx collecting their first-ever signature victory, stunning No. 2 Liberty by a 2–1 count at the Ice Zone on January 30.^[4] Stivers (who was playing her first game with the team) answered an early goal by the Flames' Carrie Jickling on the power play, while Anderson buried the winner late in the third period on Dietmeier's assist. Bidois also starred, making 35 saves to negate a shot count of 36–8 in LU's favor.

LU–Belleville finished the regular season well, winning three of four after the Liberty series, including arguably their second-biggest win of the year, over 12th-ranked Robert Morris (IL). The Lynx wound up third in the WWCHL standings behind Colorado State and Minnesota, an appropriate-enough position given their 0–4–0 record against the Rams and Gophers and their 10–0–0 mark against all other conference teams. That extreme stratification held in the WWCHL playoffs, held in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where LU–B won a first-round game with Colorado but dropped a semifinal to Minnesota before recovering to close out the year with a third-place-game win over Wisconsin. The Colorado game was among the most dramatic wins in early team history, as Moon scored the 3–2 contest's winner with four seconds remaining. Millar assisted on the decider to cap a three-point outing, including a goal to tie things up midway through the third period.^[5]

Dietmeier (44 points) and Fuller (43) both ended the year among the ACHA's top ten scorers.

2015–16

Lynx head coach Katherine Hannah had her number retired by the Lindenwood Lady Lions program

Lindenwood–Belleville's second season started with a bang, as the team hired Katherine Hannah as its new head coach. Hannah, a native of Toronto, Ontario, is one of the most decorated athletes in the history of Lindenwood University's St. Charles, Missouri campus and ACHA women's hockey. She began her career with the Lindenwood Lady Lions ice hockey team as it was being established in 2003–04, playing through 2007–08. In her five seasons, she was the ACHA's Zoë M. Harris Player of the Year twice (one of only two players to win the award multiple times), a five-time All-American, helped the Lady Lions to the 2006 and 2008 ACHA national championships and rolled up a whopping 407 career points. She was a 2013 inductee to the Lindenwood Sports Hall of Fame, while a banner with her number 6 hangs in the Lions' home Lindenwood Ice Arena.^[6] Hannah had been coaching at Simsbury High School before making her way back to the Lindenwood system.

Hannah's tenure could not have started better, as the Lynx bolted out to an early 9–0–0 record and jumped from 14th in the rankings (LU–B began 2015–16 exactly where it closed 2014–15) all the way up to eighth - in position to receive an invitation to the ACHA National Tournament - by the end of October.^[7] The schedule stiffened from that point, but the squad acquitted itself well. In what could be characterized as the first truly pivotal series in program history, pitting teams battling for league titles and nationals bids against each other, the Lynx battled to a pair of come-from-ahead home ties with tenth-ranked Minnesota on November 7 and 8. Fuller and Stivers scored in each end of the series.^[8] A number of tight non-conference results followed to further bolster LU–B's ranking: 2–1 and 3–1 losses to No. 3 Adrian, a 3–2 loss to subsequent No. 3 Miami (in stark contrast to the first games in team history), and a 4–2 victory over No. 4 Grand Valley State on January 24, behind two Dietmeier goals and 47 Bidois saves.^[9]

Back in the WWCHL, the Lynx found themselves as league frontrunners by late in the season, with the ties against Minnesota the only blemishes on their conference record. The Gophers, meanwhile, along with usual contenders Colorado and Colorado State, had all taken losses along the way. LU–B's shutout win over the Buffaloes on third-period goals by Stivers, Dietmeier and NCAA Division III transfer Hayley Winker^[10] at the end of January clinched the WWCHL regular season championship, the first conference title in program history.

Despite entering the league playoffs in Boulder, Colorado as the top seed, the Lynx were instantly humbled by a staggering 7–0 loss to host Colorado to open things up. Fortunately for LU–B, a new pool-based playoff format offered a respite, and the team bounced back that evening to defeat Midland and advance to the semifinals. The standard airtight 60 minutes between the Lynx and Gophers followed, with LU–B getting the final word in the season series and holding on late for a 3–2 victory on the strength of goals by Winker, Fuller and Nikole Day.^[11] The redemption story was completed with a 2–1 championship game victory over the Buffaloes to win both the league title and an autobid to the ACHA National Tournament. The win largely owed itself to 36 saves by Bidois, who was named MVP of the playoffs, while Stivers and Katie Lakusta joined her on the first all-tournament team.^[12]

As the sixth seed entering nationals, Lindenwood–Belleville was thrown in a four-team pool with plenty of familiarity in the form of top-seeded Liberty and No. 3 Grand Valley State, with a new opponent, No. 8 Michigan, mixed in. However, the Lynx saw a quick end to their title hopes after dropping results to the Lakers and Flames. Despite the loss and elimination, the meeting with Liberty stood as one of the most exciting games of the tournament. The defending national champs took a 3–1 lead in the second period on a Jickling natural hat trick, but Winker and Fuller struck to get LU–B back even early in the third period. Liberty then took leads of 4–3 and 6–4, but a resilient Lynx squad had quick answers by Dietmeier and Haley Hill. The six-goal third period ended one shy on the LU–Belleville side though, as the Flames held on for a 6–5 win.^[13] The Lynx did manage to close out their time at the tourney on a high note, rallying from a 4–1 hole after one period to pick up a stirring 6–4 win over Michigan, the program's first ever at ACHAs.

2016–17

LU–B awards a hard hat to the MVP of each game in the locker room

With 2015–16 marking Lindenwood–Belleville's transition from "new" to "contender," the 2016–17 campaign presented its fair share of expectations, although its schedule^[14] proved difficult in more than one way. The Lynx went 9–5–2 over the first half of the season, a solid record made even more impressive by the fact that eight of the 16 contests came against No. 1 Miami, No. 7 Grand Valley State, No. 8 Colorado and No. 1 Liberty. While LU–B mostly struggled in those outings with a 1–5–2 record, the win was a huge one: a come-from-behind 4–2 result at Liberty on December 3, the Flames' first ACHA loss at their home LaHaye Ice Center since Rhode Island upended LU on November 16, 2014 (the unbeaten stretch spanned 20 games). Liberty jumped out to an early 2–0 lead, but the Lynx surged over the second and third periods behind goals from Stivers, Dietmeier, Fuller and Millar.^[15] That victory, combined with the closeness of the losses against top teams, allowed LU–B to remain sturdy in the rankings, as they never dropped below eighth during the year.

On February 18, 2017, the Lynx participated in USA Hockey's National Continuous Game, held in conjunction with the IIHF Girls' Global Game.^[16] The Girls' Global Game involved 44 national federations worldwide hosting one-hour games in succession over the weekend of February 17 through 19th, while the concurrent USA Hockey event spotlighted girls' and women's hockey at different levels on American soil. LU-B won their segment of the National Continuous Game by a 2–1 count at Minnesota on a pair of Fuller goals. The win, coupled with a victory against Wisconsin later that night, clinched LU–Belleville's second straight WWCHL regular season title.^[17]

The National Continuous Game was part of an extremely dense scheduling stretch linking the end of the regular season and the WWCHL playoffs, beginning with a three-game sweep of Colorado State from February 10 through 12th. The subsequent weekend in Minnesota included four games over three days with the Gophers and Badgers, while the playoffs also included four games in three days - a grand total of 11 games over 17 days between February 10 and 26. That reality, arguably, took its toll on the Lynx at playoffs, with a disappointing (in light of the three consecutive regular season or playoff titles to that point) third-place finish following a 5–1 loss to Colorado in the semifinals.^[18]

Nevertheless, in contrast to previous seasons, LU–B had built up enough status nationally to survive the blow and qualify for the ACHA National Tournament in Columbus, Ohio by finishing fifth in the rankings (three spots ahead of WWCHL playoff champion Minnesota, as things turned out) and drawing a pairing with No. 4 Massachusetts for a best-of-three quarterfinal, under a new tournament format. Things started well enough for the Lynx, as the Minutemen had to forfeit game one of the series thanks to Winter Storm Stella and related travel difficulties.^[19] UMass, however, showed up for games two and three both literally and figuratively, and managed to flip the series in their favor and advance to the semifinals with 7–3 and 4–2 wins. Alicia Williams, a freshman from Minnesota, scored twice at nationals, while Megan Lugar grabbed a second team all-tournament nod.^[20]

Career scoring leaders

Single season scoring leaders

Notable goaltenders

Annual awards

Sources:^{[23][24][25][26][20][27][28]}

Monthly awards

During the 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, the ACHA presented a series of monthly awards for both men's and women's divisions.

IIHF World Championships

Three LU–Belleville players have been selections for the senior national teams of their home countries during the IIHF World Women's Championships, including Michelle Coonan and Kate Tihema for Australia and Firth Bidois for New Zealand. During the LU–B players' national team careers, both Australia and New Zealand have occupied either Division IIA or IIB, the fourth and fifth divisions under the IIHF system.

The greatest success for Coonan and Tihema came in 2016, when Australia won promotion to Division IIA through winning Division IIB. The victory came in dramatic fashion, as Australia dropped its opener to Mexico in a shootout, then recovered to win four straight, edging out Spain by a single point. Both players starred, with Tihema's four goals tied for seventh tournament-wide (two came in a victory over Spain, a crucial result given the standings margin), and Coonan ranking among the goaltending leaders with a 1.62 goals against average and a 0.886 save percentage.^[35][36]

Australia has been on the other side of things too, however. During the first world championships for both Tihema and Coonan in 2014, Australia was relegated from Division IIA. The Aussies also finished sixth in Division IIA in 2017, immediately after the promotion success of 2016, but were fortunate to be spared relegation, as no teams were relegated during the 2017 and 2018 tournaments to allow the top division to expand from eight to ten teams. The most recent tournament, 2018, saw Australia improve two places to fourth in Division IIA, the best finish of both players' senior national careers. Coonan started four of Australia's five games and was named the team's best player of the tournament by the participating coaches,^[37] while Tihema scored twice in the Mighty Jills' final game, a win over Slovenia in what was a de facto 4th/5th place contest.

Tihema has scored ten times, with an assist, in 25 total games at worlds^[38] while Coonan has appeared in 18 contests.^[39]

Bidois was a member of New Zealand's 2015 world championships team that was relegated from Division IIA, notably forming a goaltending tandem with Grace Harrison, who joined St. Lawrence's NCAA Division I team that fall and became the first hockey player from New Zealand to earn an NCAA scholarship.^[40]

Australia and New Zealand have gone head to head twice at worlds in recent years, in 2014 and 2016. Australia won both meetings, although neither occurred with Bidois on the Ice Fernz roster.

Player	Year	Division	Location	Result
Michelle Coonan	2014	IIA	Asiago, Italy	Sixth Place‡ (26th overall)
	2015	IIB	Jaca, Spain	Fifth Place (31st overall)
	2016	IIB	Jaca, Spain	First Place† (27th overall)
	2017	IIA	Gangneung, South Korea	Sixth Place (26th overall)
	2018	IIA	Maribor, Slovenia	Fourth Place (24th overall)
Kate Tihema	2014	IIA	Asiago, Italy	Sixth Place‡ (26th overall)
	2015	IIB	Jaca, Spain	Fifth Place (31st overall)
	2016	IIB	Jaca, Spain	First Place† (27th overall)
	2017	IIA	Gangneung, South Korea	Sixth Place (26th overall)
	2018	IIA	Maribor, Slovenia	Fourth Place (24th overall)
Firth Bidois	2015	IIA	Dumfries, Great Britain	Sixth Place‡ (26th overall)

† Promoted
‡ Relegated

World University Games

Since 2011, the ACHA has supplied players for the U.S. National University Select Women's Team, which competes at the World University Games women's hockey tournament, held biennially and as part of the multi-sport event for college and university student-athletes.

LU–Belleville had two players selected for an evaluation camp in preparation for the 2017 edition of the team, Alex Brown and Ashley Dietmeier. Brown went on to make the final roster, and helped Team USA to the bronze medal, just the second won by any American team (men's or women's) in the modern era. The defenseman appeared in all four games during the tournament, and picked up a key assist of a Kendra Myers goal in a 3–2 win over Japan that allowed the U.S. to advance to the semifinals.^[41] Overall, Brown totaled four penalty minutes and a plus-1 rating.^[42]

Player	Year	Location	Result
Alexandra Brown	2017[43]	Almaty, Kazakhstan	Bronze Medal

World Deaf Ice Hockey Championships

In April 2017, Lynx goalie Libbey Breaker competed for Team USA in the World Deaf Ice Hockey Championships (WDIHC) in Amherst, New York. The 2017 iteration of the WDIHC was the third edition of the tournament overall, but the first including women's teams. Breaker and the Americans played two games against Canada, dropping both by 6–4^[44] and 6–3^[45] scores. Despite the high-scoring nature of the contests, Breaker, Team USA's only goalie, was excellent in making 36 saves during the latter game to take her team's player of the game honors.^[46] She totaled 41 stops in the first match.

Player	Year	Location	Result
Libbey Breaker	2017	Amherst, United States	0–2–0 record

Other tournaments

In addition to their turns at the World Women's Championships, Coonan and Tihema have both represented Australia in other IIHF tournaments. Tihema played in the 2016 U18 World Championships, however her team did not fare well, losing all three of its group round contests. Tihema, for her part, scored twice against Great Britain (what would turn out to be the Mighty Jills' only tallies of the round robin) and was named Australia's player of the game.^[47] Australia did close things out on a high note, topping Romania in a shootout to take seventh place.

Both Tihema and Coonan participated in the 2014 Challenge Cup of Asia, although the Mighty Jills struggled that time out as well, dropping three pool games and then an overtime decision to South Korea for the bronze medal.

Player	Year	Tournament	Division	Location	Result
Michelle Coonan	2014	IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia	Top	Harbin, China	Fourth Place
Kate Tihema	2014	IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia	Top	Harbin, China	Fourth Place
	2016	IIHF World U18 Championship	IQ	Radenthein, Austria	Seventh Place (21st overall)

Colorado

The rivalry between the Lynx and Buffaloes had a rather tame beginning, as Lindenwood–Belleville won its first five times out against a rebuilding Colorado program. However, things heated up quickly beginning with the 2016 WWCHL playoffs, when Elle Dice scored twice and CU blasted LU–B 7–0 in the pool round opener for their first win ever against the Lynx. That result eventually helped set up a championship game rematch, with LU–Belleville getting revenge by a 2–1 count to win the program's first league playoff title. Colorado got one back in 2016–17 though, winning in another rout (5–1) to eliminate the favored Lynx from the WWCHL semifinals, on the heels of the Buffs taking the regular season series with a win and a tie. Although the Lynx still lead the all-time series, 6–3–1 as of the end of the 2016–17 season, Colorado has proven to be arguably LU–Belleville's biggest struggle within the WWCHL, as CU has taken three of the last five meetings, with one tie.

Minnesota

By most measures, Lindenwood–Belleville and Minnesota have been the WWCHL's two best programs since the conference began play in 2014–15. The two have combined for every league playoff title and five of the six when including the regular season, and have also been the only two WWCHL teams to be invited to the ACHA National Tournament. This shared dominance has been reflected through the all-time series, which has seen three ties in eight games, while three of the five contests with a winner have been decided by one goal (with those outcomes falling 3–2 in LU–B's favor, as of the end of the 2016–17 season).

While the Lynx and Gophers have yet to meet directly for the conference title, the teams have split a pair of WWCHL semifinal meetings. In 2015, Jess Nkhata, Melissa Drown and Sonja Stojic all scored as Minnesota downed LU–B en route to an eventual title.^[48] The next year, the Lynx returned the favor with a 3–2 victory on the way to their own championship.^[11]

Liberty

The Flames have been among the ACHA's best teams since the beginning of the Lynx program, winning the 2015 national championship to cap LU–Belleville's first season while rolling to a 70–11–2 three-season ACHA record. Only three teams have managed to defeat Liberty multiple times during that stretch: 2014, 2016 and 2017 national champ Miami (4–3–0 versus LU), Grand Valley State (2–5–0, although one win came via forfeit following a contest Liberty won on the ice) and LU–B.

LU–B has earned two of the most important wins in program history against Liberty, including a 2–1 victory in the team's inaugural 2014–15 season that represented its first result that resonated across the ACHA.^[4] On December 3, 2016, the Lynx handed Liberty its first ACHA home loss in more than two calendar years. It was LU–Belleville's first-ever win over a top-ranked team and also helped ensure the squad's qualification for the 2017 ACHA National Tournament regardless of whether it secured the WWCHL's automatic bid.^[15] The Flames fended off an upset-minded Lynx team at 2016 nationals, surviving an explosive third period in the process, by a 6–5 score.^[13]

Liberty leads the all-time series 3–2–0, as of the end of the 2016–17 season.

McKendree

McKendree University established an ACHA Division 1 team for the 2016–17 season, with the Lebanon, Illinois-based school becoming LU–B's closest neighbor in the division by a wide margin (the campuses are roughly 12 miles apart, with Chicago, Illinois' Robert Morris (IL) previously holding the distinction at 300 miles away). While the teams have yet to play each other, an element of animosity was introduced on August 10, 2015 when Craig Buntenbach was announced as McKendree's first coach months after a mid-season departure from Belleville.^[49] Buntenbach's stay with the Bearcats was just as brief as his Lynx tenure however, as Derek Pallardy replaced him on May 4, 2017.^[50]

Current roster

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	DoB	Hometown	Previous team
3		Katie Lakusta (A)	Junior	D	5' 3" (1.6 m)	1997-04-23	New Westminster, British Columbia	West Coast Avalanche
4		Kassie Strand	Junior	D	5' 6" (1.68 m)	1995-11-23	Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota	Mesabi East High School (USHS–MN)
5		Abby Flaherty	Sophomore	D	5' 4" (1.63 m)	1998-07-12	Orland Park, Illinois	Rattlers (USHS–IL)
6		Chazlyn Anderson	Sophomore	F	5' 4" (1.63 m)	1998-06-12	Onalaska, Wisconsin	Onalaska High School (USHS–WI)
7		Ashley Dietmeier (A)	Senior	F	5' 6" (1.68 m)	1995-12-08	Danbury, Wisconsin	WSFLG Blizzard (USHS–WI)
8		Hayley Winker	Senior	F	5' 5" (1.65 m)	1996-07-22	Elmhurst, Illinois	Hamline University (NCAA)
12		Jessica Moon	Senior	D	5' 5" (1.65 m)	1996-01-12	Mayerthorpe, Alberta	Banff Hockey Academy
13		Jamie Riselay	Sophomore	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	1998-09-13	Hamilton, Ontario	Hamilton Hawks
14		Michaela Read	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	1999-07-01	Chilliwack, British Columbia	Greater Vancouver Comets
15		Alicia Williams	Sophomore	F	5' 7" (1.7 m)	1997-11-17	Virginia, Minnesota	Eveleth-Gilbert High School (USHS–MN)
16		Alahna Stivers	Senior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	1995-06-27	Anchorage, Alaska	Alaska All-Stars (USAH Pacific)
17		Katie Stelling	Sophomore	F	5' 4" (1.63 m)	1998-01-28	Santa Cruz, California	San Jose Lady Sharks (USAH Pacific)
18		Maddy Millar	Senior	F	5' 4" (1.63 m)	1995-12-02	Newmarket, Ontario	Aurora Panthers
20		Amber Repke	Senior	F	5' 3" (1.6 m)	1996-04-05	Alpena, Michigan	Alpena High School (USHS–MI)
21		Kate Tihema	Sophomore	F	5' 6" (1.68 m)	1998-05-29	Adelaide, Australia	Australia Mighty Jills (IIHF)
23		Marissa Lindblad	Senior	D	5' 6" (1.68 m)	1992-05-19	Camarillo, California	Rainy River Community College (ACHA)
24		Alexandra Brown	Senior	D	5' 7" (1.7 m)	1996-06-30	Plano, Texas	Plano High School (USHS–TX)
25		Michelle Coonan	Sophomore	G	5' 4" (1.63 m)	1994-08-12	Adelaide, Australia	Sydney Sirens (AWIHL)
26		Paige Young	Senior	D	5' 2" (1.57 m)	1996-06-01	Webster, Wisconsin	WSFLG Blizzard (USHS–WI)
27		Reagan Fuller (C)	Senior	F	5' 6" (1.68 m)	1996-09-01	Bowmanville, Ontario	Aurora Panthers
28		Megan Lugar	Junior	F	5' 4" (1.63 m)	1997-05-17	Carmel, Indiana	Carmel High School (USHS–IN)
35		Libbey Breaker	Junior	G	5' 0" (1.52 m)	1996-02-07	Appleton, Wisconsin	University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point (NCAA)
53		Lindsay Gillis	Freshman	D	5' 10" (1.78 m)	1999-07-07	Edmonton, Alberta	Northern Alberta Xtreme
61		Tanya Candido	Freshman	F	5' 6" (1.68 m)	1999-05-06	Belle River, Ontario	Chatham Outlaws
73		Nikki Lillies	Sophomore	F	5' 4" (1.63 m)	1998-10-14	Winnipeg, Manitoba	Westwood Collegiate
91		Marissa Delry	Freshman	F	5' 6" (1.68 m)	1999-10-24	Hannon, Ontario	Ancaster Avalanche