The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) women’s hockey team earned a bid to the national tournament, and even won their round one regional game, but on Saturday, March 15 they fell 1-0 to Cornell ending their 2024-2025 season one step short of the NCAA DI women’s Frozen Four.

“I’m so proud of our student-athletes. Their commitment to excellence and everything that they do, whether it was a classroom, community, or on the ice, was exceptional. We had, I think, exceptional buy-in from everybody. Honestly, I think it was one of the most fun years that I’ve ever had in hockey,” head coach Laura Schuler said.

Overall it was a very successful year for Schuler who, in her first year as head coach, led the Bulldogs to a 22-15-2 record and fifth straigh NCAA Regional Final appearance.

A big key to their success was netminder Eve Gascon, who just landed a spot on Team Canada for the upcoming IIHF Women’s World Championships.

“Her understanding of the defensive game continued to grow, which allowed her to be more calm in the net. It just ended up being super hard to beat her. I thought her puck skills were excellent. She’s going to make the right play 99.9% of the time,” Schuler said about Gascon.

Gascon finished her sophomore season with 1.83 goals against average and a .942 save percentage in 30 games. The 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championships are April 9-20 in Czechia.