The NCAA Division I men’s college hockey tournament starts this Thursday, but the women’s season wrapped up on Sunday.

Already, University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) women’s hockey head coach Maura Crowell is working through offseason changes. The transfer portal has opened, and the Bulldogs are losing star sophomore goalie Hailey MacLeod.

“I don’t like losing players, but they have the right to enter and do what they want,” Crowell said. “It’s getting hard for certain teams out there who maybe can’t get into the national tournament, and they’re constantly losing their top players to top programs in the WCHA. I can’t imagine being in those spots because you feel like you become a farm team. I will say, it is nice in the spring to be able to get better, to feel like, ‘wow, I can make a couple moves here and make our lineup better’.”

UMD will now search for a replacement for MacLeod, someone to challenge fellow top five goaltender, freshman Eve Gascon.

The offseason is also a great time to talk about change. In 2022 the NCAA DI women’s hockey tournament expanded to 11 teams, now Crowell would like to see that grow to 12.

“Expansion, that needs to be from the coaches. I was a big part of getting to 11, I’d like to see some other coaches put the time and work in to get to 12. I’m happy to help with that, but I think jeez, if I was right on the cusp there I would be all over that. It really needs to be 12 to make three brackets of four and have a more normal tournament,” Crowell explained.

The Bulldogs finished this season in the NCAA quarterfinals. They fell to Ohio State University who went on to become national champions beating Wisconsin 1-0 last Sunday.

As of now, UMD officially has four new recruits signed for next season.