Kenai’s Anna Shelden (4) celebrates after a goal. Photo courtesy Brown hockey
As Anna Shelden and the No. 15 Brown University women’s hockey team prepares for a weekend home-and-home series with Yale, the senior forward from Kenai nears one of those landmark moments she’ll certainly appreciate later in life.
An appearance Friday followed by another Saturday in Providence, R.I., and Shelden will reach 100 NCAA Division I regular-season games played. She enters the weekend with 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) in her first 98 outings with the Bears.
This season, Shelden has tallied five assists in Brown’s first eight games. The Bears lost their first two games of the 2024-25 campaign last weekend versus No. 5 Colgate and No. 10 Cornell. They currently sit at 6-2-0 and have a total of 21 regular-season games remaining.
Hitting the century mark should be a special moment for anyone who’s played at the sport’s highest level.
Anchorage’s Clair DeGeorge, who’s currently in training camp with the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s Montreal Victoire, played in 128 games at Bemidji State. She then went on to help win the 2022 DI national championship as a fifth-year coach. DeGeorge’s OSU assistant coach, Zoe Hickel of Anchorage, played 138 regular-season games at Minnesota-Duluth (2011-15). Palmer’s Kerry Weiland was part of Team USA’s 2010 Olympic silver medal win. She played in 133 games at Wisconsin before donning the red, white and blue.
Elsewhere in the DI women’s college game, Anchorage freshman Lake Bethard and Sacred Heart (Fairfield, Conn.) sit tied atop the New England Women’s Hockey Alliance standings at 6-2-0 with Franklin Pierce. St. Michael’s College (Colehester, Vt.) features three Alaskans – Eagle River’s Grace Cantebury, Anchorage’s Isabel Goolie and Angelina Ruiz. The Purple Knights are struggling (1-11-0 overall, 1-7-0 NEWHA). St. Michael’s has been outscored 64-6 and outshot 612-204.
ONE-TIMERS
- Colorado College sophomore Brett Link of Anchorage doled out three assists in the Tigers’ two-game sweep of Arizona State. CC is ranked No. 8 and 8-0-0 as it soon heads to Kalamazoo, Mich., for a NCHC weekend series at Western Michigan.
- Freshman and former Anchorage Wolverines defenseman Trent Powell of Soldotna earned his first DI point Saturday with an assist in Long Island’s 6-1 loss to New Hampshire. The Sharks host UAA in New York for a two-game series in Feb.
- Speaking of UAA, the DI Seawolves and DI UAF are days away from once again exchanging Governor’s Cup pleasantries at Anchorage’s Avis Alaska Sports Complex. Hey, aren’t the athletic departments at UAA and UAF all about NCAA DII programs? Just wondering because American International (Mass.) announced Tuesday that its DI hockey team of the last 27 years would return to DII at the conclusion of the season citing budgetary issues and the changing landscape of NCAA athletics. Made up of AIC and other schools across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, the Northeast 10 is the lone DII hockey league in the country. No NCAA DII national hockey tournament exists and hasn’t since 1999.
NCAA Division I
Alaska Player Updates
(Through Tuesday Night)
Women
Bemidji St.
Raeley Carney, F, Jr. Wasilla: 7 1-0—1 -4
Brown
Anna Shelden, F, Sr., Kenai: 8 0-5—4 +4
Maine
Sophia Johnson, D, Sr., Palmer: 6 0-0—0 -5
Sacred Heart
Lake Bethard, D, Fr., Anchorage: 4 0-0—0 +2
St. Michael’s
Grace Canterbury, F, Sr., Eagle River: 12 0-0—0 -8
Isabel Goolie, F, So., Anchorage: 10 0-0—0 -9
Angelina Ruiz, F, Sr., Anchorage: 12 0-1—1 -11
UAA’s Tanner Edwards of Anchorage is +4 after seven games. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Men
Bemidji St.
Raythan Robbins, G, So., Anchorage: 1 GP, 1-0-0 W-L-T, 4.12 GAA, 9.17 Save %
Colorado College
Bret Link, F, So., Anchorage: 8 GP, 2 goal-5 assist—7 points +/- +8
Cornell
Sullivan Mack, F, Sr., Anchorage: 4 1-1—2 +1
Long Island
Trent Powell, D, Fr., Soldotna: 7 0-1—1 -2
Minnesota State
Zach Krajnik, F, Gr., Eagle River: 12 0-2—2 +2
North Dakota
Mac Swanson, F, Fr., Anchorage: 9 2-4—6 +1
Notre Dame
Zach Plucinski, D, Gr., Eagle River: 10 0-0—0 -1
Hunter Strand, F, Sr., Anchorage: 10 2-3—5 -2
RIT
Trent Burnham, G, Jr., Eagle River: 4 0-4-0, 3.85, .870
UAA
Tanner Edwards, F, Gr., Anchorage: 7 1-3—4 +4
Max Helgeson, F, Sr., Anchorage: 8 0-1—1 +1
Brandon Lajoie, F, Jr., Eagle River: 0 0-0—0 0
Bryant Marks, G, Fr., Wasilla: 0 0-0—0 No GAA or Save %
Porter Schachle, F, Sr., Wasilla: 7 2-1—3 0
Aiden Westin, F, So., Anchorage: 8 1-1—2 -2
UAF
Bryce Monrean, F, Fr., Anchorage: 1 0-0—0 0
Vermont
Colin Kessler, F, Fr., Anchorage: 8 4-3—7 +3
