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Huskies' woes deepen
 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor SCSU senior forward Fiona McLeod carries the puck past her coaches and teammates Dec. 1, 2001, in the Huskies 7-0 loss to the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs at the National Hockey Center. About a month after this photo was taken, McLeod was released from the team. The all-time leading scorer said she is still not sure of the true reason for her release.
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 Kerry Brodt Wethington
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 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor SCSU women´s hockey ended its 2000-01 season with a 5-0 loss to Ohio State in the first round of the WCHA playoffs in Rochester on March 8, 2001. Behind the team members in the box are assistant coaches Jean Vaillancourt and David Prokop and coach Kerry Brodt Wethington.
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 Tara McNamara
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 Ellen Brinkman
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Nobody ever said Division I or WCHA hockey would be easy to conquer.
However, as the SCSU women’s hockey season rolls along, the women find themselves facing a school record 10-game losing streak and many deeper questions that need answers.
The recent release of senior forward Fiona McLeod and the unceremonious departure of first-year defender Dana Pretty along with a few others have left many scratching their heads and searching for those answers.
Just before Christmas, Pretty left the team, according to SCSU, to pursue personal interests in Calgary. Her departure was not a quiet one. On her way out of St. Cloud, Pretty blasted the coaching staff.
McLeod’s release was mysterious in its own right. During the week leading up the Huskies series with Ohio State on Jan. 11 and 12, McLeod was released from the team with no official explanation. McLeod said that she was called into the office of head coach Kerry Brodt-Wethington to discuss her work ethic in practice. Since this was not the first time that this topic had been brought up by her coach, McLeod listened and returned to the locker room to go about her business.
After she had finished doing her things in the locker room, McLeod headed home. After she left, somebody from the locker room went to Brodt-Wethington and said that McLeod had made negative comments about the coaches upon her return from the meeting with her coach.
McLeod was subsequently called at home to return to the coach’s office immediately. Once she arrived, she was told she was being released from the team due to her comments and her work ethic. The SCSU Athletic Media Relations department released a brief statement on the release.
“Fiona is no longer on the team and they considered it a team matter,” said Assistant Director of Media Relations Tom Nelson. “That was all they (the hockey office) were going to discuss on the matter.”
McLeod, on the other hand, was stunned. She vehemently denied ever saying anything about the coaches in the locker room and had other players back up her story, but it was to no avail. She even went to the players who heard her in the locker room and asked them if she said anything negative towards the coaches and they emphatically backed up her story. McLeod was officially told her reason of release was what she said about the coaches in the locker room and that was it.
“I talked to Morris Kurtz (SCSU’s Athletic Director) and he told me that I was released from the team because of my practicing,” said McLeod, who was named to the WCHA All-Star team prior to the season. “Why didn’t (Brodt-Wethington) cut me when I went into the meeting with her about my practicing?”
“Instead, she just sent me on my way and told me to do better tomorrow. She told the team they cut me because of my practicing yet she told me it was because of what I supposedly said about the coaches. I don’t actually know what the true reason for my release was since she is telling everybody different things.”
McLeod leaves the Huskies as their all-time leading scorer with 32 goals and 55 assists. She was part of the WCHA All-Star team and was named to the All-WCHA second team last year. Her departure has left many Husky players wondering what will happen next and the coach would only give brief comments on the situation.
“The whole team was shocked about Fiona’s departure,” said sophomore forward Roxy Stang. “We had a meeting with Brodt the day after and the meeting lasted quite a while. As a team though, we are sticking together and will do the best we can.”
To the players, the departure of their teammates leaves the team with less depth out on the ice.
“We really didn’t know ourselves why Fiona was released,” said senior captain Tara McNamara. “It seemed like a closed and shut case. Fiona was a very good player and very good teammate and it was hard to let her go. It was really hard for everyone on the team. We have to stop dwelling on everything that has happened and forget about what has happened in the past.”
“I just wish them the best of luck,” said Brodt-Wethington. “With Dana’s situation, she chose to go back to Calgary and pursue her interests and Fiona McLeod was just released from our team.”
Pretty and McLeod are not the first Husky players to have unceremonious departures from the team. At the conclusion of last season, Amanda Presenger and Briana Munyon were released from the team. Both players were blindsided by the revelation and it left them completely baffled.
Other players who have left the team since last year include Jennifer Jones, Rachel Denner, Bridget Davenport, Kristen Olson and Ricki-Lee Doyle.
“Fiona’s release shocked everyone,” said sophomore goaltender Ellen Brinkman. “I really have mixed feelings about her being gone. I miss her on the ice and in the locker room.”
According to the Athletic Department, players dropped off the team will still receive their scholarship money until the end of the season they were released.
“All of our scholarships are on a year by year basis,” Nelson said. “If an athlete decides to drop off a team or is removed from a team, our policy is to uphold that scholarship for the rest of the season. In our history, we have never had a situation where they did not honor a scholarship for the rest of the year.”
“Our policy is that student-athletes are here to get an education and that is our primary concern.”
Doyle moved and transferred to St. Lawrence, a team that last year finished second in the NCAA tournament to the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.
As a first-year player, Doyle led the Huskies in scoring with 26 goals and 36 assists. Doyle’s reason for leaving however had nothing to do with the SCSU women’s hockey program.
“I wanted to go to a better school where I could get into a pre-med program,” she said. “Sometimes things just don’t feel right either and I guess things just didn’t feel right (at SCSU).
“SCSU had a new program and I guess I didn’t want to be in a new program. There were a lot of growing pains and I didn’t want to deal with it. My experience at SCSU has really helped me develop and grow as a hockey player but I needed to move on.”
Brodt-Wethington has been building this program from scratch. She has been filling her team with the best players possible but with her recent actions, she may be creating some tension and paranoia in the locker room. Players feel they cannot discuss problems with the program or coaching because of fear of retribution.
According to some former and current players, many players and parents have talked with Kurtz and Associate Athletic Director Shawna Rawson about discontent and concerns they have with the program and coaching staff.
Kurtz says he is open to take comments from all his student athletes whenever they have concerns and that his coaches will be evaluated after the season.
“Everyone in our collective bargaining agreement and all our head coaches are on four year fixed term contracts and this is the fourth year of (Brodt-Wethington’s) contract,” he said. “All those coaches who are in the fourth year of their contract go through a procedure that we follow and that procedure will take place after the season is concluded.”
“According to the terms of our collective bargaining agreement, an evaluation will take place after the season. We will look at recruiting, retention of our student athletes, win/loss records and the academic performances.”
According to sources, there are other women currently on the team who may decide not to return to the team if the current coaches are in place next season.
Additionally, the players on the team will not comment or say anything about the coaching situation or the program in general because they fear they will fall out of favor and maybe fall victim to the same fate as these released players. While they also fear isolation and alienation from their fellow teammates.
“It’s over and done with and I am moving on, the team is moving on,” Brodt-Wethington said. “What is left is the past we can dwell on or we can move on. We have to move on.”
Matt Petermann can be reached at: [email protected]
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