Park Rapids’ Hannah Williams and Alex Pederson competed at the NCAA Division III level for two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s hockey teams this winter.
Williams concluded her junior season at Bethel University by playing in all 27 games on defense. Williams finished the season with three assists and 28 shots on goal with four blocked shots. Williams had an assist in a 1-1 tie with St. Mary’s on Nov. 14, an assist in a 3-1 win over Gustavus Adolphus on Feb. 12 and an assist in a 3-2 win over Gustavus on Feb. 13. Williams was a member of the Royals’ penalty-kill unit and power-play unit.
Bethel shared the MIAC regular-season title with St. Thomas with a 12-4-2 record for 26 points. That marked the Royals’ first MIAC title in school history.
Bethel, the No. 2 seed, defeated Augsburg 1-0 in overtime in the MIAC semifinals on Feb. 27 before being denied a trip to the NCAA Division III playoffs with a 2-1 loss to No. 1-seeded St. Thomas in the championship game on March 5. St. Thomas entered the NCAA playoffs rated No. 6 in the NCAA poll.
That loss ended Bethel’s season at 15-10-2.
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Pederson concluded her sophomore season as a forward for St. Catherine University with three goals and two assists for five points. Pederson played in all 25 games and had 37 shots on goal.
Pederson had an assist in a 4-2 loss to Augsburg on Nov. 14, tallied an assist in a 3-1 loss to Bethel on Dec. 3, scored a goal in a 1-1 tie with Superior on Jan. 8, scored a goal in a 2-1 loss to St. Thomas on Jan. 22 and scored an empty-net goal in a 3-1 win over St. Olaf on Jan. 30.
St. Catherine finished ninth in the MIAC standings with a 5-11-2 record for 12 points to miss the MIAC playoffs. St. Catherine went 6-14-5 overall.
