Kyrkkö Earns Second WCHA Goaltender of the Week Honors of 2025-26

Emilia Kyrkkö @ Minnesota Duluth 1-17-26

Photo by: Clint Austin/Duluth News Tribune

Kyrkkö Earns Second WCHA Goaltender of the Week Honors of 2025-26

1/19/2026 2:01:00 PM | Women's Hockey

Sophomore netminder posted .950 save percentage, 1.92 goals against average in 1-0-1 weekend at No. 8 Minnesota Duluth

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – St. Cloud State Women's Hockey sophomore goaltender Emilia Kyrkkö (Nokia, Finland) was named Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Goaltender of the Week, as announced by the league office on Monday. Kyrkkö was solid in net, posting a .950 save percentage and 1.92 goals against average in the Huskies 1-0-1 (shootout win) weekend at No. 8 Minnesota Duluth.

The weekly honor is her second of the season (Goaltender of the Week on Dec. 1) and fifth of her career after being named Goaltender of the Week twice (10/7/24, 10/28/24) and Rookie of the Week once (10/21/24) last season as a freshman.

Kyrkkö is the second Husky to win multiple weekly honors from the conference after freshman forward Maria Mikaelyan (Moscow, Russia), who was named WCHA Rookie of the Week on Oct. 13 and Dec. 8. The Huskies have won all four conference weekly honors (forward, defender, goaltender and rookie) at least once. In addition to Kyrkkö and Mikaelyan, junior forward Alice Sauriol (Sherbrooke, Quebec) was named Forward of the Week on Oct. 20 and sophomore defender Siiri Yrjölä (Vantaa, Finland), was named Defender of the Week on Sept. 22.

The Nokia, Finland native made 39 saves (.951 save percentage), including seven in overtime in Friday's 2-2 tie (shootout win) at No. 8 Minnesota Duluth and was named the No. 1 star for her efforts. It was her second game of the season with 39+ saves. In Saturday's 5-2 win, she saved 37 shots (.949 save percentage) and was named the game's No. 3 star. It was her second consecutive game making 37+ saves and the third game this season.

For the weekend, she led the WCHA in saves (76) and saves/game (38.0) while ranking second (first among goalies who played two games) in save percentage (.950) and fourth (second among goalies who played two games) in
goals against average (1.92).

SCSU went 1-0-1 in its games in Duluth at AMSOIL Arena over the weekend. The Huskies tied UMD, 2-2 on Friday and won the shootout 1-0 for the extra WCHA point before beating the Bulldogs 5-2 on Saturday. The win was the Huskies first over Minnesota Duluth since December 9, 2023, and the first against the Bulldogs at AMSOIL Arena since February 9, 2019.

The Huskies face off against No. 3 Minnesota (20-4-0, 14-4-0 WCHA) in a home-and-home series next weekend. Friday's game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center and the series finale is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. Links to each coverage option can be found on the SCSU Women's Hockey game day central or schedule page.

WCHA Release

Emilia Kyrkkö's Career WCHA Monthly/Weekly Honors
1x Rookie of the Month