After a season that was canceled midway through, Lake Region State College women’s hockey brings its largest roster in the young history of the program into the 2026-27 school year.
The Royals have 18 rostered players under first-year head coach Cole Klubek.
ACHA hockey at LRSC is about to enter its fourth season. Klubek will be the program’s fourth head coach, including interim coach Brady Stein, who briefly took over for Sawyer Diseth last year before the remaining games were canceled.
The roster on the school’s website listed only five players last season after a bulk of them transferred mid-school year. Of those five, just two — Nya Major and Stephanie Rosset — return.
Major and Rosset each appeared in 16 of the team’s 19 games last year; Rosset had five assists.
One of the players who transferred midseason, Jordyn Johnson, is back with the Royals. She played in 15 games for LRSC through Dec. 14, then transferred to Dakota College at Bottineau and appeared in 10 games for the Lumberjacks after Jan. 10.
Johnson had 12 points (five goals, seven assists) for LRSC and 11 points (two goals, nine assists) for Bottineau. Now she rejoins LRSC for her sophomore year.
The roster also has three sophomores who were on the Royals’ roster last season, but weren’t listed among the five remaining players after the cancellation of the season. That includes Devils Lake local Delaney Wagner, who had four assists, defender Mataya Hall, who had one goal and four assists, and Dylan Edd, who appeared in 14 games.
With those six sophomores back on the Royals, that makes 12 newcomers.
There are three North Dakotans in the recruiting class. One is Julia McIvor, who was an all-state defender for Devils Lake. McIvor scored nine goals and had two assists last year for the Firebirds.
The Royals also add Grand Forks Central’s Bitty Balek and Mandan’s Brenna Bauman. They faced off in the state quarterfinals last winter.
LRSC brings in three freshman goalies: Kearis Renard from Kenny Lake, Alaska; Avery Walker from Winnipeg, Manitoba; and Dakota Kottke from Lakeville, Minn.
Forward Amelia Warren is listed on the roster as originally being from Hawley, Texas, though LRSC noted in a news release that Warren joins the Royals from Alaska alongside Renard.
Defender Charley Young and forward Thelma YellowFly come to LRSC from Alberta, Canada.
Forwards Lexi Anderson (from Nebraska) and Alexa Desrochers (from Manitoba) round out the true-freshman recruiting class.
The Royals also bring in Maree West-Linnett from Port Melbourne, Australia. West-Linnett previously played for an ACHA Division I school, Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich., where she appeared in seven games during the 2024-25 season. She did not play ACHA hockey last season.
In total, there are nine forwards, six defenders and three goalies on this year’s roster.
The Royals went 5-8 last season according to their website. The ACHA website says they went 5-13 due to discrepancies over canceled vs. forfeited games. Either way, their season ended abruptly in early January.
Klubek was hired in March and has since reloaded the roster. With 18 total players, that’s twice the amount they had two years ago during the 2024-25 season.
Klubek and his wife, Brandi, also led a recent renovation project of the home locker room at Burdick Arena.
“Thanks to so many people at Lake Region State College and the city of Devils Lake, we were able to complete this massive project over the summer,” Klubek said in a news release. “An upgraded locker room was essential for this program to feel like they are part of the local community while having a comfortable space before, during and after their games.”
The 2026-27 season is set to begin at Burdick Arena on Oct. 9 against Dakota College at Bottineau.