PHF Purchased, Teams to Be Folded Into New PWHPA League

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Minnesota drafted forwards well...Defense...Maybe not so much. Hensley and Leveille is solid duo in net.

Boston may have drafted the best out of the six teams but who knows until they play.

[BowWowWow]

Here are the rosters so far, including free agent signings and draft picks:
(underlined players were signed in the initial free agency)

MIN
F: Kendall Coyne Schofield, Kelly Pannek, Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, Susanna Tapani, Clair DeGeorge, Denisa Krizova, Sophia Shaver, Michela Cava, Liz Schepers, Sydney Brodt (11 F)
D: Lee Stecklein, Maggie Flaherty, Natalie Buchbinder, Sidney Morin, Minttu Tuominen (5 D)
G: Nicole Hensley, Amanda Leveille (2 G)

TOR
F: Sarah Nurse, Blayre Turnbull, Emma Maltais, Natalie Spooner, Jesse Compher, Victoria Bach, Brittany Howard, Maggie Connors, Rebecca Leslie, Hannah Miller, Alexa Vasko (11 F)
D: Renata Fast, Jocelyne Larocque, Kali Flanagan, Allie Munroe, Mellissa Channell, Olivia Knowles (6 D)
G: Kristen Campbell (1 G)

BOS
F: Hilary Knight, Alina Muller, Jamie Lee Rattray, Loren Gabel, Hannah Brandt, Theresa Schafzahl, Taylor Girard, Sophie Shirley, Shiann Darkangelo, Tatum Skaggs (10 F)
D: Megan Keller, Sophie Jaques, Jessica DiGirolamo, Emily Brown, Emma Buckles, Jess Healey (6 D)
G: Aerin Frankel, Emma Soderberg (2 G)

NY
F: Alex Carpenter, Abby Roque, Jessie Eldridge, Chloe Aurard, Elizabeth Giguere, Jill Saulnier, Jade Downie-Landry, Paetyn Levis, Kayla Vespa, Emma Woods, Alexandra Labelle (11 F)
D: Micah Zandee-Hart, Ella Shelton, Jaime Bourbonnais, Brooke Hobson, Olivia Zafuto (5 D)
G: Corinne Schroeder, Abbey Levy (2 G)

OTT
F: Brianne Jenner, Emily Clark, Gabbie Hughes, Hayley Scamurra, Daryl Watts, Aneta Tejralova, Katerina Mrazova, Kristin Della Rovere, Lexie Adzija, Caitrin Lonergan, Audrey-Anne Veillette (11 F)
D: Savannah Harmon, Ashton Bell, Jincy Dunne, Zoe Boyd, Amanda Boulier (5 D)
G: Emerance Maschmeyer, Sandra Abstreiter (2 G)

MTL
F: Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, Kristin O’Neill, Maureen Murphy, Kennedy Marchment, Tereza Vanišova, Gabrielle David, Jillian Dempsey, Claire Dalton, Ann-Sophie Bettez, Lina Ljungblom (11 F)
D: Erin Ambrose, Dominika Laskova, Kati Tabin, Madison Bizal, Maude Poulin-Labelle (5 D)
G: Ann-Renee Desbiens, Elaine Chuli (2 G)

[Scott_TG]

Breakdown of schools with alumna who've played at least one season:

Wisconsin - 13

UMD - 11

OSU - 10

Clarkson - 9

Northeastern - 9

Minnesota - 8

Quinnipiac - 7

BC - 6

BU - 5

Cornell - 5

Harvard - 4

SLU - 4

Syracuse - 3

Colgate - 2

Lindenwood - 2

McGill [USports] - 2

UConn - 2

UND - 2

Univ. de Montreal [USports] - 2

UVM - 2

Bemidji State - 1

Maine - 1

Mercyhurst - 1

Merrimack - 1

MSU - 1

Princeton - 1

Providence - 1

RMU - 1

Yale - 1

[PuckLover]

Didn't see Dartmouth on your list, and Laura Stacey played four years there.

[Timothy A]

We should rank these teams based on their rosters......get your thinking caps on.

[Gargoyle]

Thanks, BowWowWow, for posting the PWHPA rosters. I was having trouble keeping up.

[BowWowWow]

A good interview with Toronto's signee Renata Fast, if you have ~20 mins to devote to it. Among other things, Fast talks about the team colors - she hopes they're blue and white - and the players drafted from Europe.

With a glance at eliteprospects pages, so far Toronto is the most Canadian team, as mentioned in the interview, and Minnesota the most American. Ottawa and Boston are pretty even, while New York is largely Canadian. Boston, MN, Montreal, and Ottawa each have 3 European draftees.

[BowWowWow]

We should rank these teams based on their rosters......get your thinking caps on.

So far, my unscientific ranking is:

1. Boston
They bring in Knight, Muller, Rattray, and Gabel and have great goaltending. With their draft strategy, they scored some players picked a little later than predicted, like Jaques, and they seemed especially confident in what they wanted.

2. Montreal
They have Poulin, Stacey, O'Neill, and nice defense including 2023 grad Poulin-Labelle. Also, I'm partial to them because of Yale 2023 grad Dalton - plus fellow NCAA grad draft picks David and Bizal. The goaltending looks amazing.

3. New York
Roque is such a great center, and they have D like Bourbonnais, a point-producing defender while at Cornell, and a lot of depth.

4. Toronto
Many Team Canada players are there, along with Compher, Connors, and others, and the D seems excellent. They still need another goalie and maybe more variety, given they've relied on Team Canada but couldn't draft the whole Canada team!

5. Minnesota
Coyne Schofield and Heise look to be terrific for MN. I'm unsure how their defense will shake out (except for Stecklein being in the top pairing)! They have two experienced goalies.

6. Ottawa
Though they did not generally get the biggest names in the draft, they said to press they were happy with their draft and it went according to plan. Jenner and Clark as free agents seem great. Will be cool to see the Czech players coached by MacLeod, there as well as on their national team.

As FiveHoleFrenzy says, of course, who's to say until they hit the ice and come together!

[BowWowWow]

Some colors are being shown for the 6 teams by their social media accounts. From sportslogos.net: "The account for the team from Boston showed green, Minnesota purple, Montreal dark red (or maroon), New York teal green, Ottawa red, and Toronto light blue." The colors that would complement these for the teams (like black, white... in Ottawa?) aren't clear yet.

The Boston color so far aligns with the Boston Celtics, and Minnesota somewhat the Vikings, though they're different purples and greens. Toronto's blue is lighter than for the Maple Leafs or Blue Jays, as well. Some identities are starting to form.

[Lindsay]

https://youtu.be/KvMcE8kR00g?si=Hq519N8ZZJo_VMKa


PWHL draft day video, about 10 minutes. Heise, Muller, Ambrose, Jaques featured.

[shelfit]

https://youtu.be/KvMcE8kR00g?si=Hq519N8ZZJo_VMKa


PWHL draft day video, about 10 minutes. Heise, Muller, Ambrose, Jaques featured.

Fantastic video. Best 13:35 of my day so far. I got choked up watching. This is an emotional moment for those of us who have been involved in our sport for so long. Let's hope the future continues to bring progress and growth at the professional level. I was never satisfied with having more than one group that tried professional women's hockey because it felt fractured instead of united. I hope this step will bring unity to our game at this level. If things go well, the hope is more teams in the future will give more professional opportunities for the best of the best to play and earn a living as pro hockey players, and that's what I want to see for the professional level. I don't want to see it being a half-assed pro league where the players have to have a day job to survive. Here's to the future! I wish this league and everyone involved nothing but good luck and success going forward!

[BowWowWow]

A great video, thanks! It's good that they included Ambrose alongside the drafted college players for the veteran perspective.

Also, I stumbled on the website of the PWHLPA, where (at the bottom) you can find the collective bargaining agreement. The PWHL recently announced, as well, that it formed the Respect Hockey Culture Center partnering with several other leagues. It will offer mental health care and a place "to report on incidents of bullying, abuse, harassment, and discrimination," according to its press release.

[BowWowWow]

The PWHL announced rosters for training camps: here's the PWHL release. Camp invites include Becca Gilmore (OTT), Lauriane Rougeau (TOR); from among PHF All-Stars, Mikyla Grant-Mentis (OTT), Madison Packer (NY), Kaleigh Fratkin (BOS), Leah Lum (MTL), Patti Marshall (MIN), and Saroya Tinker (OTT) - alongside Maddie Rooney (MIN), just a few that stood out! Hailey Salvian noted Ottawa's working on its offense in particular, and Toronto needs a backup goalie, possibly Carly Jackson.

This may turn out to be incorrect, but the American teams' home venues are said to be, according to The Hockey News:
- a venue either at BU (Walter Brown Arena) or in Lowell for Boston
- Xcel Energy Center for MN, with just a portion of the seats making that part more filled
- Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, CT for NY

[Scott_TG]

The PWHL announced rosters for training camps: here's the PWHL release. Camp invites include Becca Gilmore (OTT), Lauriane Rougeau (TOR); from among PHF All-Stars, Mikyla Grant-Mentis (OTT), Madison Packer (NY), Kaleigh Fratkin (BOS), Leah Lum (MTL), Patti Marshall (MIN), and Saroya Tinker (OTT) - alongside Maddie Rooney (MIN), just a few that stood out! Hailey Salvian noted Ottawa's working on its offense in particular, and Toronto needs a backup goalie, possibly Carly Jackson.

This may turn out to be incorrect, but the American teams' home venues are said to be, according to The Hockey News:
- a venue either at BU (Walter Brown Arena) or in Lowell for Boston
- Xcel Energy Center for MN, with just a portion of the seats making that part more filled
- Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, CT for NY

Bridgeport is not NY

[BowWowWow]

Bridgeport is not NY

Right, maybe they should be called the Tristate team, like Tristate Whale? Personally I'm excited they may be close to me (I live in New Haven).