2025-26 PWHL season

Puck drop is tonight! There are thirty games per team now through April 25.

With the expansion to 8 teams, I think the arguments about the expansion process favoring the two new teams (Seattle and Vancouver) have been a little overblown. Because they wanted to snag some stars like Carpenter, Knight, Nurse, et al., those teams then needed to keep their sights a little more limited in draft and free agency, because of the salary cap. We will see, though - perhaps they will dominate!

The league has existing women's hockey experience behind the new teams, including with Cara Gardner Morey going from Princeton coach to Vancouver GM and Brian Idalski going from St. Cloud State coach to Vancouver coach, for example; but the Seattle coach and new Boston coach have not coached women's hockey before. Courtney Kessel, past Boston coach, is back to the college coaching ranks as head coach at Princeton (and her Tigers just beat Quinnipiac in OT last night).

Here is a good article - LJ Bachenheimer retro jersey designs for PWHL teams - observing that the 8 PWHL teams do not yet have 3rd jerseys and that these could be dreamed up as homages to past women's hockey teams.

The author has made designs for the four Canadian teams and is going to create the designs for the four American teams in another article. It's especially interesting if you enjoy jersey design. She highlights teams from the 1910s and 1920s (the Ottawa Alerts), as well as from the first NWHL around 2000, the CWHL (including the Montréal Canadiennes and Toronto Furies), and the later NWHL/PHF (Toronto Six).

Bachenheimer mentions that in the CWHL Poulin and Knight were on the same team, the Canadiennes, for two seasons! That is something I don't think that they ever were later in the PWHPA (it looks like teams shuffled repeatedly for showcases in the 2019-20 year - I'm unsure of the details) or that they probably ever will be again.

The Alerts' jerseys are striking and are truly retro since they were playing over a century ago. It would also be interesting to learn more about the history of the Furies' and Canadiennes' jerseys. Their historical colors mainly align with the NHL teams, while I like Bachenheimer's designs with colors that are closer to the current PWHL teams.

Seattle Montreal about to start at 10 eastern on YouTube. Poulin vs Knight. Only if your Christmas tasks are done! Jk, f them tasks. Watch hockey

Pw had all 8 teams playing tonight, first time ever. I watched the Montreal Toronto game and the end of Ottawa Seattle.

Poulin and Knight both had goals. ARD heads into the Olympics with a shutout. Toronto with 6 team Canada players and team Canada head coach has lost 7!of its last 8 games if I heard correctly. Brianne Jenner and Emily Clark also had goals tonight, Jenner is really hot going into the Olympics. The Charge defeated the lackluster Seattle Torrent.

Great crowds and energy at both games I watched. PW has to feel good with where they are at heading into the month long break now until Feb 26. Hard to believe day 1 of Olympic women’s hockey games is in one week!

I went to my first professional hockey game ever tonight. Frost v Goldeneyes. It was so fun and I wish we had a team closer to Madison.

I caught the last period of the Siren's game with my daughter. We've adopted them as our favorite team. I'm a Rangers fan, so I have a soft spot for hockey in NY, but O'B, Wheeler and Webster (eventually) being there sealed the deal. What a great 3rd period of hockey. Once Fargo got Fillier, O'B and Kat together they were generating all sorts of chances and really bottling Bawstin up. Too bad they did not convert on the late and OT pp's. Bummer. I will say I had no idea in the shootouts you could use a shooter more than once. That REALLY got my juices flowing for the shootout (I hate shootouts). It added a level of cat and mouse that I found very enthralling. The NCAA needs to adopt that, super cool idea. I encourage everyone to get eyes on Muller's first shootout goal. I just don't recall seeing a move like that. Ever. Mind-blowing. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnYWQkASdO4

Timothy A said:

I encourage everyone to get eyes on Muller's first shootout goal. I just don't recall seeing a move like that. Ever. Mind-blowing. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hnYWQkASdO4

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Isn't it kind of the backhand/reverse version of JLam's goal in the 2018 Olympic gold shootout?

ARM said:

Isn't it kind of the backhand/reverse version of JLam's goal in the 2018 Olympic gold shootout?

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That was my thought. I thought it was JLams goal leveled up with 8 more years of development of the women’s game. Pretty fun

Timothy A said:

I will say I had no idea in the shootouts you could use a shooter more than once. That REALLY got my juices flowing for the shootout (I hate shootouts). It added a level of cat and mouse that I found very enthralling. The NCAA needs to adopt that, super cool idea.

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Is this true for the first three shooters? I believe the NHL lets you use shooters repeatedly, but only after the initial three (I know these are the IIHF rules), so that's why I'm asking.

Russell Jaslow said:

Is this true for the first three shooters? I believe the NHL lets you use shooters repeatedly, but only after the initial three (I know these are the IIHF rules), so that's why I'm asking.

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That is not the rule in the NHL, you have to go through the entire lineup before you can reuse.

In the PWHL you can use the same shooter all five times if you want. It wouldn't be smart, but you can.

eastcoastgopher said:

That is not the rule in the NHL, you have to go through the entire lineup before you can reuse.

In the PWHL you can use the same shooter all five times if you want. It wouldn't be smart, but you can.

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Maybe it would be smart. The shooter learns something from each pass. O'B scored on a snipe on the shootout, then on her 2nd shot sniped 5 hole which was open, but just missed it. The question I have is, can you switch goalies in a shootout?

ARM said:

Isn't it kind of the backhand/reverse version of JLam's goal in the 2018 Olympic gold shootout?

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Great memory. I had no recollection of that goal. I feel a little dirty liking something she did.

Timothy A said:

Maybe it would be smart. The shooter learns something from each pass. O'B scored on a snipe on the shootout, then on her 2nd shot sniped 5 hole which was open, but just missed it. The question I have is, can you switch goalies in a shootout?

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You can, and I've seen it happen in the NHL a couple times, but that was more when goalies didn't grow up practicing shootouts and some were straight-up uncomfortable.

I personally don't see an advantage in a goalie who has sat on the bench the whole game coming in for or during the shootout.

eastcoastgopher said:

You can, and I've seen it happen in the NHL a couple times, but that was more when goalies didn't grow up practicing shootouts and some were straight-up uncomfortable.

I personally don't see an advantage in a goalie who has sat on the bench the whole game coming in for or during the shootout.

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You have could goalie that is specifically an shootout goalie. They hone their craft just to stop those. Sure they can play anytime as a back-up or 3rd string, but practice is all about stopping the shootouts.

eastcoastgopher said:

That is not the rule in the NHL, you have to go through the entire lineup before you can reuse.

In the PWHL you can use the same shooter all five times if you want. It wouldn't be smart, but you can.

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Famously, TJ Oshie, five straight times in the 2014 Olympics. 4-for-6 overall, and 3-for-5 on his five straight attempts.

TinyViking said:

I went to my first professional hockey game ever tonight. Frost v Goldeneyes. It was so fun and I wish we had a team closer to Madison.

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Madison crowd should agitate for a
pw take over game. Seems like they could sell tickets for it. Not the same as having your own team of course. I see the women’s basketball league Unrivaled is doing something like a takeover tour. They had over 21k fans in Philly at a game!

Lindsay said:

Madison crowd should agitate for a
pw take over game. Seems like they could sell tickets for it. Not the same as having your own team of course. I see the women’s basketball league Unrivaled is doing something like a takeover tour. They had over 21k fans in Philly at a game!

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They could play at the Kohl Center once men's hockey & basketball was done, if the pwhl season goes that long. If it doesn't, there really wouldn't be window for them to do that with how much that building is used.

Timothy A said:

They could play at the Kohl Center once men's hockey & basketball was done, if the pwhl season goes that long. If it doesn't, there really wouldn't be window for them to do that with how much that building is used.

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They could maybe do it mid-week, with an early enough start time for kids to be out on a "school night".

robertearle said:

They could maybe do it mid-week, with an early enough start time for kids to be out on a "school night".

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Maybe when/if this Dane County Coliseum renovation occurs - we'll have the opportunity to lobby for a team.