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PWHL Rosters & Season

Catherine Dubois (University of Montreal, 2020) scores on the power play to put Montreal up 2-1 at NY. Dubois was a reserve for Montreal and has signed a short-term player contract, due to some injuries on the roster.

Montreal has more possession and shots on net through 2 periods, despite a slow start.

NY comeback time?
 
Final scores:
Montreal 5 - New York 2, with a hat trick by Marie-Philip Poulin.
Minnesota 3 - Toronto 1, with two goals by Taylor Heise.
 
Here is a good long-form piece by sports writer Maitreyi Anantharaman ("The First CBA In Women’s Hockey Is A Picture Of The Future, And A Story Of The Past").

A scrapbook of quotes from the story:
- "It's peculiar, if not surprising, that women athletes so often must defend their employers. In women's sports, the best players in the world are conscripted as ambassadors. They work this second job for no pay. Their task is to plead two related but meaningfully different cases: that what they love to do can be a viable business, and that what they love to do must be done in a stableworking environment. In the interest of the first fight, it might seem reasonable to downplay the second."

- Brian Burke speaking as first executive director of the PWHLPA: '“Right now, we need to get along. But that's not always going to be the case. And I think the women know I'm perfectly prepared to fight when it's appropriate, and fight hard when it's appropriate.”​'
(PWHLPA player representatives by team, as voted on by their teams, are Hilary Knight, BOS; Jincy Roese, OTT; Natalie Spooner, TOR; Laura Stacey, MTL; Lee Stecklein, MIN; and Micah Zandee-Hart, NY).

- Meghann Burke, head of the National Women's Soccer League Players Association - after past abuses in the NWSL and now the NWSL's newest $240 million tv contract: '“When you look at broadcast ratings, attendance, sponsorship dollars, just general expansion, investment in NWSL, it took off after players spoke truth to power and were willing to build a league where players wanted to play.”'

- A "scouting report" on Abbey Murphy, via Hilary Knight: "Murphy made plays with her speed, and she was hard as nails. But she was also a player willing to learn from a humbling game. Hilary Knight looked into the future and, finally, the picture was clear. “She’s going to be lights-out when she gets here.”"

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Also, the videos of the PWHL on YouTube are currently unlisted, perhaps because of a rights issue; however, someone made a playlist of every game so far here.
 
Ottawa blasted Toronto 5-1 earlier this afternoon, though Natalie Spooner got the first goal Toronto has scored at home.

Now a good and chaotic game so far is going on with Boston at Montreal, still 0-0 in the 1st period. Liz Knox is doing color commentary!
 
Currently Jamie Lee Rattray (Clarkson grad/BOS) and Ashton Bell (UMD grad/OTT) lead the PWHL in points per game. Each has 3 assists in 2 games. Rattray looked amazing in Boston's 3-2 OT win at Montreal yesterday.

They're followed by Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle (of U of Minnesota/Minnesota).

Hailey Salvian of The Athletic posted a pic of Kelly Pannek and Taylor Heise entering the rink wearing Ohio State jerseys, with Heise smiling in sunglasses. Could this be a comment on the University of Minnesota's trouncing by Ohio State this weekend?!

Minnesota and NY take the ice at 4pm (ET)!
 
BowWowWow said:
Currently Jamie Lee Rattray (Clarkson grad/BOS) and Ashton Bell (UMD grad/OTT) lead the PWHL in points per game. Each has 3 assists in 2 games. Rattray looked amazing in Boston's 3-2 OT win at Montreal yesterday.

They're followed by Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle (of U of Minnesota/Minnesota).

Hailey Salvian of The Athletic posted a pic of Kelly Pannek and Taylor Heise entering the rink wearing Ohio State jerseys, with Heise smiling in sunglasses. Could this be a comment on the University of Minnesota's trouncing by Ohio State this weekend?!

Minnesota and NY take the ice at 4pm (ET)!
Click to expand...

Clearly photoshopped. You Buckeye fans are shameless!
 
Montreal 3 - NY 2 final. New York comes back from a 2-0 deficit, tying it 2-2 early in the 3rd period. Then Marie-Philip Poulin scores the eventual game-winner with 6 minutes left in the 3rd, in front of a loud and boisterous crowd at Place Bell, Laval, QC. (Attendance: 6334)
 
Home teams are losing, again, in some close games: Boston 3 at Toronto 2; and Minnesota 3 at Ottawa 2 (OT), on an OT goal by Susanna Tapani. Loren Gabel had 2 sweet goals for Boston, adding to Toronto's woes.

Through 13 games, the road team has won 10 times (or 76.9%).
 
Now road teams have won 12 out of 15 games.

Tonight was an exciting first meeting between Toronto and Montreal at Verdun Auditorium. Montreal had the lead or was tied most of the game. Toronto had more shots on goal and kept neck-and-neck. Toronto went up 3-2 late in the 3rd. Then Marie-Philip Poulin tied it with 17 seconds left after stick-handling around several players. Montreal had a power play in OT yet couldn't convert, and it went to a shootout. Poulin shot four times - since players can shoot as often as the team wants in the shootout - and she scored once in the shootout. Toronto won the shootout in Round 6 on a goal by defender Lauriane Rougeau (Cornell '13, Beaconsville, QC). Earlier today, New York won 4-1 at Boston despite being outshot; Jade Downie-Landry had a hat trick.

Current standings:
1. Minnesota - 5GP - 12 PTS
2. Montreal - 6GP - 10 PTS
3. New York - 6GP - 8 PTS
4 (tie). Ottawa - 3GP - 5 PTS
4 (tie). Boston - 4GP - 5 PTS
4 (tie). Toronto - 6GP - 5 PTS

Points leaders:
Alex Carpenter (NY), 6GP, 3-5-8
Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL), 6GP, 6-1-7
Ella Shelton (NY), 6GP, 2-5-7
Grace Zumwinkle (MIN), 5GP, 5-1-6
Jessie Eldridge (NY), 6GP, 4-2-6

Save % leaders:
Corinne Schroeder (NY), 4GP, 0.949
Nicole Hensley (MIN), 3GP, 0.946
Maddie Rooney (MIN), 2GP, 0.943
Elaine Chuli (MTL), 1GP, 0.938
Ann-Renee Desbiens (MTL), 5GP, 0.915
 
I don't like the idea of if you get a SHG that you get your player out of the box. Hockey can be an offensively challenged sport at times and removing a team's advantage on the PP doesn't add any offensive juice to the game.

If they want to try something interesting that may help offense, how about not blowing a whistle for a puck that get deflected into the netting? Play just continues on. Less whistles equals better flow and there's nothing like a long period of time w/o whistles.
 
For me, an issue with the short-handed-goal rule is that it isn't totally logical. If you get one advantage so to speak (the SHG), then the rule also gives you another advantage (ending the penalty kill). It does lead to interesting shifts in momentum.
 
Schedule for the 1st half of February (chart from Wikipedia):
February 312:00Minnesota–Toronto
February 41:00New York–Ottawa
3:30Montreal–Boston
February 147:00Toronto–Boston
8:00Ottawa–Minnesota
February 167:00Montreal–Toronto

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[TD="align: left"]Played at Scotiabank Arena [/TD]

On Thurs Feb. 1, there will be a 3-on-3 Showcase with players from all PWHL teams combined into two 12-player teams. That's part of NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto.
On Feb. 7, 9, and 11, the USA and Canada will play the final three stops of the Rivalry Series.
From Feb. 7 to Feb. 11, Czechia will host the Euro Hockey Tour Finals in Liberec; other nations playing there are Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Today, Minnesota beat NY 2-1 in OT. Attendance was 2393 in Bridgeport. The attendance has stayed steady or gone up for each of the venues. Montreal at Toronto, at Scotiabank Arena, has the chance to set another record for pro women's hockey (if more than ~13,300 fans attend). Recently Ottawa at Montreal broke the record within Canada, with 8646 attending.

Points leaders (from thepwhl.com):
Alex Carpenter (NY), 8GP, 3-6-9
Alina Muller (BOS), 6GP, 2-7-9 (wow, 1.5 point/game!)
Grace Zumwinkle (MIN), 8GP, 6-2-8
Ella Shelton (NY), 8GP, 3-5-8 (as a defender; key on NY's power play)

Save % leaders (from thepwhl.com):
Elaine Chuli (MTL), 2GP, 0.962
Nicole Hensley (MIN), 5GP, 0.948
Corinne Schroeder (NY), 5GP, 0.946
Ann-Renee Desbiens (MTL), 6GP, 0.930
Aerin Frankel (BOS), 4GP, 0.925

The standings are pretty bunched together, with Montreal and Minnesota pulling ahead.
 
The PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase at the NHL All-Star Weekend starts this evening at 8 eastern. It's streaming on YouTube from the NHL and on espn+. Here's more info on the two showcase teams of 12 players, selected a couple months ago by the PWHL. Their head coaches are Cassie Campbell-Pascal and Meghan Duggan, while celebrity coaches are figure skater Tessa Virtue and basketballer Jonquel Jones. (Enjoying the multi-sport crossover there.) And here are notes from the NHL.
 
BowWowWow said:
The PWHL 3-on-3 Showcase at the NHL All-Star Weekend
Click to expand...

That was lots of fun, thanks. The women's remarkable journey has surprised many (glad Team King won)! Just sorry that pre-game they had clips to remind (reassure?) us that the women's game could be physical - - - fisticuffs were not the point of going pro.
A very entertaining show, complete with some hilarious goalie play.
 
buzzardsbay said:
That was lots of fun, thanks. The women's remarkable journey has surprised many (glad Team King won)! Just sorry that pre-game they had clips to remind (reassure?) us that the women's game could be physical - - - fisticuffs were not the point of going pro.
A very entertaining show, complete with some hilarious goalie play.
Click to expand...

yea physical and fisticuffs are 2 different things. The constant scrums after a goalie makes a save and a whistle are a bit over the top, and seem a little unnecessary usually.

as for physicality during game play I wonder if that partially contributes to the games being low scoring thus far.
 
Has anyone else noticed the refs letting more go at the collegiate level in the wake of the new league and their more relaxed officiating? Seems like things have loosened up in the last month or so in the games I watch...
 
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The PWHL has announced two neutral-site games in mid-March:
PWHL in the Motor City, Ottawa vs Boston, Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, 6PM Sat Mar 16;
and PWHL in the Steel City, Montreal vs Toronto, PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, 12:30PM Sun Mar 17!

To Scott_TG's point, I'm not sure whether some increased physicality in college games has been happening the whole season or the past couple years or if, as Scott suggests, it is more specific to games after the PWHL started. The PWHL has begun calling Bodychecking penalties, which weren't called the first couple weeks, and they may be trying to be more careful to control the physicality.
 
BowWowWow said:
The PWHL has announced two neutral-site games in mid-March:
PWHL in the Motor City, Ottawa vs Boston, Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, 6PM Sat Mar 16;
and PWHL in the Steel City, Montreal vs Toronto, PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, 12:30PM Sun Mar 17!

To Scott_TG's point, I'm not sure whether some increased physicality in college games has been happening the whole season or the past couple years or if, as Scott suggests, it is more specific to games after the PWHL started. The PWHL has begun calling Bodychecking penalties, which weren't called the first couple weeks, and they may be trying to be more careful to control the physicality.
Click to expand...

Very exciting. The Battle on Bay Street apparently sold out in minutes, so I’m curious to see how this goes.

a few years ago, 2019 I think, I went to a rivalry series game in Detroit, lower bowl was pretty full but not sold out. Tickets were CHEAP. Let’s see how things have changed.

hockeywise what I remember is USA getting shut out, come on! And Hailey Krzyzaniak tossing Hilary Knight on the ice in the crease after a whistle. In those days it was a penalty, in the PW? Who knows.
 
Watching the 5th Rivalry Series game and I'm struck by the fact that with most PWHL games being so good now, that like with NHL players in all international games, this game is more disjointed as the players miss their regular line mate's. Seems slower and less exciting when in the past these US v. Can games were the games we must looked forward to. The PWHL has made a huge difference.
 
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