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PWHL Rosters & Season
- Thread starter BowWowWow
- Start date
Year two of the PWHL and the next several years for Can and the US International play there will be significant change. The Hockey News has been running a series of articles on what is coming. Internationally for the US and Can, the women graduating this year and the next several years from D-1 schools will decidedly favor the US. We'll see this in the upcoming Worlds in April. For the most part down to this coming fall's incoming college class which includes the U-18 Canadian girls who lost but were clearly the best team at that level this year with some amazing generational talent. So both Can and US will change internationally to accommodate the new grads, and some of the great players in the PWHL and in this Rivalry Series will be impacted negatively by this influx of new talent. Secondly, this year's PWHL draft will be smaller but loaded with talent which will change the face of many PWHL teams as European players in addition to the great graduating D-1 class will start to drift in our direction too given the initial popularity of the PWHL. This will put pressure on the PWHL regarding what to do with the overflow of really good talent. It may force them to add more teams to handle this talent or lose them to the European and Chinese pro leagues. I'm guessing they may expand earlier than planned to accommodate this great pool of talent but who knows. If they expand, Sweden, Europe and China could become the AHL for the PWHL. if not, just a competing pro league vying for the best talent and salaries will increase accordingly. Also not decided is what to do with really talented girls coming up who don't want to play college but go straight to the pros. There are a number of European girls who fit this scenario. Age limits, etc. will need to be decided on but I would guess that is coming soon as well.
Net/net, the caliber of hockey we will be seeing in the PWHL and internationally will continue to rise for the next several years at least as the game gets closer to the men's game in speed and talent. It will be a ball to watch and I am betting the PWHL will be at 8-10 teams sooner than later. Fingers crossed.
Net/net, the caliber of hockey we will be seeing in the PWHL and internationally will continue to rise for the next several years at least as the game gets closer to the men's game in speed and talent. It will be a ball to watch and I am betting the PWHL will be at 8-10 teams sooner than later. Fingers crossed.
Old timer thanks so much for sharing your thoughts here!
On Laura Stacey - going into the 2018 Olympics I asked who is one to watch of the newcomers. I believe it was Blackbeard who said Stacey. Took her a while but her development has been WOW! Many factors but obviously something is clicking with her. Has been on some sort of ascent that was visible at the 2022 Olympics and hasn’t stopped.
As for the Pw in the future, there is simply something happening in women’s sport and the public’s interest. Thank God the PW is happening, it would have been awful to see the continued ascent of women’s sport in terms of visibility and having hockey sit out.
I know the interest is fractional compared to mens sports and others sports. I know speed is very different from men. But there is now generations(plural) of people who see value in putting their money into women’s sport and the reasons are numerous. I just bought tix for Pittsburgh… both so my daughter can be in that healthy environment, and for ME, from the generation who grew up when this stuff wasn’t around and will never get over it. It really is fun, impactful, important, special, you name it.
im not beating up on OSU when I say this, it is what it is, but the venue they may host an NCAA quarter final in (if they finish the season as they’d like to) probably can’t even hold all the little girls and their families that would like to watch at this point. They are selling out vs Bemidji in reg season play…Let alone what it will be like for a NCAA game when you add in the college kids, the players families, the band, the oppositions supporters, the VIPs…. Women’s hockey really is in a new era it seems. Great stuff.
On Laura Stacey - going into the 2018 Olympics I asked who is one to watch of the newcomers. I believe it was Blackbeard who said Stacey. Took her a while but her development has been WOW! Many factors but obviously something is clicking with her. Has been on some sort of ascent that was visible at the 2022 Olympics and hasn’t stopped.
As for the Pw in the future, there is simply something happening in women’s sport and the public’s interest. Thank God the PW is happening, it would have been awful to see the continued ascent of women’s sport in terms of visibility and having hockey sit out.
I know the interest is fractional compared to mens sports and others sports. I know speed is very different from men. But there is now generations(plural) of people who see value in putting their money into women’s sport and the reasons are numerous. I just bought tix for Pittsburgh… both so my daughter can be in that healthy environment, and for ME, from the generation who grew up when this stuff wasn’t around and will never get over it. It really is fun, impactful, important, special, you name it.
im not beating up on OSU when I say this, it is what it is, but the venue they may host an NCAA quarter final in (if they finish the season as they’d like to) probably can’t even hold all the little girls and their families that would like to watch at this point. They are selling out vs Bemidji in reg season play…Let alone what it will be like for a NCAA game when you add in the college kids, the players families, the band, the oppositions supporters, the VIPs…. Women’s hockey really is in a new era it seems. Great stuff.
The emotion of Emily clark after her goal in her home province. So great! Canada thrives going hard to the net. Can tell USA is trying to move the puck around and get quality chances but some uncharacteristic misses on the resulting opportunities.
2-0 Canada with nine minutes to go in the third.
I haven't watched the games this week, which I'm disappointed about! I do think the PWHL commentators were suggesting that Canada might do better in the Feb games. They have more depth than USA in their professional players and fewer college players to be missing with no college players available.
But looking ahead to Worlds, Canada still probably needs to feature more college players on their roster! They got some good point production from the college players like Danielle Serdachny and Anne Cherkowski in the earlier parts of the Rivalry Series.
But looking ahead to Worlds, Canada still probably needs to feature more college players on their roster! They got some good point production from the college players like Danielle Serdachny and Anne Cherkowski in the earlier parts of the Rivalry Series.
Canada up 6-1 at Xcel Energy Center, with half the 3rd period gone, per a live score from Hockey Canada. Abbey Levy has been worked into some of the game in net for the US. Goals for Canada so far: Natalie Spooner (x2), MPP, Ashton Bell, and Emma Maltais (x2); for the US: Grace Zumwinkle.
Looks like a reverse sweep on its way in the series.
Looks like a reverse sweep on its way in the series.
For tonight's game at Scotiabank Arena, with Toronto hosting Montreal, a capacity crowd of about 18,819 is expected. It is the Battle on Bay Street, a game away from Toronto's small regular home rink. This is set to be the biggest-ever crowd for a women's hockey game. The next largest is 18,014 at World Championships in Ottawa in 2013. That was a Canada-Finland game at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa (an 8-0 Canada win). The records for Olympic, NCAA, or Rivalry Series games are not as high.
Exciting stuff!
Exciting stuff!
Attendance at yesterday's Toronto-Montreal game was 19,285 - the new record for a women's ice hockey game! Tickets had sold out within minutes of going on general sale. And per The Athletic Montreal would like to host a game at Bell Centre to try to break that record too. Bell Centre has a hockey capacity of 21,105.
Last night, Toronto won 3-0, all goals coming in the 3rd period, Hannah Miller getting an assist and goal, and Jesse Compher and Victoria Bach scoring their first PWHL goals. (Game sheet)
Amy Scheer, the PWHL's SVP for Business Operations, said of the game and league, “It almost seems surreal. And I think there’s just so much joy that people have taken to our league and our teams, and you just feel an enormous sense of pride and disbelief all at the same time.”
For PWHL Minnesota, Sophie Jaques was recently traded from Boston and is playing well on the top D pair with Lee Stecklein. A podcast from The Ice Garden points out that Minnesota now has the past 2 Patty Kazmaier winners, Heise and Jaques. Heise unfortunately has an upper-body injury from a Rivalry Series game and has been "day-to-day" per the broadcasters.
Minnesota plays at Ottawa this afternoon at 2PM ET, after they won vs Ottawa 2-1 on Valentine's Day. (Also on Valentine's Day, Natalie Spooner lifted Toronto 5-3 over Boston with a hat trick.)
At 4PM ET today, Boston hosts NY. Susanna Tapani and Abby Cook were traded to Boston for Jaques. Boston has slotted Tapani in but hasn't dressed Cook for a game yet.
Last night, Toronto won 3-0, all goals coming in the 3rd period, Hannah Miller getting an assist and goal, and Jesse Compher and Victoria Bach scoring their first PWHL goals. (Game sheet)
Amy Scheer, the PWHL's SVP for Business Operations, said of the game and league, “It almost seems surreal. And I think there’s just so much joy that people have taken to our league and our teams, and you just feel an enormous sense of pride and disbelief all at the same time.”
For PWHL Minnesota, Sophie Jaques was recently traded from Boston and is playing well on the top D pair with Lee Stecklein. A podcast from The Ice Garden points out that Minnesota now has the past 2 Patty Kazmaier winners, Heise and Jaques. Heise unfortunately has an upper-body injury from a Rivalry Series game and has been "day-to-day" per the broadcasters.
Minnesota plays at Ottawa this afternoon at 2PM ET, after they won vs Ottawa 2-1 on Valentine's Day. (Also on Valentine's Day, Natalie Spooner lifted Toronto 5-3 over Boston with a hat trick.)
At 4PM ET today, Boston hosts NY. Susanna Tapani and Abby Cook were traded to Boston for Jaques. Boston has slotted Tapani in but hasn't dressed Cook for a game yet.
Russell Jaslow
Registered User
A Toronto fan on Twitter then posted, "Fine do that. Then we'll put the next game in the SkyDome."
A Toronto fan on Twitter then posted, "Fine do that. Then we'll put the next game in the SkyDome."
If these attendance numbers continue, and they should based on the on-ice performance, you can bet that expansion plans will get sped up. I have watched a majority of the games online, and have been impressed by how good these players are. It is great to see so many good players who I had only seen statistics about when they were in college.
The PWHL has announced online its 2024 draft process. Prospective players can declare for the draft from March 1 to May 8. The draft will be in June and have 7 rounds for 42 players drafted. There will be free agency for returning players and players who declared for the draft but weren't drafted, and free agency starts June 21. The draft is open to any prospective players - including both those who played in college this season and those who played outside North America.
The league also had an average attendance of 5,109 in the first half of the regular season, according to Hailey Salvian.
The league also had an average attendance of 5,109 in the first half of the regular season, according to Hailey Salvian.
BadgerPete
Active member
A couple of reports said that there were GMs that thought there were 30 players who could make teams next year.
First, that means that there is at least a full roster of current PWHL players who wouldn't have a spot, so expansion definitely has to be on the table since going to 8 would be a no-brainer with this talent pool.
Second, it started me thinking of who in this class has a good roster shot. Here was my brainstorm of current NCAA players who might be in the 30. (Asterisks are people who could use a COVID year and defer to the 2025 draft, even though a couple like Wilgren and O'Brien have been heard to be leaving.) This is by no means a comprehensive list and is not in any order in terms of rankings.
Forwards - Sarah Fillier, Danielle Serdachny, Britta Curl, Casey O'Brien*, Maddi Wheeler, Hannah Bilka, Jenn Gardiner, Jenna Buglioni, Makenna Webster*, Reece Hunt, Klara Hymlarova, Kristyna Kaltounkova*, Dara Greig*, Izzy Daniel, Dominique Petrie, Sadie Peart, Julia Gosling, Ida Kuoppala
Defense - Cayla Barnes, Stephanie Murkowski, Anna Wilgren*, Chayla Edwards, Madeline Wethington, Allyson Simpson, Sydney Bard, Alexie Guay, Nicole Gosling*, Kate Reilly, Kendall Cooper*, Mae Batherson
Goalie - Gwenyth Phillips, Raygan Kirk, Kayle Osborne*, Jojo Chobak*, Amanda Thiele, Sanni Ahola*
That's 35 names just from the NCAA, and no international players. And particularly at positions like goaltender where each team has two superstars already, there's just zero room for any of these players without expansion.
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That sounds like a good list, thanks! Dara Greig also is out of eligibility, so is one of the players more likely to enter the draft. Yes, I agree expansion is needed. Currently there are about 158 players in the league. I imagine that a lot of players either from college or even this year's PWHL will go to play in Europe this coming year, in the absence of PWHL expansion. I also read that Liz Knox had recently said that the PWHLPA was talking about making some changes such as possibly expanding rosters - or reserves, beyond the current 3 reserve players.
Other players I can imagine playing in Europe or the PWHL down the line: Peyton Anderson (F, Northeastern), Elle Hartje (F, Yale), Megan Carter (D, Northeastern).
Also, the PWHL has announced how draft order will be assigned. When each of the lowest two teams is out of contention for playoffs, a tally will start counting how many points they earn after that time, and the team that earns the most points after that (either the 5th or 6th team in the league) will get the 1st draft pick. The 2nd pick will go to the other team out of playoffs, and then picks 3, 4, 5, and 6 will go respectively to the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st teams. Teams can trade draft picks after the season is over. As another detail, in the playoffs, the top seed will get to pick which team they play between the 3rd and 4th seed.
Here are current draft rankings -
https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/pwhl-draft-rankings-top-36-coming-into-view - from The Hockey News and PWHL Report - best to take the draft order with a grain of salt!
I may have been over-eager about picking Anderson, who's not on their list or BadgerPete's, in view of her stats. Someone very good with one more year of eligibility who might be getting overlooked is Anna Segedi (F, SLU).
https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/pwhl-draft-rankings-top-36-coming-into-view - from The Hockey News and PWHL Report - best to take the draft order with a grain of salt!
I may have been over-eager about picking Anderson, who's not on their list or BadgerPete's, in view of her stats. Someone very good with one more year of eligibility who might be getting overlooked is Anna Segedi (F, SLU).
Here's an article highlighting forwards with defensive upside, in The Hockey News - PWHL Draft: Will We See The Rise Of The Role Player? It includes Klara Hymlarova (St. Cloud State), Emmy Fecteau (Concordia, USports), Lauren Bellefontaine (MoDo, SDHL), Peyton Anderson (Northeastern), Elle Hartje (Yale), and Dara Greig (Colgate). Also mentions interestingly that we probably won't see coming to the league yet Natalie Mlynkova (Vermont - who could take a 5th year someplace), Sara Hjalmarsson (Linkoping, SDHL), or Anne Cherkowski (Clarkson - also eligible for one more year).
Molson has sponsored the pwhl. Extremely cool except their name is now getting more tv shots than the players names. Not sure if this is intentional or not but it feels a little cringey. Greatest player in the world Poulin who does a jersey tuck and has a short, side ponytail… Poulin name is not visible but Molson script is. Do you think it will last past this year?
I heard that it is only for today, as part of International Women's Day. I haven't gotten to watch today's game - and am sorry to hear that the tv shots are showing Molson more than the names! Moving the name below the number, and putting Molson at the top, didn't sound like a great idea.
Ahh if it’s only for today it’s nbd. A ponytail or braid covering part of a name never bothered me, but I know not all agree.