With nine goals for the PWHL's Ottawa Charge so far, Czech forward Tereza Vanisova (#21) hopes to carry her torrid pace over to the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship in Ceske Budejovice.
photo: PHOTO: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDREA CARDIN
What a difference a year makes.
In 2024, it quickly became apparent that Natalie Spooner would lead the PWHL’s inaugural 24-game season in goals. The Toronto Sceptres power forward – a two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship winner with Canada – racked up 12 goals in her first 10 games and finished with 20 goals. That left Spooner nine goals ahead of her nearest competitors, fellow Canadian Sarah Nurse (Toronto) and American ace Grace Zumwinkle (Minnesota Frost).
This year, the goal-scoring race is still wide open. And the intrigue is building.
There is less than a month to go until the PWHL’s international break for players to join their national teams at the 2025 Women’s Worlds (9 to 20 April). Keeping tabs on who’s got the hottest hands in the top North American pro league provides some tantalizing hints about who might light the red lamp in the host city of Ceske Budejovice, Czechia.
Spooner, unfortunately, has not had a real chance to defend her goal-scoring crown. The 34-year-old missed the Sceptres’ first 15 games of 2024-25 (an expanded 30-game slate) while recovering from an ACL injury.
Unsurprisingly, her longtime Canadian teammate Marie-Philip Poulin, who captains the league-leading Montreal Victoire, has stepped up to pace the PWHL with 12 goals prior to action on 4 March. “Captain Clutch” – the only player ever to score in four Olympic gold medal games – caught fire in late January, tallying five goals in three games.
In second place with 10 goals is Hannah Miller, who also leads the points race (22). The 29-year-old Miller, who hails from North Vancouver, is among the PWHL’s unexpected breakout stories this year. However, she will not play in Ceske Budejovice, having last represented China at the 2022 Beijing Olympics under the name of Le Mi. (The Chinese were relegated to Division I last year.)
If Tereza Vanisova gets on pace to win the PWHL goal-scoring title, that could provide a spark of inspiration for the host Czechs at the Women’s Worlds. She currently ranks third with nine goals. The speedy Strakonice native – who owns a 2023 WW bronze medal, as well as three titles from the defunct Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) – endured an eight-game goal drought earlier this season with the Ottawa Charge. But Vanisova has looked fired-up since notching a hat trick in an 8-3 romp over Minnesota on 13 February.
A full-fledged wolf pack is right behind these top three goal-scorers. Five players are tied for fourth place with eight goals apiece.
That includes three certified American legends: Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, Boston Fleet captain Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter of the New York Sirens. The crafty Carpenter was sidelined for more than two weeks with an upper-body injury. She might need to go on a big tear – alongside Canadian star Sarah Fillier – to salvage the last-place Sirens’ slim playoff hopes.
Also noteworthy in that group is Finland’s Susanna Tapani. The 32-year-old Boston puckhandling whiz, like Vanisova, has a shot at becoming the first European ever to lead the PWHL in goals.
In Women’s Worlds history, the single-tournament record of 11 goals was set by the U.S.’s Cindy Curley and Canada’s Angela James in Ottawa in 1990. As the level of competition has risen, it’s gotten harder to challenge that record. But if anyone can do it, it’s probably one of the aforementioned snipers. In recent memory, Knight came closest with the 2023 American gold-medal team in Brampton, finishing with eight goals.
After the 2025 Women’s Worlds, there will be a week’s worth of PWHL regular-season games left to play. The goal-scoring champ will not be officially confirmed until the final day (3 May), when Minnesota visits Boston and Ottawa visits Toronto.
In 2024, it quickly became apparent that Natalie Spooner would lead the PWHL’s inaugural 24-game season in goals. The Toronto Sceptres power forward – a two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship winner with Canada – racked up 12 goals in her first 10 games and finished with 20 goals. That left Spooner nine goals ahead of her nearest competitors, fellow Canadian Sarah Nurse (Toronto) and American ace Grace Zumwinkle (Minnesota Frost).
This year, the goal-scoring race is still wide open. And the intrigue is building.
There is less than a month to go until the PWHL’s international break for players to join their national teams at the 2025 Women’s Worlds (9 to 20 April). Keeping tabs on who’s got the hottest hands in the top North American pro league provides some tantalizing hints about who might light the red lamp in the host city of Ceske Budejovice, Czechia.
Spooner, unfortunately, has not had a real chance to defend her goal-scoring crown. The 34-year-old missed the Sceptres’ first 15 games of 2024-25 (an expanded 30-game slate) while recovering from an ACL injury.
Unsurprisingly, her longtime Canadian teammate Marie-Philip Poulin, who captains the league-leading Montreal Victoire, has stepped up to pace the PWHL with 12 goals prior to action on 4 March. “Captain Clutch” – the only player ever to score in four Olympic gold medal games – caught fire in late January, tallying five goals in three games.
In second place with 10 goals is Hannah Miller, who also leads the points race (22). The 29-year-old Miller, who hails from North Vancouver, is among the PWHL’s unexpected breakout stories this year. However, she will not play in Ceske Budejovice, having last represented China at the 2022 Beijing Olympics under the name of Le Mi. (The Chinese were relegated to Division I last year.)
If Tereza Vanisova gets on pace to win the PWHL goal-scoring title, that could provide a spark of inspiration for the host Czechs at the Women’s Worlds. She currently ranks third with nine goals. The speedy Strakonice native – who owns a 2023 WW bronze medal, as well as three titles from the defunct Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) – endured an eight-game goal drought earlier this season with the Ottawa Charge. But Vanisova has looked fired-up since notching a hat trick in an 8-3 romp over Minnesota on 13 February.
A full-fledged wolf pack is right behind these top three goal-scorers. Five players are tied for fourth place with eight goals apiece.
That includes three certified American legends: Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, Boston Fleet captain Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter of the New York Sirens. The crafty Carpenter was sidelined for more than two weeks with an upper-body injury. She might need to go on a big tear – alongside Canadian star Sarah Fillier – to salvage the last-place Sirens’ slim playoff hopes.
Also noteworthy in that group is Finland’s Susanna Tapani. The 32-year-old Boston puckhandling whiz, like Vanisova, has a shot at becoming the first European ever to lead the PWHL in goals.
In Women’s Worlds history, the single-tournament record of 11 goals was set by the U.S.’s Cindy Curley and Canada’s Angela James in Ottawa in 1990. As the level of competition has risen, it’s gotten harder to challenge that record. But if anyone can do it, it’s probably one of the aforementioned snipers. In recent memory, Knight came closest with the 2023 American gold-medal team in Brampton, finishing with eight goals.
After the 2025 Women’s Worlds, there will be a week’s worth of PWHL regular-season games left to play. The goal-scoring champ will not be officially confirmed until the final day (3 May), when Minnesota visits Boston and Ottawa visits Toronto.