Captain Marie-Philip Poulin is off to a fast start with her Montreal Victoire, which sits in first place in the PWHL standings.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Matt Zambonin
Season Two highlights and notable events so far
Montreal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin leads the PWHL in both goals (10) and game-winning goals (four). Goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens leads the league with eight wins. This combination has helped put the Victoire in first place in the six-team league, with an 8-3-1-2 record, a whopping six points ahead of Minnesota with a game in hand.
This week sees the league taking an international break, for women’s Olympic qualification tournaments in Europe and for two games of the Canada-U.S. Rivalry Series. It also marks, more or less, the halfway point of the 90-game season. So let’s take a closer look at what the teams and players have been doing so far.
Boston Fleet
Last year’s Walter Cup finalists are currently tied for fifth place with Ottawa, sitting outside the playoff picture. Indeed, they have had an uneven season so far. Last year, captain Hilary Knight had a slow start, but this year the all-time leader in IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship goals and points tops the Fleet with five goals and 11 points in 13 games. The problem is that her supporting cast has struggled to create offence. The team has managed only 30 goals, and after Knight, Megan Keller (10 points) and Hannah Bilka (nine), things thin out noticeably.
Minnesota Frost
The 2024 Walter Cup champions have picked up right where they left off. They are second in the league standings behind Montreal. Three of the top four scorers are from the Frost, all with 14 points. Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise, and Claire Thompson have dazzled for a club that leads the league in goals scored (45). Meanwhile, goalie Maddie Rooney has a sensational 1.96 GAA.
Montreal Victoire
The Victoire are humming along. They have lost only two games out of 14 in regulation and are tied with New York for goals against (31 in 14 games). They are second in goals scored (41). Poulin has five goals in her last three games. The only woman to score in four Olympic finals (2010, 2014, 2018, 2022) is playing a dominant, physical game that everyone who knows her from Team Canada knows she can play.
New York Sirens
Sarah Fillier was the first overall draft choice in 2024, and the Sirens are getting exactly what they expected. Fillier – an all-star at both the 2022 Olympics and 2023 Women’s Worlds – leads the league in scoring with 15 points. The former Princeton captain has teamed effectively with Alex Carpenter as the league’s best one-two combination. Jessie Eldridge is perhaps one of the biggest surprises this season so far, as she is tied with Carpenter for seventh in league scoring with 12 points. The Sirens have a 7-7 record and are in third place in the standings, one point ahead of Toronto.
Montreal Victoire captain Marie-Philip Poulin leads the PWHL in both goals (10) and game-winning goals (four). Goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens leads the league with eight wins. This combination has helped put the Victoire in first place in the six-team league, with an 8-3-1-2 record, a whopping six points ahead of Minnesota with a game in hand.
This week sees the league taking an international break, for women’s Olympic qualification tournaments in Europe and for two games of the Canada-U.S. Rivalry Series. It also marks, more or less, the halfway point of the 90-game season. So let’s take a closer look at what the teams and players have been doing so far.
Boston Fleet
Last year’s Walter Cup finalists are currently tied for fifth place with Ottawa, sitting outside the playoff picture. Indeed, they have had an uneven season so far. Last year, captain Hilary Knight had a slow start, but this year the all-time leader in IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship goals and points tops the Fleet with five goals and 11 points in 13 games. The problem is that her supporting cast has struggled to create offence. The team has managed only 30 goals, and after Knight, Megan Keller (10 points) and Hannah Bilka (nine), things thin out noticeably.
Minnesota Frost
The 2024 Walter Cup champions have picked up right where they left off. They are second in the league standings behind Montreal. Three of the top four scorers are from the Frost, all with 14 points. Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, Taylor Heise, and Claire Thompson have dazzled for a club that leads the league in goals scored (45). Meanwhile, goalie Maddie Rooney has a sensational 1.96 GAA.
Montreal Victoire
The Victoire are humming along. They have lost only two games out of 14 in regulation and are tied with New York for goals against (31 in 14 games). They are second in goals scored (41). Poulin has five goals in her last three games. The only woman to score in four Olympic finals (2010, 2014, 2018, 2022) is playing a dominant, physical game that everyone who knows her from Team Canada knows she can play.
New York Sirens
Sarah Fillier was the first overall draft choice in 2024, and the Sirens are getting exactly what they expected. Fillier – an all-star at both the 2022 Olympics and 2023 Women’s Worlds – leads the league in scoring with 15 points. The former Princeton captain has teamed effectively with Alex Carpenter as the league’s best one-two combination. Jessie Eldridge is perhaps one of the biggest surprises this season so far, as she is tied with Carpenter for seventh in league scoring with 12 points. The Sirens have a 7-7 record and are in third place in the standings, one point ahead of Toronto.
Fillier's fans showing some support during the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship in Utica, USA.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andre Ringuette
Ottawa Charge
Coach Carla MacLeod’s team is starved for goals. The Charge are tied for last place with Boston and have scored a mere 27 goals in 15 games. Their goals by game looks like this: 3-3-1-2-2-3-2-3-1-2-1-1-0-1-2. That’s just eight goals in their last seven games. They are the only team without a player in the top 20 scorers. On the bright side, however, goalie Emerance Maschmeyer has been sensational, leading the league in minutes played (683:07) and sporting a 92.5 save percentage. And, despite struggling, Ottawa is only two points out of a playoff spot.
Toronto Sceptres
The Sceptres won the opening game of the season, then promptly lost four in a row and have been fighting their way back into contention ever since. Natalie Spooner, last year’s league MVP and leading scorer with 20 goals, has yet to play a game this year because of a knee injury, and coach Troy Ryan has been unable to magically find those 20 goals elsewhere. The team has struggled with offence, sitting last overall with 45 goals allowed. Kristen Campbell, last year’s best goalie, has had a tough go of it, as have the defenders in front of her. But the team has plenty of talent—think Sarah Nurse, Daryl Watts, Jessie Compher—and has headed into the break with more aggressive play born of desperation.
Around the League
The Canadian teams are killing it at the box office. Toronto leads the way, averaging 9,703 fans through seven home games. Second is Montreal, averaging 8,197, and third is Ottawa at 7,593. Fourth is Minnesota (5,967), followed by Boston (4,106), and New York (2,782).
New York’s Alex Carpenter has an amazing streak going. In 37 career PWHL games from last season to today, she has yet to incur a single penalty. This should come as no surprise. In 15 career Women’s U18 games, she also played penalty free, and in 12 games over two Olympics she incurred but one minor. In 55 Women’s Worlds games, 2013-24, she has had a mere three minors.
Claire Thompson has taken a break from med school to pursue her pro hockey dreams, and she has not disappointed. The Frost blueliner is averaging nearly 23 minutes a game, second in the league after Toronto’s Renata Fast (just over 24 minutes a game). Thompson set a record for defenders with 11 assists and 13 points at the 2022 Olympics for Team Canada.
Poulin’s recent hot streak (five goals in three games) has pushed her into a tie for the most goals all-time in the PWHL. She and the injured Spooner both have 20.
Some 13 of Toronto’s 39 goals have come on the power play. The Sceptres are clicking at a whopping 28.9 per cent, tops on both counts in the league. Second is New York with 10 goals.
Jailbreak goals have been few and far between this year. There have been only five so far through 43 games (11.6 per cent). Last year, there were 13 in 72 games (18.1 per cent).
Coach Carla MacLeod’s team is starved for goals. The Charge are tied for last place with Boston and have scored a mere 27 goals in 15 games. Their goals by game looks like this: 3-3-1-2-2-3-2-3-1-2-1-1-0-1-2. That’s just eight goals in their last seven games. They are the only team without a player in the top 20 scorers. On the bright side, however, goalie Emerance Maschmeyer has been sensational, leading the league in minutes played (683:07) and sporting a 92.5 save percentage. And, despite struggling, Ottawa is only two points out of a playoff spot.
Toronto Sceptres
The Sceptres won the opening game of the season, then promptly lost four in a row and have been fighting their way back into contention ever since. Natalie Spooner, last year’s league MVP and leading scorer with 20 goals, has yet to play a game this year because of a knee injury, and coach Troy Ryan has been unable to magically find those 20 goals elsewhere. The team has struggled with offence, sitting last overall with 45 goals allowed. Kristen Campbell, last year’s best goalie, has had a tough go of it, as have the defenders in front of her. But the team has plenty of talent—think Sarah Nurse, Daryl Watts, Jessie Compher—and has headed into the break with more aggressive play born of desperation.
Around the League
The Canadian teams are killing it at the box office. Toronto leads the way, averaging 9,703 fans through seven home games. Second is Montreal, averaging 8,197, and third is Ottawa at 7,593. Fourth is Minnesota (5,967), followed by Boston (4,106), and New York (2,782).
New York’s Alex Carpenter has an amazing streak going. In 37 career PWHL games from last season to today, she has yet to incur a single penalty. This should come as no surprise. In 15 career Women’s U18 games, she also played penalty free, and in 12 games over two Olympics she incurred but one minor. In 55 Women’s Worlds games, 2013-24, she has had a mere three minors.
Claire Thompson has taken a break from med school to pursue her pro hockey dreams, and she has not disappointed. The Frost blueliner is averaging nearly 23 minutes a game, second in the league after Toronto’s Renata Fast (just over 24 minutes a game). Thompson set a record for defenders with 11 assists and 13 points at the 2022 Olympics for Team Canada.
Poulin’s recent hot streak (five goals in three games) has pushed her into a tie for the most goals all-time in the PWHL. She and the injured Spooner both have 20.
Some 13 of Toronto’s 39 goals have come on the power play. The Sceptres are clicking at a whopping 28.9 per cent, tops on both counts in the league. Second is New York with 10 goals.
Jailbreak goals have been few and far between this year. There have been only five so far through 43 games (11.6 per cent). Last year, there were 13 in 72 games (18.1 per cent).
Poulin celebrating goal with teammates during the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship in Utica, USA.
photo: © International Ice Hockey Federation / Andre Ringuette
The PWHL introduced a “no escape” rule this year whereby the penalized team can’t make a line change until after the first faceoff of the power play. The hitch, though, is that often a penalty comes at a TV timeout, thus nullifying the effect of the rule.
The top 20 scorers so far consist of five players from the Sceptres, four each from New York, Minnesota, and Montreal, three from Boston, and none from Ottawa. All 20 are from either Canada or the United States. Erin Ambrose, the stellar Victoire defender, is unique among the group with no goals but nine assists. The top European scorer is Ottawa’s Teresa Vanisova from Czechia, with seven points in 15 games. Vanisova was on Czechia’s bronze-medal team at the 2023 Women’s Worlds under coach MacLeod.
Goals are very hard to come by in the PWHL, which features 13 North American goalies. The only European is Emma Soderberg, who has played just three games for Boston. The 26-year-old has been Sweden’s number one goalie since the 2022 Olympics.
Corinne Schroeder is a great example of how deep goaltending is in North America. The Canadian has never represented her country in an IIHF event. Still, the Sirens goalie leads the PWHL in shutouts this season (two), is tied for second place with six wins, and sits third in save percentage (.933) and fourth in GAA (1.96) and minutes played (605:40). She played for PWHL New York last year, the Boston Pride in the PHF the year before, and had four years at Boston University. The closest she came to wearing the red Maple Leaf was at the 2017 U18 Women’s Worlds when she was the third goalie.
Games are tightly contested in this league. Of the 43 games played so far this season, 23 have been decided by one goal. Of that number, six have been decided in overtime and seven in a shootout. There have been 13 games decided by two goals, and five of those games ended with an empty-netter. Six games have been decided by three goals (five of which had an empty net goal), and there has been one blowout (New York 5, Minnesota 0).
The top 20 scorers so far consist of five players from the Sceptres, four each from New York, Minnesota, and Montreal, three from Boston, and none from Ottawa. All 20 are from either Canada or the United States. Erin Ambrose, the stellar Victoire defender, is unique among the group with no goals but nine assists. The top European scorer is Ottawa’s Teresa Vanisova from Czechia, with seven points in 15 games. Vanisova was on Czechia’s bronze-medal team at the 2023 Women’s Worlds under coach MacLeod.
Goals are very hard to come by in the PWHL, which features 13 North American goalies. The only European is Emma Soderberg, who has played just three games for Boston. The 26-year-old has been Sweden’s number one goalie since the 2022 Olympics.
Corinne Schroeder is a great example of how deep goaltending is in North America. The Canadian has never represented her country in an IIHF event. Still, the Sirens goalie leads the PWHL in shutouts this season (two), is tied for second place with six wins, and sits third in save percentage (.933) and fourth in GAA (1.96) and minutes played (605:40). She played for PWHL New York last year, the Boston Pride in the PHF the year before, and had four years at Boston University. The closest she came to wearing the red Maple Leaf was at the 2017 U18 Women’s Worlds when she was the third goalie.
Games are tightly contested in this league. Of the 43 games played so far this season, 23 have been decided by one goal. Of that number, six have been decided in overtime and seven in a shootout. There have been 13 games decided by two goals, and five of those games ended with an empty-netter. Six games have been decided by three goals (five of which had an empty net goal), and there has been one blowout (New York 5, Minnesota 0).