Professional Women's Hockey League Notebook
NEW YORK AND TORONTO – A closer look at highlights on and off the ice from around the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) with just 11 games remaining in the schedule and two before the international break.
PWHL PLAYOFF PICTURE
Montréal (11-6-3-6, 48 points) became the first team to officially punch their ticket to the PWHL Playoffs and remain atop the standings with four games left on their schedule. The Victoire can secure one of the top two seeds by earning at least one more point than third-place Boston (8-6-4-8, 40 points) before the break. Toronto (12-2-5-8, 45 points) is in second place with three games remaining, with the Sceptres able to clinch a playoff berth if Boston beats Ottawa, or if the Charge beat the Fleet in a shootout on Wednesday. Minnesota (8-5-4-10, 38 points) currently holds the fourth and final playoff spot with three games remaining. Ottawa (10-1-4-11, 36 points) enters the week in fifth place with four games left to play, followed by New York (6-4-4-12, 30 points) in sixth place with four games remaining. New York needs a win in tonight’s game to avoid the risk of being eliminated from playoff contention before the international break. A Montréal win in regulation, combined with a single point by Ottawa against Boston, would officially eliminate New York. A Victoire win in overtime/shootout, combined with a Charge win in regulation over the Fleet, would also eliminate the Sirens. Click here for full PWHL standings and here for the tiebreaking procedures.
TAKEOVER TOUR™ WRAPS UP IN ST. LOUIS
The PWHL Takeover Tour™ made its ninth and final stop of the season on Saturday at Enterprise Center in St. Louis where Ottawa beat Boston before a crowd of 8,578, setting an attendance record for professional women’s hockey in Missouri. Both Ottawa and Boston held open practices and signed autographs for fans in the days leading up to the big game. Also prior to Saturday’s game, PWHL Executive Vice President of Business Operations, Amy Scheer, participated in a Women in Sports panel with members of the St. Louis sports scene, including Olympian Alex Cavallini, who performed the game’s ceremonial puck drop. The tour welcomed a total of 123,061 fans across all nine stops. Click here for more about the PWHL Takeover Tour™.
ATTENDANCE TRACKER
In addition to the PWHL Takeover Tour™, attendance highlights last week included Boston’s second of two sold-out games at Agganis Arena on Wednesday with a crowd of 6,028 and Minnesota’s season-high crowd of 9,536 on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center. PWHL attendance through 79 games of the regular season now stands at 580,962 – an average of 7,354 per game.
THIRD PERIOD COMEBACKS
Three of last week’s five games saw teams deliver third period comebacks in regulation. On Tuesday, New York set a PWHL record for most goals in a single period with six in the final frame to erase a 3-0 deficit and win 6-3 over Ottawa. Then on Wednesday, Toronto scored four goals in a single period for the first time in team history to overcome a 1-0 third period deficit and beat Boston 4-2. Finally, on Saturday in St. Louis, the Charge scored twice in the final four minutes of the third period to beat the Fleet 2-1. The season has just two other third period comebacks resulting in regulation wins when a team was leading after 40 minutes, including Boston over Minnesota, 4-2 on Feb. 16 after trailing 2-1, and Ottawa over Toronto, 3-2 on Dec. 3 after trailing 2-1. Montréal has won 11 of 12 games when leading after two periods, with their only loss coming in a shootout. New York has won all five games in which they have led after two periods. Click here for the PWHL schedule and scores.
FASTEST TWO GOALS IN PWHL HISTORY
Two of last week’s games also featured two new records for the fastest two goals scored in PWHL history. Ottawa’s Tereza Vanišová set the new individual benchmark, scoring both of her team’s third period goals on Saturday in a span of 32 seconds. Then on Sunday, Minnesota’s Taylor Heise (1:01) and Britta Curl-Salemme (1:43) scored the fastest two goals by a team to open a game. Both goals count among the league’s six goals scored this season in a game’s opening two minutes.
FOUR POINTS FOR STACEY
Montréal’s Laura Stacey became just the fifth player in PWHL history, and fourth this season, to record a four-point performance when she scored two goals and two assists last Wednesday against Minnesota. Her four points matches Boston’s Hilary Knight (3G, 1A) on Mar. 5, Toronto’s Hannah Miller (2G, 2A) on Feb. 19, Minnesota’s Claire Thompson (1G, 3A) on Dec. 19, and teammate Erin Ambrose (4A) on Apr. 18, 2024, last season.
MCQUIGGE’S POINT STREAK
Minnesota rookie Brooke McQuigge recorded two assists on Sunday to extend her point streak to six games (2G, 5A). She becomes the first-ever player from Minnesota to reach the mark and is one game shy of tying New York’s Alex Carpenter (5G, 5A from Dec. 1 to Jan. 4) for the longest point streak in PWHL history at seven games. Four other players have produced six-game point streaks this season, including twice by Sirens rookie Sarah Fillier (1G, 5A from Jan. 12 to Feb. 2, and 5G, 3A from Feb. 19 to Mar. 16), Toronto’s Renata Fast (1G, 5A from Nov. 30 to Dec. 27), Ottawa’s Emily Clark (4G, 6A from Feb. 1 to 26), and Stacey (4G, 5A from Feb. 22 to Mar. 8).
GOSLING TO REPLACE MILLER ON TEAM CANADA
Hockey Canada announced on Monday that Sceptres rookie forward Julia Gosling has been added to Canada’s National Women’s Team and will compete in her second straight World Championship later this month in Czechia. Her Toronto teammate, Hannah Miller, who was among Canada’s initial roster selections, has been deemed ineligible by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The IIHF stipulates a two-year timeline from when Miller last played overseas in order for her to be eligible to play for Canada.
