Less than two months into its inaugural season, the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) has set records, logged firsts, and overall elevated the sport. Twenty-five games have come and gone, totaling over a third of the schedule.
The biggest takeaway? All six teams are A) very good, B) very close to each other in skill, and C) very fun to watch. Through 25 games, 16 have come down to a difference of one goal, and 10 of those have gone to overtime.
| TEAM | Games played | Points | Reg. Wins | OT Wins | OT Losses | Reg. Losses | Points % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal | 9 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0.63 |
| Minnesota | 9 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.556 |
| Boston | 7 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0.524 |
| Toronto | 9 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0.407 |
| New York | 9 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0.407 |
| Ottawa | 7 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0.476 |
The score sheet
- Three skaters notched hat tricks:
- Minnesota's Grace Zumwinkle vs. Montréal on Jan. 6.
- Montréal's Marie-Philip Poulin vs. New York on Jan. 10.
- New York's Jade Downie-Landry vs. Boston on Jan. 20.
- Three goalies shut out their opponents:
- New York's Corinne Schroeder vs. Toronto on Jan. 1.
- Minnesota's Maddie Rooney vs. Montréal on Jan. 6.
- Toronto's Kristen Campbell vs. New York on Jan. 26.
- Two teams scored five goals, Montréal and Ottawa:
- Montréal 5, New York 2 on Jan. 10.
- Ottawa 5, Toronto 1 on Jan. 13.
- Some other firsts:
- New York's Ella Shelton scored the PWHL's first goal vs. Toronto on Jan. 1.
- Montréal's Ann-Sophie Bettez scored the first OT goal vs. Ottawa on Jan. 2.
- Toronto's Emma Maltais scored the first shorthanded "jailbreak" goal vs. New York on Jan. 5.
- The league's first shootout took place on Jan. 20 when Toronto beat Montréal 4-3 with a goal by Lauriane Rougeau.
- Boston's Taylor Wenczkowski received the first PWHL suspension on Jan. 27 for an illegal hit to the head of Ottawa's Amanda Boulier on Jan. 24.
- New York became the first team to come back from a 3-0 deficit with a 4-3 overtime win vs. Ottawa on Feb. 4. The three goals were scored by Abby Roque, Jade Downie-Landry, and Alex Carpenter in 1:39, a league record for the fastest three goals scored by one team.
- And if you somehow missed it, Minnesota's Jan. 6 game against Montréal at Xcel Energy Center set a global record for pro women's hockey game attendance — 13,316.
Montréal sports the best record in the league, with the most wins (6) and fewest regulation losses (1, a shutout loss). The squad is tied with New York for the most goals for (22 in nine games). At home, Montréal is tied with fellow "M" team Minnesota for the best point percentage at .583.
Marie-Philip Poulin's 22.2% shooting percentage leads all players with more than 16 shots, and Elaine Chuli's 3-0 record in three starts makes her the only goalie with an undefeated record.
Montréal's power-play percentage is curiously the lowest in the league at 3.8%; similarly, second-ranked Minnesota's 78.6% penalty kill percentage ranks sixth of six.
The PWHL's eastern-most team, Boston, has the lowest goals for in the league (17) and the best penalty kill percentage (93.3%) on a league-low 15 PK opportunities. Toronto's 24 goals against are the most of any team, and their Natalie Spooner leads the league in goals with 7 in nine games.
Alina Muller's 9 points (2-7-9) in nine games give her a 1.29 point-per-game average, the highest in the league, while Aerin Frankel's 1.91 goals against average is the highest of any goalie whose started 50% or more of her team's games.
Despite a league-leading four regulation losses as a team, New York is being expertly backstopped by starter Corinne Schroeder. She's faced a league-leading 209 shots in six games and has the highest save percentage among starting goalies — .943. On the top half of the ice, Alex Carpenter leads all PWHL players in points with a 5-6-11 score line across nine games.
The PWHL's bottom team — in total points only, not points percentage — is Ottawa, whose 17 goals against and 29.2% power-play percentage are each the best among all teams.
Other notable stats
- A total of 64 skaters have found the back of the net through 25 games. No goalie goals — yet!
- Eight of league's first 10 games were won by road teams. Since then, nine of 16 were won on the road — giving home teams an unusually low 9-24 win-loss record.
- The biggest single game goal differential so far — four goals — has been achieved by two teams:
- New York 4, Toronto 0 on Jan. 1.
- Ottawa 5, Toronto 1 on Jan. 13.
- Ottawa is the only team without an overtime win, as well as the only team whose backup hasn't played a full game.
- Minnesota's Lee Stecklein leads in penalty minutes with 12 in nine games, while her teammate Zumwinkle is the only player with two game-winning goals.
- On Monday, the PWHL released some TOI (time on ice) statistics and told HEOTP's Jared Book that TOI would soon be incorporated into their online public statistics pages. Per the league, defenders Jocelyne Larocque and Renata Fast of Toronto are both averaging 28:30 per game, leading the league. At forward, the league leader is Marie-Philip Poulin in Montreal, who averages 21:38. Here are the leaders at each position by team:
- Ottawa: Savannah Harmon (D) (22:40), Brianne Jenner (F) (19:23)
- New York: Jaime Bourbonnais (D) (26:07), Abby Roque (F) (21:19)
- Toronto: Jocelyne Larocque/Renata Fast (D) (28:30), Sarah Nurse (F) (19:19)
- Boston: Megan Keller (D) (23:45), Alina Müller (F) (21:35)
- Minnesota: Lee Stecklein (D) (27:35), Kelly Pannek (F) (19:09)
- Montreal: Erin Ambrose (D) (25:13), Marie-Philip Poulin (F) (21:38)
All stats and photos courtesy of the PWHL.
