By Scott Lowe - MYHockeyRankings.com

Just as the National Hockey League enters a unique two-week international break, the Professional Women’s Hockey league returns to action after a short hiatus of its own as teams get ready to begin their push for the postseason.

While skeptics still might think it’s impossible for the PWHL to continue building on the momentum the league has generated during a second season that somehow may end up being even more successful than its inaugural campaign, the PWHL is poised for an exciting stretch run that should feature many interesting storylines:

• Attendance is up about 33 percent over an initial season that far exceeded anyone’s expectations. With 47 games remaining, more than 312,000 fans (7,272 per game) already have turned out to watch PWHL contests in person this season. The league is slightly more than 200,000 away from cracking the 1-million mark in attendance in just two seasons.

• The Takeover Tour continues as PWHL teams play five more neutral-site contests at NHL-sized arenas in markets that do not have PWHL franchises. The first four games of the tour have averaged nearly 16,000 in Seattle, Denver, Ottawa and Quebec City.

• One of the league’s biggest events, the annual Duel at the Top, still is on tap March 1 at Bell Centre in Montreal. Last year’s Duel drew a women’s hockey world-record crowd of 21,105. There also will be a game at Boston University’s Agganis Arena March 8. The Boston Fleet usually play their home games on the campus of UMass Lowell, about a 40-minute drive from downtown Boston.

• The push for the playoffs begins when the PWHL returns to action Feb. 11, with three points separating the third and sixth-place teams and second-place Minnesota trailing Montreal by six points in the race for the top spot. New York is in third place with 20 standings points, followed by Toronto with 19, Boston with 17 and Ottawa with 17. The top four make the playoffs.

• Exciting rookie and New York 2024 No. 1 draft pick Sarah Fillier leads the PWHL scoring race with 15 points on five goals and 10 assists through 14 games. Three other players are tied with 14 points apiece.

• Coming off a recent hat trick, Team Canada-legend Marie-Philip Poulin of Montreal leads the PWHL with 10 goals, three ahead of Toronto’s Hannah Miller and four in front of a group of players who have six. 

• Montreal’s Ann-Renee Desbiens appears to be in control of the race to be the PWHL’s top goalie as she leads the league in wins with eight, goals-against average (1.77) and save percentage (.935). 

• There will be one more international break this season, from April 3-25, when the league’s top players head to Czechia for the International Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship, which is scheduled to run April 9-20. When the teams return to PWHL at the end of April, there will be just nine total regular-season contests remaining as teams jockey for their final playoff seedings.

 

Rivalries & Dreams

The PWHL’s top international stars scattered during the league’s second international break of the season, with 46 players heading to Canada for the final two games of the USA vs. Canada Rivalry Series. Of that group, 25 were on the Canadian roster, with 21 suiting up for Team USA. All six goalies came from the PWHL as did one head coach, three assistants and one goalie coach.

Meanwhile, three qualifying tournaments were held as nations from around the world competed to earn spots in the 2026 Olympic Winter Games to be held in Milan, Italy, next February. 

Eight PWHL players participated in the qualifiers, with four playing for Sweden, which competed on home ice against Denmark, Netherlands and Norway. France counted a single PWHL representative on its roster as it faced China, Poland and host Japan. Germany had one PWHL player in its lineup as it hosted Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. Two other league players represented Austria.

The third leg of the Euro Hockey Tour also took place during the break, with three nations that already had qualified for the Olympics – Czechia, Finland and Switzerland – competing in a three-game showcase in Liberec, Czechia. Eleven PWHL players were in Czechia for the tour stop, with eight on the Czech roster, two playing for Finland and one representing Switzerland.

In total, there were 65 PWHL players on the ice representing their countries and showcasing the league during international break No. 2, further solidifying the PWHL as the world’s top women’s professional league.

 

Rivals Gonna Rival

As usual, the USA vs. Canada Rivalry Series went down to the wire.

Jennifer Gardiner (MTL) broke a 1-1 tie with 6:44 left in the deciding fifth game Feb. 8 as the Canadians earned a 3-1 victory and a 3-2 series win. It marked the third straight year Canada has won the series, which in the past had been a best-of-seven format. It also was the third year in a row that the series was determined in a deciding winner-take-all contest.

The Americans earned a 2-1 shootout victory in Halifax two nights earlier to even the series at two games apiece before the finale in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.

Games 4 and 5 were played in Canada after the first three were held in the U.S. The Americans won Game 1 in San Jose, Calif., 7-2, before Canada skated to a 5-4 shootout win in Game 2 and a 4-1 victory in Game 3. The second game was played in Salt Lake City, Utah, with Game 3 taking place in Boise, Idaho.

Brianne Jenner (OTT) opened the scoring for Canada in the second period of the deciding game before USA’s Kelly Pannek (MIN) tied it late in the middle frame. Laura Stacey’s (MTL) empty-net goal provided insurance for the winners.

Emerance Maschmeyer (OTT) made 28 saves for the Canadians to outduel Aerin Frankel (BOS), who was spectacular in net for Team USA with 40 stops.

“It’s never easy to lose a game like this. Our team played hard,” USA coach John Wroblewski told the Associated Press. “We’ll continue to evaluate and make sure we’re ready heading into women’s worlds in April.”

Gwyneth Philips (OTT), who recently posted her first shutout as a PWHL rookie, made 31 saves to lead the Americans to the shootout win in Game 4. Boston captain and future Hall of Famer Hilary Knight put Team USA in front with a first-period power-play goal, but Canda rallied to tie the game with the goalie pulled in the final 30 seconds on a goal by Blayre Turnbull (TOR).

After a scoreless overtime period, Philips thwarted all three Canadian shootout attempts, with Team USA’s Knight, Pannek and Hannah Bilka (BOS) each scoring.

Stacey led all scorers in the Rivalry Series with five goals and three assists, while Canadian defender Erin Ambrose (MTL) added four helpers and Turnbull had 2-2-4. College star Laila Edwards paced the USA offense in just three series appearances with 1-2-3, while four other Americans also had three points.

Only five Team USA players played in every game of the series, while 12 Canadians appeared in all five as both nations look to narrow their roster options for the Women’s World Championship and the Olympics. College players Abbey Murphy and Lacey Eden each scored two goals in the series for Team USA, while Grace Zumwinkle (MIN) also tallied twice.

 

Making it to Milan

Germany, Japan and Sweden won their respective Olympic qualifying tournaments last week and will head to Milan next February, joining the United States, Canada, Czechia, Finland, Switzerland, Italy and possibly Russia (International Olympic Committee decision pending). PWHL players played key roles in all three tourneys.

Goalie Sandra Abstreiter (MTL) led Germany to wins against Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, recording one shutout and compiling a 0.67 GAA and .967 save percentage. Austria’s Theresa Schafzahl (BOS) and Anna Meixner (OTT) tallied five and four points, respectively.

Boston netminder Emma Soderberg turned in a pair of shutout performances as Sweden advanced past Denmark, Netherlands and Norway. Anna Kjellbin (MTL) and Maja Nylen Persson (NY) each handed out a pair of assists, with Lina Ljungblom (MTL) scoring once to help the Swedes move on. 

Japan was the third nation to qualify, knocking out China, France and Poland. New York’s Chloe Aurard finished third in that tournament’s scoring race with 2-3-5 for France.

 

Czech-Mate

Czechia beat fellow Olympic-qualifiers Finland, 7-2, and Switzerland, 4-2, on home ice to record a perfect 2-0 record at the Euro Hockey Tour event. Finland also beat Switzerland, 3-1.   

Toronto’s Noemi Neubauerova had two goals and assist for the hosts, with Tereza Vanisova (OTT) adding a goal and a helper. Kiara Hymlarova (MIN) scored once, Denisa Krizova (MIN) contributed an assist and Klara Peslarova (BOS) earned a pair of wins in goal for the hosts. Boston forward Alina Muller scored once for the Swiss, while Ronja Savolainen (OTT) and Noora Tulus (NY) each picked up an assist for Finland.

 

Taking it to the Streets

The fifth installment of the PWHL 2024-25 Takeover Tour is set for Sunday, Feb. 18, with the Ottawa Charge facing the Toronto Sceptres as the Battle of Ontario heads to Alberta. Puck drop for the game at Edmonton’s Rogers Place is at 4 p.m. EST, and the contest can be viewed live on TSN 2. So far, tour stops in Seattle, Denver, Vancouver and Quebec City have drawn nearly 64,000 fans, an average of about 17,000 per game.

Future Takeover Tour events are slated for KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y. (Feb. 23), Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C. (March 7), Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Mich. (March 16) and Enterprise Center in St. Louis (March 29).

 

Silver Spoons

Toronto superstar Natalie Spooner, whose remarkable season was cut short by a severe knee injury suffered during Game 3 of the 2024 PWHL Walter Cup semifinals, has been activated from the injured list and will be on the ice for the Sceptres’ home game against Minnesota Feb. 11. Spooner was named the first PWHL Billie Jean King MVP, Forward of the Year and a first-team all-star after leading the league with 20 goals during its inaugural campaign. 

Spooner and Toronto were red hot and appeared destined to make a Walter Cup Finals appearance prior to the devastating injury. The 34-year-old forward also was named the International Ice Hockey Federation’s 2024 Female Player of the Year.

“I’m excited to be back with my teammates and looking forward to competing next to them again,” Spooner said in the PWHL press release announcing her return. “It was obviously a long road to get to this point, and it doesn’t happen without a lot of amazing people in my corner … Thank you to the fans and hockey community for all the well wishes and patience along the way. I can’t wait to play in front of the Toronto fans again and rock our new jerseys.”

Spooner returns to action just in time to be part of Toronto’s push for the playoffs. The Sceptres sit in fourth place with 19 standings points, one point behind the third-place New York Sirens, and two ahead of Boston and the Ottawa Charge. The top four teams in the final standings qualify for the postseason.

Last year, Toronto emerged late in the season as the team to beat, riding a long winning streak to surge into first place and earn the top seed entering the playoffs. Prior to Spooner’s injury, the Sceptres led Minnesota, 2-0, in their best-of-five semifinal playoff series before dropping three straight contests to the eventual champs.

The Frost had lost seven straight games overall, while Toronto had won six straight, heading into that contest. Toronto also had beaten Minnesota five consecutive times dating to Jan. 10, 2024.

 

January PWHL SupraStars of the Month

The PWHL announced its SupraStars of the Month for January last week, with Minnesota’s Kendall Coyne Schofield, Toronto’s Hannah Miller and Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin receiving recognition as the league’s top forwards for the month while Minnesota’s Claire Thompson and Montreal’s Erin Ambrose were tabbed as the best defenders. New York’s Corinne Schroeder earned top-goaltender honors.

Coyne Schofield recorded three goals and five assists in nine January outings, including a pair of multi-point showings. Miller had three two-point performances in eight contests, including her first two-goal game of the season in front of more than 19,000 fans in the Battle on Bay Street vs. the Sirens. Poulin potted six goals in January, including the PWHL’s first hat trick of the season, and finished with seven total points in seven games.

Thompson also earned SupraStar of the Month defensive honors in December. She had two goals and two assists in nine games, including a 2-1-3 performance Jan. 28 vs. Toronto. Ambrose notched eight assists in seven January appearances for the first-place Victoire. She had five helpers during a two-game span vs. Minnesota Jan. 17 and Ottawa Jan. 19. Schroeder posted consecutive shutouts during the month and stopped 148 of the 155 shots she faced in January (.955).

 

Upcoming Schedule & Viewing Guide

Tuesday, Feb. 11

7 p.m. EST – Minnesota Frost at Toronto Sceptres on Prime Video (Canada), FanDuel Sports Network North

 

Wednesday, Feb. 12 


7 p.m. EST – Boston Fleet at New York Sirens on MSGSNHD/Z1/Z2, NESN, TSN 3/5

 

Thursday, Feb. 13

7 p.m. EST – Minnesota Frost at Ottawa Charge on TSN 5, FanDuel Sports Network North

 

Friday, Feb. 14


7 p.m. EST – Boston Fleet at Toronto Sceptres on TSN 4, NESN

 

Saturday, Feb. 15 


2 p.m. EST – New York Sirens at Montréal Victoire on CBC, ICI TÉLÉ and ICI TOU.TV, MSG/MSGHD

 

Sunday, Feb. 16

1 p.m. EST – Minnesota Frost at Boston Fleet on NESN, FanDuel Sports Network North, TSN 2

4 p.m. EST – PWHL Takeover Tour, Toronto Sceptres at Ottawa Charge at Rogers Place in Edmonton on TSN 2

 

Monday, Feb. 17

4 p.m. EST – Boston Fleet at New York Sirens on MSG Networks, NESN, TSN 5 

All PWHL games are streamed on the league’s YouTube Channel and on the league’s website and are available to watch worldwide outside of Canada. In Czechia and Slovakia games can be viewed via Nova Sport.