Hey there! How the hell are ya? Great to see you again. Have you recovered? Have you caught your breath yet? It seems like just yesterday that the PWHL was announced and now we’ve had a full season of games played, a championship won, (another) draft completed and a slew of awards handed out. Where to start? How about the beginning….
January 2024 – Toronto hosted New York at the Mattamy Athletic Center in Toronto in the first game of the new league. Ella Shelton scored the first goal in the history of the PWHL and NYC went on to rout TOR 4-0. The league went on to set (and then break, and then set and then break and on and on) attendance records over and over throughout this inaugural season. The first PWHL game on US soil came at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA and your boy Brownie was on hand to bear witness. BOS lost to MIN 3-2 (foreshadowing of the Finals much?) but no one, (well the players/staff probably did) really cared about the final score. The vibe was so upbeat and positive and fun. Everyone was thrilled to be there and that this WAS REALLY HAPPENING! There’s a women’s professional hockey league!
The games were fast-paced with skill to spare, competitive and physical. I can’t count the number of people that have commented to me about the physicality on display. Maybe the NCAA will catch up at some point considering it’s the same sport? Doubtful, but I digress. The sentiment that I heard throughout the rink and on the inter-webs (and at more than a few local watering holes) was this is great and we should all be happy about what has been accomplished. But the thing to remember: We’re not done. The ratings and attendance speak for themselves. The lines of fans holding signs and buying merch (team names/logos coming this August so time to rep your local franchise/favorite player), the sellouts, the season ticket holders: This all proves that the women’s pro game is here and it’s gaining popularity by the day
As the season progressed you could see/feel a shift in fan’s perspectives. After the IIHF break (another great decision by the league), fans started to act more like, well… hockey fans than women’s hockey fans. The first months of the season it was all cheers and no jeers. After the break you could hear the “SHOOOOOOOT” birds start to come out. Fans were questioning line combos and defensive pairs. You could hear people debating which PK pair should start the kill. (Another great innovation by the league: the jailbreak penalty kill – love this!) Fans were talking about playoff maneuvering, goalie rotations, who their team would match up best with, who should be on PP1 and which players next year should be on their teams’ radars. What I’m trying to say is: about the midpoint of the season, it was no longer just happy shiny people clapping over hockey. Yes it’s still great to see women playing at this level and my 7 year old daughter loves the fact that she “knows” some of these players, but fans were focusing on the hockey – not WHO was playing the hockey.
And then the playoffs started and the excitement hit another level. Another great innovation by the PWHL (seeing that a lot – change is NOT something to be afraid of – looking at you NHL) was that the #1 seed TOR could pick their opponent out of the other playoff teams. TOR picked MIN and much like their Maple Leaf counterparts, the TOR team fell apart in the playoffs. MIN reverse swept TOR and moved on to the final (Natalie Spooner going down was a big blow to the TOR team and it sucked to see her injured. Unlike the Leafs I have no animosity to the TOR PWHL team… yet). It was a bit of karma as you get what you get as I’m sure every player in the MIN room wanted to ruin TOR’s season after being hand-picked as “sacrificial lambs” by the top seed.
In the other half of the bracket of course it was BOS vs. MTL. I mean who would you want to see match up? Original Six is Original Six. BOS made short work of MTL eliminating them in 3 games. A legend was born enhanced amplified added another chapter to her book as Aerin Frankel was introduced to a whole new cross-section of fans that somehow missed her run at Northeastern. The Green Monster, Frankel-stein: whatever you want to call her, Frankel is an all-galaxy goaltender. I mean c’mon…
If you’re new here, do a search on my Northeastern write-ups if you want to see me go on and on about her wizardry in the blue paint. I mean this is nothing new to Husky fans. They don’t just give away those Patty Kazmaier awards.
So you have MIN vs BOS for the inaugural Walter Cup. You knew it was going 5 right? Well, it looked like it was only going 4 when Sophie Jaques scored what looked to be the series winner, but then Stripes entered the chat. The goal was waved off due to goaltender interference (at this juncture it was the only way to beat Frankel) and the teams played on until Alina Müeller called game. (Not to brag, but we know her)
So it was all up to one game. Back to Lowell for the whole enchilada. The Tsongas Center was packed to the gills, there was a palpable sense of drama and excitement on hand. You could see celebrities rubbing elbows with pigeons, hockey players and fans of all ages on hand to see The Walter Cup raised for the very first time.
Combined we’ve notched 177 NCAA GP with 131 points and 127PIM. In case you were wondering that’s the newest member of PWHL MIN: the one and only Katy Knoll. Guess that makes me the pigeon.
The Final was everything you could have hoped for, except the wrong team won. I know this is not helping me with any of my MIN friends (and future podcast guests: if you see this, we’d love to have you on Kendall), but I was clearly rooting for the hometown team. Not only is it the local squad, but there’s a lot of Matthews legends playing at the Tsongas. I mean we’re a Northeastern household, I don’t make the rules, I only abide by them.
So a thrilling first season, an edge of your seat finals, and a great feel-good ending seeing Kendall Coyne Schofield pot the empty netter. I mean the MIN captain was one of the driving forces behind this league getting up and running so it was fitting to see her hoist the Walter Cup for the first time ever.
This past week, once the dust settled and the confetti was swept up it was time for the PWHL draft and then the Awards were handed out the next day. A couple of things from the draft that stand out to me (I’m not much of a breakdown the draft guy, but I did enjoy seeing some former guests of the podcast get their names called). First of all, I love the fact that each draft pick gets a few mins of screen time after being drafted to talk about what they’re feeling, who’s there to support them and what they’re looking forward to. All the players give a different perspective and take different journeys to arrive to the pro game and it’s interesting to hear. I also like that a number of players have taken to calling the league The P-Dub. I don’t know if it was handed down from the powers that be, but it’s certainly a streamlined name.
And now on to the shameless Northeastern shine:
Up first was Megan Carter, The Captain. Meg was taken in the 2nd round by her hometown team TOR. She brings tons of leadership qualities and top pair skill on the back end. She can skate for days and will chip in offensively as well. Wait until you see her edge work! Get ready to see her skating for Team Canada before too long.
The first goalie taken off the board was Gwyneth Philips. The Great Wall of Gwyneth is an upgrade for any goalie stable and OTT was lucky to grab her in the 3rd round. The all-time NCAA career leader in save percentage (.958% is that good?) is unflappable and so smooth with her lateral movements it’s like she’s on slippers.
And since I don’t know when I’ll get to use this one again…
And then lastly, it was my daughter’s favorite player: Katy Knoll who was grabbed by MIN in the 7th round. You want grit and tenacity and a 200ft player who can play in all situations? You got her right here. Katy’s physicality is going to be rewarded at the PWHL as opposed to be being PIM’ed by the NCAA. Rumor has it that there’s a Ben Franklin up for grabs if she drops the mitts next season, probably just a rumor.
On a selfish note, I was glad to see Hannah Bilka go to BOS as the thought of her and Müeller playing on a line together has to have HC Courtney Kessel salivating. The draft was available at no charge on YouTube just like all the PWHL games (yet another great idea!) as was the Award Show the next day.
The winners:
Billie Jean King Award (league MVP) – Natalie Spooner TOR
Forward of the Year Award – Natalie Spooner TOR
Defender of the Year Award – Erin Ambrose MTL
Goaltender of the Year Award – Kristen Campbell TOR
Rookie of the Year Award – Grace Zumwinkle MIN
Coach of the Year Award – Troy Ryan TOR
Hockey for All Award – Maureen Murphy MTL
**given to the player who had the greatest impact in their community during the season
First All Star Team
Forwards: Alex Carpenter NYC, Marie-Philip Poulin MTL, Natalie Spooner TOR
Defense: Ella Shelton NYC, Erin Ambrose MTL
Goaltender: Kristen Campbell TOR
Second All Star Team
Forwards: Brianne Jenner OTT, Sarah Nurse TOR, Grace Zumwinkle MIN
Defense: Renata Fast TOR, Megan Keller BOS
Goaltender: Aerin Frankel BOS
All Rookie Team
Forwards: Emma Maltais TOR, Alina Müeller BOS, Grace Zumwinkle MIN
Defense: Ashton Bell OTT, Sophie Jaques MIN
Goaltender: Emma Soderberg BOS
So all in all, I’d call it a very successful first season for the P-Dub. Great hockey, loads of fan access, and once the season got going there were some rivalries that were built and some bad blood that was boiled up. The nightly display of skill was tremendous and the players all bought in on the league concept and the games were oh so competitive. Neutral site games maybe gave a preview of expansion? At this point I think they could play at a muni rink at 10pm on a Tuesday and they’d fill the barn. This league is a home run.
This is what fans of the woman’s game have always wanted. The best players in the world, playing in front of rabid fans with a chance to win a championship.
And the vibes? Immaculate of course.
If you haven’t seen these interviews before, they’re all linked below. Here’s a chance to see/hear some of your favorite PWHL players before they were pros. And if there are any current P-Dub players that would like to come on the podcast, we’d love to have you!
Chloé Aurard NYC https://youtu.be/LXYtus3J11s?si=JCMyw4EjLKGK0Rkg
Aerin Frankel BOS https://youtu.be/3xasJG9AVWk?si=WkhuyrbJpP-hjtil
Maureen Murphy MTL https://youtu.be/tbZC7RlsI0A?si=zPpYJGDnrVkDf4gU
Gwyneth Philips OTT https://youtu.be/SK64j3ZV0CQ?si=_4HUEtjqkNyGF7GT
Katy Knoll MIN https://youtu.be/WfmLP6XrS6c?si=xnig4xC0p8nmY1Y6
Alina Müeller BOS https://youtu.be/vdaEQPDGVO8?si=HoW94IAkD2Cc58gM
And we podcast weekly all year long: but fair warning, as the hockey dies down the ridiculous ramps up. You can find all of our podcasts here.
Thanks for reading and we’ll see you in November!
Here’s some other sights from the deciding game at The Tsongas.
You can read more about Brownie in his bio down below or follow him on:
Twitter: @abrow28
IG/Threads: @a_brow28
The Morning Skate 