What a fun week of women’s hockey! Friday was the start of the third season for the PWHL, which featured the Minnesota Frost raising their banner for last season’s Walter Cup championship before their first game, and then we saw our two new expansion franchises, the Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes, face off for the first time.
PWHL Games
Toronto Sceptres @ Minnesota Frost
- Final Score: Sceptres 2, Frost 1
- Attendance: 9,138
- Thoughts: The Sceptres spoiled the Frost’s home opener and banner raising night. Raygan Kirk was solid in net for the Sceptres, as the Frost outshot the Sceptres 31-19, but after scoring 4 minutes into the game, the Frost couldn’t find the back of the net again, even with a penalty shot opportunity.
Seattle Torrent @ Vancouver Goldeneyes
- Final Score: Goldeneyes 4, Torrent 3 (OT)
- Attendance: 14,958 (the most fans to attend a PWHL game at a team’s primary home venue in history)
- Thoughts: As the first game for both of the two expansion franchises, you knew this game would be in front of a big and excited crowd, and that was indeed the case; it sounded loud in Vancouver and they had great crowd support throughout the game. It was a back and forth game, with Abby Boreen finally winning it for the Goldeneyes in OT.
New York Sirens @ Ottawa Charge
- Final Score: Sirens 4, Charge 0
- Attendance: 7,371
- Thoughts: There was a lot of action and drama in the first period, with a lot of chippiness and nastiness after the whistles that finally escalated into Charge captain Micah Zandee-Hart being assessed a major penalty in the first period that also got her removed from the game. The Sirens looked like the sharper team, but it’s not time to panic for the Charge after just one game, especially after playing 2+ periods without their captain after her penalty. Taylor Girard scored a hat trick and the New York offense looked solid overall.
Montréal Victoire @ Boston Fleet
- Final Score: Fleet 2, Victoire 0
- Attendance: 5,166
- Thoughts: I wasn’t able to watch any of this game, but 6 penalties by the Victoire definitely didn’t help their effort in their first game. Shots were fairly even, 28-25 in favor of the Fleet, but the Victoire wasn’t able to find a way to put one past fantastic goalie Aerin Frankel.
NCAA Games
#1 Wisconsin vs. #15 St. Thomas
#2 Minnesota vs. MN State (home & home)
#3 Ohio State @ #5 MN Duluth
#4 Cornell @ Union & RPI
#6 Penn State @ RIT
#7 Quinnipiac @ Princeton
#8 Northeastern @ Maine
#9 UConn vs. Vermont
#10 St. Cloud State @ Bemidji State
There were a few upsets this weekend, but certainly the most notable and surprising outcome from the weekend was unranked MN State sweeping a home and home series against #2 Minnesota. Minnesota’s offense went cold this weekend, kept to just 2 total goals between the 2 games. Props to the Mavericks on one of the strongest weekends they have played in quite awhile.
In other matchups, Ohio State will surely reclaim the #2 ranking after a strong and impressive weekend sweeping #5 MN Duluth. #7 Quinnipiac got swept by Princeton, and both #4 Cornell and #10 St. Cloud State lost one of their two games this weekend in OT (not against each other; Cornell was beaten by Union and St. Cloud State lost to Bemidji State).
Final Thoughts
It feels so good to have the PWHL back in season, and it was a busy and exciting weekend of hockey between the PWHL and NCAA games! There were a lot of strong and impressive performances this weekend; who impressed or surprised you the most?
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