Four defining storylines for the PWHL season
The IX: Hockey Friday with The Ice Garden, Nov. 29, 2024
Not only is it a huge week in the United States (I’m Canadian so bare with me folks), but it’s also a big week in women’s hockey! My name is Alyssa Turner from The Ice Garden and I’m back bringing you today’s Hockey Friday piece.
In just a few short days as I’m writing this, the 2024-25 PWHL season will be underway with our first two games of the year taking place in Toronto as the Sceptres host the Fleet. And in Montreal as the Victorie go head-to-head with the Charge. Opening weekend in the PWHL will continue on Sunday where the Minnesota Frost will raise their Walter Cup Championship banner before a matchup against the New York Sound. You can check out the full schedule for the 2024-25 PWHL season here.
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There’s a lot of anticipation in the women’s hockey world ahead of the Professional Women’s Hockey League as it begins its second season. Season one was an absolute hit. From sold-out games, to endless lists of sponsorships, and so much more. The expectations for the new season are quite high for not only fans, but players and teams as well. Season one had a huge celebratory feeling to it. The women’s hockey world had finally morphed into one North American league and there was a lot of excitement and relief in that. On the Jocks in Jills Podcast, Toronto Sceptres captain Blayre Turnbull talked about the anticipation that the new season has surrounding it.
“I think that in year two, the focus is going to be on (the) hockey.” the Toronto Sceptres captain said with excitement.
After listening to Blayre’s interview with the Jocks in Jills Podcast it had me thinking: what will season two really be about?
Well, let’s dive into it.
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Here are my picks for four storylines I will be watching during the the 2024-25 PWHL season:
High-scoring hockey
If you had the pleasure of watching even a small moment of PWHL hockey last year you saw how fantastic the goaltending was. Night in and night out goalies we’re stealing the show. It didn’t matter if they were a team’s starter or backup, goalies were phenomenal across the entire league. Funny enough, in the first-ever game Corinne Schroeder recorded the league’s first shutout as she played spoiler for New York against Toronto in their own building. Schroeder’s 29-save performance was just the start of the goaltending excellence we witnessed.
The inaugural PWHL season had 144 regular season games with each team playing in 24. There were a total of 60 games that included a goalie allowing less than 2 goals. So yeah, goalies were GOOD last season.
If I had to guess a trend I’d see this upcoming season it would be high-scoring hockey. After a year of teams building chemistry and mixing different playing styles, I think we will see a rise in goal scoring. But that’s not to say goalies still won’t be absolutely lights out either. Keep an eye out for players who “underperformed” last season in terms of their own personal production. Hilary Knight’s shocking goal total of only 6 will be something to laugh at this upcoming season.
The rookie class of 2024
Do me a quick favour, go and look at the 2024 PWHL Draft results. Don’t worry, I’ll still be here when you finish looking.
Okay, you’re back?! Perfect.
Holy stacked, right? Sarah Fillier, Danielle Serdachny, Claire Thompson, Hannah Bilka, Cayla Barnes, Izzy Daniel, Izzy Daniel and so many more that I don’t have the time to name. This upcoming PWHL rookie class is insanely talented. It’s going to be an insane race for Rookie of the Year. When I think of the new PWHL season, the young talent that is entering the league sticks out to me in terms of the impact many of them could have on their teams this season. Keep your eyes on this class not only this year, but for years to come in the PWHL.
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In-arena experience
The inaugural season of the PWHL was like a record-breaking contest when it came to sold-out crowds. From Toronto to Montreal, to Detroit. Records were consistently broken thanks to NHL rink takeovers and unbelievable crowds.
The 2024-25 PWHL season has the chance to continue that momentum. I think what makes this season extra special though is the addition of team names, logos, and proper individual branding for each team. Last year each team had their city, and colors, and that was about it. This year there’s so much more to each team’s story and the in-arena experience has the chance to go to the next level not only in their own home buildings, but in their takeover spots across the NHL and Junior Men’s Hockey as well. Earlier this week it was announced that Vancouver had already sold out tickets for their stop on what the league is calling the Takeover Tour.
Penalties
Okay, this one is one I’m really hoping we don’t see come true but last season was the first time we saw women’s hockey players really be able to add more physicality to their game without being penalized. This has perks. It made games more intense, developed rivalries and storylines quicker, and I think brought a different feel to the women’s game that it’s been sort of missing. Sadly it also saw some negatives. We saw injuries, players not really knowing how to take a hit, or receive a hit. At times it really wasn’t that pretty.
Ahead of the 2024-25 season the PWHL released their new rulebook with some edits and new additions to last year’s.
The biggest thing here that stood out to me was the new rule about head contact and how the officiating crew will now assess a major penalty and game misconduct as a default penalty for all illegal checks to the head that occur during play. As someone with a deep rooted history with concussions, this is a huge relief and smart decision on the PWHL’s end. It also could result in more penalties than we saw last season.
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