PWHL Takeover Tour™ continues in Vancouver and Denver after exciting start in Seattle
NEW YORK AND TORONTO (January 7, 2025) – A closer look at highlights on and off the ice from around the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) a quarter of the way into the season.
PWHL TAKEOVER TOUR HEADS TO VANCOUVER AND DENVER
The PWHL Takeover Tour™ continues with two games this week in Vancouver and in Denver. Rogers Arena, home of the Vancouver Canucks, will be the tenth NHL venue to host a PWHL game on Wednesday night when the Montréal Victoire take on the Toronto Sceptres. Ball Arena, home of the Colorado Avalanche, will open its doors to the PWHL on Sunday when Montréal takes on the Minnesota Frost. Players will participate in youth hockey clinics in both markets. The PWHL Takeover Tour™ is a slate of nine neutral-site regular-season games that will be played outside the League’s current complement of cities. Click here for more.
SEATTLE SETS SEASON-HIGH ATTENDANCE
The puck dropped on the PWHL Takeover Tour™ with the highest attendance of the 2024-25 season, as a crowd of 12,608 watched the Boston Fleet win a thrilling 3-2 shootout over Montréal on Sunday at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA. This season’s attendance through 22 games is 148,311 – an average of 6,741 per game.
Jessica Campbell from the Seattle Kraken, who made history this season becoming the first woman to be named a full-time NHL assistant coach, met the Fleet before the game and read the starting lineup, then performed the ceremonial puck drop. Kraken forward Yanni Gourde, a native of Saint-Narcisse, QC, brought his daughter to meet the Victoire and read the starting lineup. Sports icons Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe were in attendance for the game and visited the Fleet after their win. Before the action on the ice, highlights from the Emerald City included open team practices and a youth hockey skills clinic at Kraken Community Iceplex, a trip to Pike Place Market, and a Saturday night Kraken game.
HISTORIC DEBUT FOR MINNESOTA’S O’DONOHOE
Frost rookie forward Kaitlyn O’Donohoe, who hails from Myrtle Beach, SC, played in her first career game on Thursday, becoming the first player from her state to compete in the PWHL. This season, the league has 62 American players from 19 different states. In addition to South Carolina (1), the states represented across the PWHL include Minnesota (18), New York (8), Michigan (6), Illinois (5), Wisconsin (4), California (3), Massachusetts (3), North Dakota (2), Ohio (2), Texas (2), Alaska (1), Colorado (1), Connecticut (1), Idaho (1), Missouri (1), New Jersey (1), Pennsylvania (1), and Vermont (1).
U18 WOMEN’S WORLDS UNDERWAY
Future PWHL talent is on display in Finland at the 2025 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. Eight countries, including Canada, Czechia, Finland, Japan, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States, began group play on Saturday, with tournament medals to be awarded on Sunday in Vantaa. A total of 95 current PWHL players have U18 experience competing in the top division dating back to the first tournament in 2008, which represents over 60% of the entire league. The 95 PWHL players consists of talent that represented Canada (45), United States (31), Czechia (9), Sweden (5), Finland (3), France (1), and Switzerland (1). Kendall Coyne Schofield (MIN) was a member of the first U.S. team to win gold in 2008 and is among 49 PWHL players who have compiled a total of 64 U18 gold medals. Cayla Barnes (MTL) and Taylor Heise (MIN) lead the way with three gold medals each with Team USA. Rookies Kayle Osborne (NY/CAN) and Daniela Pejšová (BOS/CZE) are the most recent PWHL players to compete in the tournament back in 2020.
CHARGE REPRESENT AT WORLD JUNIORS
The Ottawa Charge have been on the road since early December while Canada’s capital city played host to the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship. It didn’t stop the team from connecting with their community as players signed autographs at the tournament’s Fan Fest and attended games at TD Place and Canadian Tire Centre, notably Czechia’s Kateřina Mrázová, Aneta Tejralová and Tereza Vanišová who were invited as special guests by their home federation. Rookie Danielle Serdachny also presented Player of the Game awards following the semifinal matchup between Finland and Sweden. Members of the organization were on hand for Friday’s announcement that five IIHF women’s championships will be played in Canada between 2026 and 2030. It will be the first time in women’s hockey history that a country hosts five championships in as many years. Read more here.
SUNOHARA AMONG IIHF HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2025
On Friday, the IIHF Hall of Fame announced its Class of inductees for 2025, which includes Vicky Sunohara who serves as a Coach Consultant for her hometown Toronto Sceptres. During her incredible 17-year career, Sunohara won a total of nine gold medals and two silvers in eleven career events for Team Canada. She averaged a point a game while leading Canada’s offence (54 points in 56 Olympics and Women’s Worlds games). The IIHF Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on medal day at the 2025 Men’s World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 25. Read more here.
CARPENTER SETS RECORD POINT STREAK
New York forward Alex Carpenter scored a goal and an assist on Saturday against Minnesota to extend her season-opening point streak to seven games, setting a new PWHL single-season record. The 30-year-old from North Reading, MA has 10 points (5G, 5A) during this season’s streak, and 13 points (5G, 8A) in 10 straight games dating back to last season. Carpenter was also one of five players to produce a six-game point streak during the inaugural season, matched by Toronto’s Renata Fast (6A) earlier this season. Boston defender Megan Keller has the next longest active streak at four games (5A), followed by Sceptres forward Sarah Nurse at three games (1G, 2A).
SCHROEDER RECORDS SEASON’S FIRST SHUTOUT
Sirens goaltender Corinne Schroeder stopped all 26 shots in Saturday’s 5-0 win over the Frost to record the first shutout of the 2024-25 season. It’s a familiar achievement for the 25-year-old from Elm Creek, MB, who famously recorded the first shutout of the inaugural season with a 29-save performance on Jan. 1, 2024, in a 4-0 victory over Toronto in the first game in PWHL history. Schroeder leads all goaltenders with four wins this season and ranks second with a save percentage of .924. Last regular season, PWHL netminders combined for 11 shutouts in 72 games.
MONTRÉAL AND MINNESOTA TOP THE STANDINGS
The Montréal Victoire (3-2-1-1) and the Minnesota Frost (3-2-1-2) are tied atop the PWHL standings with 14 points each. Despite Sunday’s shootout loss, the Victoire have earned 12 of a possible 15 points in their last five games. The Frost won the first game of 2025 last Thursday, a 4-3 overtime victory at home over Boston, but fell to New York by a 5-0 score at home on Saturday. The win for the Sirens (3-1-1-2), who sit in third place with 12 points, was the first shutout of the season and the largest margin of victory in PWHL history. The Ottawa Charge (3-0-1-3), Boston Fleet (2-1-1-4), and Toronto Sceptres (2-0-1-4) complete the standings where only seven points separate first from sixth place. Click to see standings and scores.
LEAGUE LEADERS
Carpenter’s 10 points in seven games is tied for first in the PWHL with Minnesota defender Claire Thompson (1G, 9A) who has 10 points in eight games. Carpenter’s five goals and Thompson’s nine assists are both category leaders. New York’s Sarah Fillier leads all rookies in scoring and ranks third overall with nine points (4G, 5A) in seven games, followed by teammate Jessie Eldridge with eight points (2G, 6A) in seven games, and Keller with eight points (2G, 6A) in eight games. Fleet forward Hannah Bilka is tied for second in rookie scoring with six points (2G, 4A), which includes a league-leading five points (2G, 3A) on the power play – contributing to Boston’s top ranked efficiency with the advantage (29.2%). In goal, Ottawa’s Emerance Maschmeyer leads the league with a .938 save percentage and is tied for first with a 2.00 goals-against-average. Click here for player stats.
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE
Tonight, the PWHL will pass the quarter mark of the schedule with Game No. 23 of 90 in the 2024-25 season. The action has New York hosting Ottawa for the second time in 10 days at Prudential Center at 7 p.m. ET. On Wednesday night, another pair of familiar foes do battle as Minnesota hosts Boston for the second time in seven days at Xcel Energy Center at 7:30 p.m. ET. That game is followed by the second stop of the PWHL Takeover Tour as Montréal and Toronto faceoff at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena at 10 p.m. ET. On Saturday afternoon, the Charge will play their first home game since Dec. 6 when they host the Fleet at 2 p.m. ET at TD Place. The week wraps up with a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon that begins with the Sirens and the Sceptres at Prudential Center at 12 p.m. ET, followed by the third game of the PWHL Takeover Tour between the Victoire and Frost at Denver’s Ball Arena at 3 p.m. ET.
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
7 p.m. ET – Ottawa Charge at New York Sirens (Prudential Center)
MSGSNHD/MSGSNZ1/MSGSNZ2, Prime Video (Canada)
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
7:30 p.m. ET – Boston Fleet at Minnesota Frost (Xcel Energy Center)
FanDuel Sports Network North, NESN, TSN 5
10 p.m. ET - PWHL Takeover Tour - Montréal Victoire at Toronto Sceptres (Rogers Arena, Vancouver)
TSN 1/3/4/5, RDS
Saturday, January 11, 2025
2 p.m. ET – Boston Fleet at Ottawa Charge (The Arena at TD Place)
CBC, NESN
Sunday, January 12, 2025
12 p.m. ET – Toronto Sceptres at New York Sirens (Prudential Center)
MSGSNHD/MSGSNZ1/MSGSNZ2, TSN 3
3 p.m. ET – PWHL Takeover Tour - Montréal Victoire at Minnesota Frost (Ball Arena, Denver)
FanDuel Sports Network North, NESN, TSN 3, RDS Info
All PWHL games will be streamed on the league’s YouTube Channel and at thepwhl.com, and are available to watch worldwide outside of Canada, and in Czechia and Slovakia where games are available via Nova Sport.