The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is nearly at the halfway point of its season, with most teams playing 10 or 11 of their 24 games, with PWHL Minnesota leading with 12 games. Several milestones have been hit in the past 2.75 months, and some players are turning into shining stars. In this article, we’ll look at the progress of the PWHL and what we’ve seen up to the halfway point. First, we’ll talk about which players have stood out.
PWHL Stars
While the names Marie-Philip Poulin, Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Sarah Nurse are all names fans are familiar with, some others are starting to shine in the spotlight. Alex Carpenter currently leads in points, while Natalie Spooner leads in goals. Alina Müller has the most assists, and in goaltending, Elaine Chuli has the best save percentage.
While they may lead in stats, some other names are climbing the ranks, showing what talents they have. Players like Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Abby Roque, and many others have become fan favorites. They’ve seen their names written on signs and fans begging them for pucks and sticks. These women are being treated like the pros they are, and they deserve every second of it.
PWHL Milestones
So far this season, we’ve seen the first PWHL Draft, the first PWHL hat trick, and record-setting crowds, including over 13,000 in Minnesota and then over 19,000 in Toronto. We recently saw the first PWHL trade between PWHL Minnesota and PWHL Boston. We’ve seen plenty of players score their first goals, and also, many goaltenders make crazy saves like their male counterparts and record big shutouts.
Related: PWHL Toronto Wins 3-0 for Record-Setting Crowd vs. Montréal
We’ve also seen some not-so-great firsts, like the first penalties and the first suspension. However, there are still plenty of milestones to come, especially who will win the first PWHL postseason, but there are still plenty of games in this inaugural season before that happens. Hopefully, the second half of the season is just as memorable as the first.
PWHL Progress
The first half of the season has been successful for this league, and it looks to keep growing. Fans love it, and all the little girls who have become fans, now have players they want to be in the future. They have something to aspire to and know their careers can surpass college hockey if they’re good enough. Of course, the league will have its ups and downs regarding crowds, but so far, so good.
While fans have been enjoying watching these talented women play, these players finally have a league worthy of their talents after bouncing around between several different ones over the past few years. If the players didn’t have a league, they were skating whenever they could between tournaments like the Rivalry Series and the IIHF Women’s World Championship. Now, they’re practicing daily and have schedules more like NHL players, where they don’t need a second job and can solely focus their career on hockey. It’s truly a dream come true for women’s hockey, and hopefully, it continues to go up from here.
Obviously, they could expand to plenty of cities in the future, and it’ll be interesting to see how soon that happens. It may take a little bit to establish enough of a profit to expand to more teams, but regardless, this league has been nothing short of exciting so far.
PWHL Playoffs
While there is still half a season to go for these teams, PWHL Minnesota and PWHL Montréal have made it clear they are favorites to go all the way. They’ve been battling the first half of the season, and neither one has pulled away as the clear favorite. Currently, PWHL Minnesota is a point above PWHL Montréal, but that can easily change, and this will be a tight-knit battle to the end. If they maintain first and second place, it’ll be quite the playoff round for the championship.
The postseason is always an exciting time, but a first-time postseason will be a fantastic experience to watch. Fans will be so energized and excited to see the first-ever postseason for the PWHL and who will come out on top as the first-ever champion. As a born and raised Minnesotan who grew up playing hockey, I’m so thrilled to be able to witness this growth in women’s hockey, and I can’t wait to see who wins it all. It’s truly a dream come true for these women, and regardless of who wins, they now have a place to play and many more seasons to come.
