2023-24 Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) News

[VaCaps Fan]

Going to get the wife some stuff?

 

[JMCx4]

THE PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S HOCKEY LEAGUE (PWHL) THIS WEEK (5/20/2024)
PWHL Finals presented by Scotiabank are underway

NEW YORK AND TORONTO (May 20, 2024) – Here’s a look at highlights from the last week in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), plus a look ahead to this week’s action. ...

Read more at:

THE PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S HOCKEY LEAGUE (PWHL) THIS WEEK

www.thepwhl.com

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[JMCx4]

Walter Cup Finals Game #2 Primer, puck drop @ 7 PM ET.

 

[JMCx4]

Not happy with Nicole Hensley in goal for Minnesota. Game on.

 

[JMCx4]

Minnesota strikes first. Michela Cava on a 2-on-1.

 

[JMCx4]

2-0 MIN, Sophie Jaques this time.

 

[JMCx4]

End of one period @ Tsongas, 2-0 Minnesota. Boston killed a late minor penalty to keep things close.

 

[JMCx4]

Jess Healey shoots it in the wide open MIN net early for BOS in the 2nd, after finding the puck squirt from a goalmouth scramble ... but ... No Goal is the initial call, goaltender interference. After video review, the call stands. Still 2-0 visitors.

 

[JMCx4]

End of 2, score remains 2-0 in favor of MIN. Minny killed its first penalty in the last quarter of the period (allowing zero BOS shots), and ended the period on a second PK. The intensity of play (transitions, speed with the puck, physicality) stayed high for both teams. Oughta be a helluva Period 3, with a very short (wo)man advantage to start for Boston.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Good stuff!

 

[JMCx4]

Play under review for an initial charging call on Boston ... Jessica Digirolamo given 2 minutes, not 5.

 

[JMCx4]

Frankel pulled @ under 3 mins left, and Sophie Jaques scores her second with an ENG. 3-0 Minnesota.

Final Score of Game #2 = Minnesota 3 - Boston 0. Series tied & headed to St. Paul.

 

[LadyStanley]

Not happy with Nicole Hensley in goal for Minnesota. Game on.

Got a shutout. Hard not to like (in hindsight).

 

[JMCx4]

Got a shutout. Hard not to like (in hindsight).

IMO, Hensley didn't earn that shutout, her teammates did - especially her defenders. Boston forwards were stymied getting anywhere near the front of the Minnesota net without someone in their way, which is where Hensley is extremely weak. She is very slow to move side-to-side, and her up & down movement is almost as slow. She'd scare me if she was my goalie.

 

[JMCx4]

Game #2 Recap courtesy of the League ... JAQUES SCORES TWICE, HENSLEY EARNS SHUTOUT AS MINNESOTA EVENS PWHL FINALS

 

[LadyStanley]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1793301520189894929

 

[LadyStanley]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1793380633970110775

 

[LadyStanley]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1793461496514498608

Sweet

 

[LadyStanley]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1793701365400658085

 

[JMCx4]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1793701365400658085

Forward of the Year = MVP ... Speaks loudly that the League favors scoring over all other aspects of their New Game in Town. Except physicality, of course, but maybe they'll add a "Freight Train of the Year" award next season.

 

[uncleben]

Forward of the Year = MVP ... Speaks loudly that the League favors scoring over all other aspects of their New Game in Town. Except physicality, of course, but maybe they'll add a "Freight Train of the Year" award next season.

Lol, would be pretty funny (though not impossible) for one to win Best Forward but not MVP

Like maybe Spooner gets Best Forward for her offense, but Poulin gets MVP for offense plus *i*n*t*a*n*g*i*b*l*e*s*


Awards were voted on by an 18-member selection committee using a ranking ballot, but Idk if they released who was on that committee...

 

[JMCx4]

... Awards were voted on by an 18-member selection committee using a ranking ballot, but Idk if they released who was on that committee...

I'd bet you in US$ that Billie Jean participated in AT LEAST the MVP decision. She's gotten more face time with this League than Peter Puck did for the NHL in the 1970s.

 

[FrHockeyFan]

Lol, would be pretty funny (though not impossible) for one to win Best Forward but not MVP

Like maybe Spooner gets Best Forward for her offense, but Poulin gets MVP for offense plus *i*n*t*a*n*g*i*b*l*e*s*


Awards were voted on by an 18-member selection committee using a ranking ballot, but Idk if they released who was on that committee...

They did.

2024 PWHL AWARDS FINALISTS TO BE REVEALED MAY 14-23

www.thepwhl.com

But there was a bit of an uproar among long-time women's hockey media. Even Ian Kennedy wrote a piece in their support (THN got one guy on the committee. Just not him).

https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/media-respond-to-hand-picked-pwhl-award-committee

 

[JMCx4]

... there was a bit of an uproar among long-time women's hockey media. Even Ian Kennedy wrote a piece in their support (THN got one guy on the committee. Just not him).

https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/media-respond-to-hand-picked-pwhl-award-committee

Focusing on Mr. Kennedy's points of contention ...

... The primary issue resulted from the exclusion of many long standing members of women's hockey media, specifically independent outlets The Ice Garden and The Victory Press, as well as the perception that media involved were "hand-picked" by the PWHL.

It's a stark departure from how most North American professional leagues operate their award voting, and brings into question the validity of the results as the awards will ultimately be decided by league staff, rather than an independent panel. ...

(1) As I observed in a recent post in this mega-thread, the PWHL has clearly established the female equivalent of a "Good Old Boys Club" to help control their own destiny. This strategy included partnering very early with a number of specific sports media outlets in Canada & the U.S. (aka, the "hand-picked") to get the League noticed and to keep the North American "buzz" going through their hurried period of organization & their unusually short (and interrupted) first season of play. Expecting the PWHL powers-that-be-and-it-ain't-you to invite certain "long standing members of women's hockey media" who weren't among that original group of business partners smacks of sour grapes (with Ian Kennedy leading the grape stomping party).
(2) If Mr. Kennedy and the other excluded media types expected anything from PWHL behavior that wasn't "a stark departure from how most North American professional leagues operate," then they haven't been paying attention since the League Launch Zoom conference last August 29th and thus aren't suitable judges of which participants should be named inaugural winners of the League's awards.