NWHL 2019-2020 Season Review

By Janet Schultz, NYHOL

Photos by Janet Schultz, NYHOL

The National Womens Hockey League has faced hurdles in its short 5-year history. 

Starting out with four teams in October 2015 Dani Rylan launched the first-ever paid professional women’s hockey league that created a place for women to play after college.

The Inaugural season was held from October 2015 to March 2016 with a pre-season, All-Star weekend and playoffs.The League has their own “Stanley Cup” with the Isobel Cup, named after Lord Stanley’s daughter.

Expansion was on the horizon but didn’t come into play until the 2018-19 season when the Minnesota Whitecaps, a long-standing women’s team, came into the league.

Issues with ownership, sponsorship and ultimately how players were paid led to a walk-out of 200 plus players in 2018-19. Those players formed the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association and went off to play Showcase games, leaving the NWHL to sign players for upcoming season.

With a handful of former players staying in the NWHL, this season would have a new look to it. It also gave an opportunity for more talented women to take to the ice when the season opened in October.

In Buffalo there was another turn of events with the Pegula’s returning the team to the NWHL on May 8, 2019 with no explanation. That also meant there was no room at HarborCenter and the Buffalo Beauts head off to Amherst’s NorthTowns Center for their home ice. A smaller facility but with a more “homey” atmosphere.

The Beauts welcomed a new Coach, new general manager and the addition of some hometown women on the team between May 2019 and the beginning of the fifth season.  Mandy Cronin was named GM in May and in June Pete Perram was named head coach.

The familiar faces of Erin Gehen, Emma Ruggiero, Richelle Skarbowski, Ana Orzechowski, Maddie Norton and Nikki Kirchberger are playing in an arena they are familiar to from their youth hockey days.

The Beauts played 24 games, ending in fourth place with a 8-16 season record.

With one game left the season ends abruptly with the Coronovius taking center stage in the world.

The Isobel Cup is postponed on March 12 with an announcement that Boston and Minnesota would play at a later date in Boston. That date is still not determined as the entire country is on a shut-down, with all sports hanging in limbo.

But that isn’t stopping the NWHL from planning ahead.

“Each season we get stronger, and without question, this has been our most successful season,” said Commissioner Dani Rylan in a statement to NYHOL.

“Almost every key metric is up significantly– sponsorship, viewership, social media engagement, promotion of women’s and girl’s hockey, youth hockey participation,” she continued. “We had everyone – more than 110 players, our GMS, coaches, team and league staff, and our partners and supporters — pulling in the same direction.” said Rylan.

“That’s the story of this NWHL season,” she added.

Rylan added more women to the fold with Hayley Moore as president in Boston; Shelley Picard joining as Deputy Commissioner, Karilyn Pilch, Bray Ketchum, Kate Whitman Annis and Mandy Cronin as general managers.

Now the move to make the 2020-21 season a reality with player signings.

On March 26 Kendall Cornine became the first player to sign a 2020-21 contract, returning to the Metropolitan Riveters. 

“The NWHL has given me the opportunity to fall back in love with the game and fulfill my dream of playing professional hockey,” said Cornine, who joined the Riveters in 2019-20. 

In the past month 14 players have signed their contracts for the sixth season; and Boston extended the contracts of Coach Paul Mara and General Manager Karilyn Pilch.

Re-signing Contracts:

Rebecca Morse with the Riveters, a four-year NWHL player from New Jersey.

Brooke Wolejko, Connecticut Whale; one of the three Fan Favorites this season.

Taylor Accursi with the Beauts, the club’s leading scorer.

Madison Packer, the Riveters Captain returns for her sixth season.

Lisa Chesson returns to the Beauts, the former Olympian and long-time member of Team USA is signing for her fourth season in the NWHL. Chesson is a two-time NWHL All Star and was part of the team that won the 2017 Isobel Cup.

Allie Thunstrom re-signed with Minnesota after a 25 game, 25 goal season. She was the League’s Co-MVP and first Whitecap to re-sign.

Emma Vlasic, a rookie in 2019-20 re-signed with the Connecticut Whale. She led the team in goals.

Boston re-signed Christina Putigna, an NWHL All Star in her rookie year.

Shannon Doyle re-signed with Connecticut. She served as Captain and led the NWHL in blocked shots. This is her sixth season in the NWHL.

Earlier this week the Riveters resigned Leila Kildruff, Cailey Hutchison and Malloy Rushton.

Kaycie Anderson re-signed with the Whale and McKenna Brand re-signed with Boston.

Just prior to the end of the season the NWHL made their award announcements. This season awardees are:

Co-MVPs

Allie Thunstrom, Minnesota Whitecaps and Jillian Dempsey, Boston Pride

NWHL Foundation Award

Allie Thunstrom, Minnesota

Lexi Bender, Boston

Rebecca Morse, Metropolitan

Emma Ruggiero, Buffalo

Jordan Brickner, Connecticut

Goaltender of the Year

Lovisa Selander, Boston

Newcomer of the Year

Kate Leary, Metropolitan

Defender of the Year

Kaleigh Fratkin, Boston

Fans Three Stars of the Season

Amanda Leville, Minnesota

Marie-Jo Pelletier, Buffalo

Brooke Wolejko

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What’s next for the NWHL?

With the challenges in women’s hockey, Rylan sees the NWHL as continuing to do their part to work through those challenges and work with everyone to grow women’s hockey.

“I have an overwhelming sense of gratitude to everyone involved in the NWHL over the last year, especially our fans,” said Rylan.

The NWHL is seeking potential players and ask them to register at https://www.nwhl.zone/freeagency. Eligible players must have completed their collegiate hockey careers.

With contracts already being offered and signed by players, those interested are asked to contact the NWHL via the web as soon as possible. 

As far as the 2020-2021 season…like everything else, it’s on hold, except for the planning!