Category: Connecticut Whale

Whale Bring Back Doyle For Fifth Season

The Connecticut Whale made a signing today. Bringing back their veteran All Star blue liner Shannon Doyle, for a fifth season!

Doyle had an amazing season last year, as she played in 13 games, registering 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points. One of her goals came via the power play and she scored a game winning goal against the Riveters. She also accounted for 15 blocked shots, in the newly revamped defensive play that the Whale displayed last season. Also, in the playoff game against the Riveters, she recorded an assist and a blocked shot.

 

Earlier this week, she posted this:

 

Here are a couple of highlights that she provided last season:

 

After she signed, she posted this on Twitter:

 

 

Tweets from Women’s Sports Highlights were used with their permission, you can follow them on Twitter here: @WSportHilites

Women’s Hockey News – 200 Women to Boycott for a Viable Long Term Hockey League

A little before noon today over 200 professional female hockey players announced that they will be boycotting this upcoming season until the get a “Long-Term Viable” Professional Women’s Hockey League.

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In the statement above that was released by around 200 professional female hockey players it states that it is time to create a sustainable league for Women’s hockey that will give them the abilities to have health insurance, have the ability to train adequately for games, and most importantly, making a livable wage playing hockey.

 

A couple hours after the #ForTheGame announcement was made, NWHL put out the following statement:

Screenshot_20190502-134630_Yahoo Mail

 

In this statement from the NWHL, the biggest takeaway is that they have all intentions moving forward with the 2019-20 season, and that they will be offering increased salaries, and a 50-50 in revenue from sponsorships and media rights deals after long constructive and positive conversations with the NWHL Player’s Association over the past month.

 

In regards to the NWHLPA, Director Anya Battaglino had the following statement when reached for comment on the news:

“In the off season the NWHLPA has been working hard to continue to drive the betterment of our professional athletes every day. This announcement halts our ability to finally have the best players on one stage, and unfortunately sets the Women’s Hockey game backward. With the powerful opportunity we have this year to drive unprecedented growth, this new fragmentation will only slow that growth.”

 

While examining Mrs. Battaglino’s statement here, we have to agree with her assessment on this situation. While yesterday, May 1st, marked the official end of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) as they closed their doors, the NWHL acted swiftly and added two more teams to their league with the prospects of a third team to make it an 8 team league when the initial announcement was made in an effort to give more women an opportunity to play professionally in the NWHL.

 

Also, look at the growth of Women’s hockey in these last two years specifically. From the US Olympic Hockey Team winning the gold medal against Team Canada, to setting a US attendance record for a Women’s hockey game at the NWHL All Star Game in Nashville, to having Kendall Coyne Schofield becoming the first woman to participate in the NHL All Star Skills Competition. These women have made great gains only to halt it’s momentum to a near dead halt, and it’s a damn shame.

 

Do these women deserve to play professionally, and make a living wage doing so? Oh hell yes they do. They deserve it, and most importantly they’ve earned it, but what they are doing does not seem like the way to go about it. While we don’t have the answers here ourselves, we do believe that there has to be a better way to accomplish the ultimate goal, and that is to have the ultimate professional Women’s hockey league that brings great stability and a long term viable option for women to play the game.

 

We do know that one player has spoken out against the #ForTheGame movement as reported by The Ice Garden, and that is Boston Pride player Kaleigh Fratkin.

 

We will have more here on TXHT as everything unfolds, but to quote our Connecticut Whale writer Christopher Vasilas ( @shaggy901516 ):

“We’re definitely at the crossroads, every decision by the league and players is gonna have huge impact on future generations”

March 8th, 2019 — News and Notes

Today is Friday, March 8th, 2019, and these are your news and notes.

There were 11 NHL contests yesterday


*Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations and their respective owners

Yesterday’s Results (Home team in CAPS):

BOSTON 4, Florida 3

The Boston Bruins would sneak past the Florida Panthers with a 4-3 win last night.  Boston’s Patrice Bergeron would score twice in the contest and Brad Marchand would have a three assist night.  With Boston’s win, they would go on to extend their point streak to 18 contests.

 

Boston’s goaltender Tuukka Rask would go on to have a 22 save performance in the contest.

 


*Image is the property of the Boston Bruins, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

PITTSBURGH 3, Columbus 0

The Pittsburgh Penguins would go on to shutout the Columbus Blue Jackets last night with the 3-0 win.


*Image is the property of the Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

NY Islanders 4, OTTAWA 2

The New York Islanders would go on to double up the Ottawa Senators with the 4-2 win and Valtteri Filppula would go on to have two goals in the contest for the Islanders.

With the win, the Islanders would go on to get the sweep in the home-and-home series against the Senators.

 

 

DETROIT 3, NY Rangers 2 (SO)

Detroit’s Andreas Athanasiou would score a goal in the contest and would get what would be the only goal in the shootout frame to seal the win for the Red Wings in the contest. 

 

 

For the Rangers, Pavel Buchnevich would score what would be the two goals in the contest.

Minnesota 3, TAMPA BAY 0

The Minnesota Wild would cool off the white-hot Tampa Bay Lightning with the 3-0 win.  Minnesota’s Jason Zucker would score the only goals in the contest.

 

 

With the lone goals scored by Zucker, he would be only the second player in franchise history and the 23rd in League history to not only have at least three goals that were the only goals in the contest but the team would also register a shutout as well.

 

 

CHICAGO 5, Buffalo 4 (SO)

The Chicago Blackhawks would go on to register the 5-4 shootout win against the Buffalo Sabres.

 

 

Chicago’s Artem Anisimov would go on to have two goals in the contest, while Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane would both go on to have two assists in the contest.

 

 

DALLAS 4, Colorado 0

The Dallas Stars would go on to shutout the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas last night and Alexander Radulov would go on to register a hat trick in the contest, sealing the hat trick in the contest with 2:58 left in the third period with his empty net goal.

 

 

EDMONTON 3, Vancouver 2

The Edmonton Oilers would go on to sneak past the Vancouver Canucks with the 3-2 win last night.

Edmonton’s Alex Chiasson, Zack Kassian, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would go on to score the goals for the Oilers in the contest.

Vancouver’s Jay Beagle would go on to snap his scoreless streak in the contest with his third goal on the season late in the second period.  Alexander Edler would also go on to register a goal in the third period but that would not be enough to tie up the game.

 

ARIZONA 2, Calgary 0

 

The Arizona Coyotes would go on to blank the Calgary Flames last night and with the win, the Coyotes would move to a record of 33-29-5.

 

 

Calgary Flames infographic from last night’s contest

 


*Image is the property of the Calgary Flames, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

St. Louis 4, LOS ANGELES 0

 

 

 

The St. Louis Blues would go on to record their fifth shutout in the past twelve contests and the NHL-best ninth shutout on the season as they would go on to blank the Los Angeles Kings by the score of 4-0.

 

SAN JOSE 5, Montreal 2

 

San Jose Sharks defenceman Brent Burns would go on to record his 60th assist on the season, and joins three other players to have at least 60 assists at the age of 33 or older.

 

 

 


*Image is the property of the San Jose Sharks, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

For the Montreal Canadiens, Andrew Shaw and Artturi Lehkonen would score the only goals, despite out shooting the Sharks in this contest.

 


*Image in the property of the Montreal Canadiens, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

 

 

Tonight’s NHL schedule of contests…


*Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

 

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Last night in the 2019 NWHL’s Isobel Cup Playoffs Play-in game, the Metropolitan Riveters would take on the Connecticut Whale and would come out with the 5-2 win.

The contest would be fast-paced in the first period, with the game being tied a 2-2.  The second period in the contest would be filled with penalties and neither team would take advantage of the extra skater.  The third period would start out slow until Riveters Audra Richards would end up scoring what would be the game winner at the 2:35 mark.  There would not be another goal scored until toward the end of the period when Alexa Grushow would score her second goal in the contest and then with 16 seconds left, Audra Richards would score an empty net goal.

The Metropolitan Riveters will now take on the Minnesota Whitecaps on Sunday 2:30 p.m., ET/1:30 p.m., CT.

TXHT’s Christopher Vasilas has your full recap of the contest between the Connecticut Whale and Metropolitan Riveters at the following page.

Riveters Punch Ticket To Minnesota

The NWHL had their playoff play-in game tonight; as it was the Metropolitan Riveters against the Connecticut Whale in Newark. The two teams had split the season series and were headed for an epic confrontation. At the end of the game, it was the Riveters who came out on top by a final score of 5-2. They now have the honor of flying to Minnesota and taking on the red hot Whitecaps on Sunday at TRIA Rink.

A quick recap of the game. In the first period, the Riveters were dominating play early. Until a counterattacking rush by the Whale led to a goal coming from the captain Emily Fluke. Four minutes later, the Riveters would get one back, as Courtney Burke came around the net, and her shot hit the post and went in. Two minutes later, Whale rookie sensation Katerina Mrázová showed off some incredible moves and roofed a shot, off her backhand beating Katie Fitzgerald, giving the Whale a 2-1 lead.

Three minutes later, the Riveters would claw back in the game before the end of the first, Alexa Gruschow would find herself in-between the hash marks and she fired a shot that beat a screened Erin O’Neil. The first period would end tied at 2.

There was only one penalty called in the first, and it was late in the period. Why do I bring that up? In the second period, there was a grand total of 9 penalties called throughout the period. 5 penalties were dolled out against the Whale and 4 penalties were called on the Riveters. Unfortunately, there was nothing doing on both power plays as the penalty kills were performing phenomenally. At the end of the second period, there was no scoring and heading into the third, the game was still tied at 2.

In the third, there were no penalties called, as the referee’s decided to swallow their whistles and let the players play. The Riveters got off to a quick start into the third as rookie Audra Richards continued to plague the Whale, sniping a shot over Erin O’Neil. The Whale pressed play hard, and had a few great chances, but Katie Fitzgerald shut the door on them. Late in the period, while the Whale were pressing the attack, Riveters forward Alexa Gruschow was sprung on a breakaway and deked to her back hand beating Erin O’Neil for a goal.

Audra Richards would add the empty net at the end of the game, sealing the victory for the Riveters. Erin O’Neil made 22 saves off of 26 shots, and Katie Fitzgerald made 24 saves of 26 shots.

For the Connecticut Whale, it means that their season is over. Unfortunately with an 11 game losing streak to boot. The team consistently plays hard and has proven to be able to skate with the best of them. What an incredible year the Whale have had, and I’m looking forward to the players continued development and taking the league by storm next season.

 

3 Stars of the Game

Whale

Katerina Mrázová: The incredible rookie skated hard and had some incredible dekes to boot. Her hard work got her a goal and an assist on the scoreboard.

Emily Fluke: The captain got the team going, scoring the first goal of the game. She made some great plays in the offensive zone that led to some significant chances for the Whale.

Shannon Doyle: She’s the textbook example of what hard work is supposed to be, she was flying all over the ice. Jumping up on the rush in the offensive zone and blocking shots on the back end. She contributed with an assist, which is her 5th against the Riveters this season.

 

Riveters

Audra Richards: She really likes playing against the Whale. She had already scored 6 goals against them in the regular season, she added 2 more to that tally. One of them is a game winner.

Alexa Gruschow: She contributed with two goals on the score sheet. Both goals were huge; as the first one tied the game at 2 and the second one, on the breakaway, gave the Riveters an insurance marker.

Miye D’Oench: The Riveters forward played her last home game for them, and she had an incredible performance, tallying two assists.

 

Boxscore

The boxscore for this epic game can be found here:

https://www.nwhl.zone/game/show/24666097?subseason=593663&referrer=4170043

March 6th, 2019 — News and Notes

Today is Wednesday, March 6th, 2019, and these are your news and notes.

 

There were 10 contests in NHL action yesterday…


*Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

BOSTON 4, Carolina 3 (OT)

 

The Carolina Hurricanes would take on the Boston Bruins last night and the Hurricanes would don the Hartford Whalers throwbacks for the final time this season.

 

 

The Boston Bruins would go on to defeat the Hurricanes in the contest with the 4-3 win in the overtime frame, thanks to David Krejci’s goal.  That goal would be his 16th on the season.

 

Columbus 2, NEW JERSEY 1 (SO)

 

The Columbus Blue Jackets would get a very important win last night against the New Jersey Devils with a 2-1 win, picking it up in the shootout frame.

 

 

NY ISLANDERS 5, Ottawa 4 (SO)

 

The New York Islanders would take on the Ottawa Senators and would come away with the 5-4 win in the shootout frame and with the win, Islanders head coach Barry Trotz would notch his 800th win.

 

PITTSBURGH 3, Florida 2 (OT)

 

The Pittsburgh Penguins would face off against the Florida Panthers last night in downtown Pittsburgh, and the Penguins would escape with the 3-2 win in overtime.

 


*Image is the property of the NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins, and their respective owners

 

Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby would have one goal and two assists to reach the career mark of 1,200 points for his career.

In this contest, Pittsburgh’s Matt Cullen would become the 20th player in League history to play in at least 1,500 games.

 

Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby would reach the 1,200 career point mark last night, tying Dino Ciccarelli for 47th place on the NHL’s all-time list in the contest.  He would reach the mark in 927 games, the 12th fastest in NHL history.

 

 

 

TAMPA BAY 5, Winnipeg 2

The Tampa Bay Lightning would go on to host the Winnipeg Jets last night and would go on to crush the Jets with the decisive 5-2 win in Tampa last night.

 

NASHVILLE 5, Minnesota 4 (SO)

The Nashville Predators would face off against the Minnesota Wild and would get the win tanks to the lone shootout goal in the contest by Nashville’s Ryan Johansen.  There would also be four different goal scorers in this contest for the Predators.

 

DALLAS 1, NY Rangers 0

In a penalty-filled contest last night, the Dallas Stars would defeat the NY Rangers last night by the score of 1-0.  The lone goal of the contest came from Stars John Klingberg, early in the second period.

Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop would go on to have 28 saves in the contest and would earn his fourth shutout on the season.

 

COLORADO 4, Detroit 3 (OT)

 

After trailing twice in the third period, the Colorado Avalanche would come back and defeat the Detroit Red Wings with a 4-3 win in the overtime frame.

 

 

Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen would go on to have one goal and two assists in the contest and Nathan MacKinnon would go on to net the game-winner in the overtime frame to clinch the win for the Avalanche.

 

Anaheim 3, ARIZONA 1

 

The Anaheim Ducks would snap the Arizona Coyotes six game win streak with the 3-1 last night in Glendale, Arizona.

 

In this contest, Ryan Kesler would play in his 1,000th NHL game.

 

Montreal 3, LOS ANGELES 1

 

In this contest, the Montreal Canadiens would score the first three goals in the contest, which would help guide the Canadiens to a 3-1 win last night over the Los Angeles Kings in downtown Los Angeles last night.

 

 

 

Tonight’s NHL schedule of games…

 


*Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

TXHT’s Steve Gardiner has your preview of the contest between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks at the following page.

 

 

 

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*Image is the property of the NWHL and their respective owners

 

With the 2019 NWHL Isobel Cup Playoffs kicking off tomorrow with the play-in game between the Connecticut Whale and the Metropolitan Riveters, TXHT’s Christopher Vasilas has your preview of the contest at the following page.

 

Whale And Riveters Set For Playoff Rematch

The first playoff game for the NWHL this year will take place on Thurday March 7th at 7p EST. It features the two teams that finished fourth and fifth in the season standings. Finishing fourth place, and the host of this playoff match up, is the Metropolitan Riveters. Unfortunately, finishing last in the standing is the Connecticut Whale. The game will take place at the RJW Barnabas Health Hockey House.

Last year these two teams met in the Isobel Cup semi final game which saw the Riveters win that game, and would go on to win the championship that year, beating the Buffalo Beauts in the finals.

A quick look back at that game, the goalie match up last year was Katie Fitzgerald for the Riveters, and Sydney Rossman for the Whale. The Riveters jumped out to a quick lead, after a minute into the game, the goal coming from Rebecca Russo. This got the crowd going and the Riveters dominated play. However at the end of the first period, the Riveters only had a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, it was more of the same, dominance from the Riveters and eventually a breakthrough for them, as Erika Lawler would net a goal a little over halfway through the second period.

Unfortunately in the third period, the wheels came off from the Whale. About halfway through, when the Whale were on the power play, Madison Packer got a breakaway and scored while short handed. This really deflated any possible notion of a Whale comeback, because shortly after, the Riveters would get two more goals in quick fashion. Goals coming from Bray Ketchum and Kelly Nash. Rossman would depart from the game after the Ketchum goal and Keira Goin would finish the game. It ended with the final score being 5-0 in favor of the home team.

Boxscore for this game can be found here:

https://www.nwhl.zone/game/show/20901411?subseason=484754&referrer=3422133

Fast forward a year later and both teams are again meeting in the playoffs. Perfect time for some revenge? Possibly. We do know that the Riveters will be starting Katie Fitzgerald on Thursday, info provided from Mike Murphy.

How have the Whale fared against the Riveters this season? Decently. Their record against them is 2-1-1 and they are also 1-0-1 against them in Newark, NJ.

The last time that the Whale and the Riveters matched up was on January 6th, a 6-3 victory for the Riveters. However it was Maria Sorokina in net for the Riveters, and the previous loss to the Riveters was back on November 25th, a shootout loss with Kimberly Sass in net.

Why bring that up? Well, the last time the Whale faced off against the Riveters with Katie Fitzgerald in net was all the way back on December 2nd, which was a 4-0 victory for the Whale in Pittsburgh; and the first game that these two teams squared off against each other was all the way back on November 18th, a 2-1 victory for the Whale with, you guessed it, Katie Fitzgerald in net. So this year, the Whale are a perfect 2-0 against Katie Fitzgerald.

Will the Whale continue to be the kryptonite against Katie Fitzgerald? Or will Fitzgerald go on another spectacular run in the playoffs like she did last year, posting two shutouts?

The game can be watched here:

3 Players to Watch

Audra Richards: The Minnesota native and Riveters rookie has had an incredible year for them, scoring 8 goals! 6 of her 8 goals have come against the Whale, including a hat trick! She is the only player in the NWHL to record a hat trick this season!

Katerina Mrázová: The Czech international, and Whale rookie has put up some stellar numbers this year, she leads the team in points with 12 (6g, 6a). 6 of her 12 points on the year have come against the Riveters (4g, 2a).

Shannon Doyle: The Whale blue liner has had a great year this season. She is one of the most consistent players for them. Against the Riveters, she has 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points. Both of her goals against the Riveters have been incredible, they include a game winner in the final minute and a sick deke against Katie Fitzgerald.

Tweet from Women’s Sports Highlights were used with their permission, you can follow them on Twitter here: @WSportHilites

March 4th, 2019 — News and Notes

Today is Monday, March 4th, 2019, and these are your news and notes

There were eight games on the NHL schedule yesterday…

*Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

Yesterday’s results:

Washington 3, NY RANGERS 2 (SO)

The Washington Capitals took on the New York Rangers for a matinee game and would escape this contest with a much needed win and would regain the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.

This game would not be without controversy in the shootout when Rangers goaltender Alexander Georgiev would throw his stick at an oncoming Alex Ovechkin on the latters shootout attempt.  It would at first be called a no goal but then after a meeting between all four on ice officials, it would be called a goal and the Capitals would pick up the win.

TXHT has your full coverage of the contest between the Capitals and the Rangers at the following page.

Philadelphia 4, NY ISLANDERS 1

There would be four different goal scorers for the Philadelphia Flyers as they would take down the New York Islanders by the score of 4-1 yesterday afternoon.

VEGAS 3, Vancouver 0

The Vancouver Canucks would face off against the Vegas Golden Knights yesterday and would get crushed, losing by the score of 3-0.

The Canucks would get out shot 49-19 in the contest and Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury would have his eighth shutout on the season in this contest, the most for a goaltender on the season.

 

ANAHEIM 2, Colorado 1

The Anaheim Ducks would take on the Colorado Avalanche and would get a much needed win for the Ducks.

Ottawa 3, FLORIDA 2

 

Winnipeg 5, COLUMBUS 2

The Winnipeg Jets would visit the Columbus Blue Jackets and would come away with the 5-2 win over Columbus thanks to four goals in the contest by Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler.

 

Nashville 3, MINNESOTA 2 (SO)

The Nashville Predators would take on the Minnesota Wild and would escape with the 3-2 win in the shootout frame.

SAN JOSE 5, Chicago 2

 

Today there are only two games on the NHL slate.


*image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

 

NWHL

 

Yesterday would close out the regular season for the NWHL.  Two contests took place with the Minnesota Whitecaps visiting the Connecticut Whale and the Buffalo Beauts visiting the Metropolitan Riveters.

 

Minnesota Whitecaps 4, CONNECTICUT WHALE 1

First in the Minnesota Whitecaps at the Connecticut Whale game, the Minnesota Whitecaps would clinch the number one seed in the NWHL Isobel Cup playoffs with the 4-1 win over the Whale.

Minnesota’s Lauren Barnes would score twice, these being the first goals of her NWHL career, and Amanda Boulier picked up two assists in the contest.  Whitecaps goaltender Amanda Leveille would go on to have 24 saves on 25 attempts in the contest to seal the first regular season championship for Minnesota who continued to make history for the franchise and the NWHL.

Minnesota will host the winner of the play-in game between the Connecticut Whale and the Metropolitan Riveters on Sunday at 2:30 p.m., ET/1:30 p.m., CT at the TRIA Rink.

TXHT has your coverage of the weekends contest for the Connecticut Whale at the following page.

METROPOLITAN RIVETERS 4, Buffalo Beauts 3 (SO)

In an exciting back and forth game, the Metropolitan Riveters would come back from a 2-0 deficit to take down the Buffalo Beauts with the 4-3 win in the shootout yesterday afternoon.

Throughout the second period, there would be multiple penalties between both teams and Riveters Madison Parker would be the only one to take advantage of the extra woman on the ice with Parker’s goal at the 17:41 mark.

Riveters Taylor Accursi would end up netting the winner in the shootout frame to seal the win for Metropolitan and they will now host the Connecticut Whale in the play-in contest of the 2019 NWHL Isobel Cup Playoffs on Thursday night at 7 p.m., ET at the RWJBarnabas Health Hockey House.  The winner of that contest will take on the Minnesota Whitecaps at TRIA Rink on Sunday at 2:30 p.m., ET.

 

After these contests, the 2019 NWHL Isobel Cup Playoff schedule is now set.  You can see the schedule at the following link.

Whale Swept In Final Back To Back Of The Regular Season

The Connecticut Whale played their last two games of the regular season at home at Terry Conners Rink. The first game was against the Buffalo Beauts and the second game was against the Minnesota Whitecaps.

 

1st Game

In the first game on Saturday, the Whale were defeated by the Buffalo Beauts. The Beauts jumped out to an early 3-0 lead by the end of the first period. Goals for the Beauts came from Annika Zalewski, Taylor Accursi, and Juliana Iafallo. Emily Pfalzer assisted on two of the goals in the first period.

In the second period, there would be more Beauts dominance against the Whale, and late in the second period, the Beauts would get another breakthrough, the goal coming from Corinne Buie.

In the third period, the Beauts would add another goal, it came from former Whale forward Kelly Babstock. It would be her fourth goal on the year and her first coming against her old squad. However, the Whale would spring to life a minute after the goal. Beauts forward Corinne Buie would take a slashing minor and on the ensuing power play, Whale defender Shannon Doyle scored. For Shannon Doyle, it was her fifth point in six games (one goal and four assists). Five minutes later, the Whale would add another goal from Rachael Ade.

Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Whale would come to a comeback. The Beauts held on to take the game by a score of 5-2. Shenae Lundberg was the goalie of record for the Whale and she made 25 saves on 30 shots.

3 Stars

Shannon Doyle: Scoring on the powerplay, she now has three goals and five assists on the year, and now has eight points in her last eleven games.

Rachael Ade: She now has two goals in her last three games as of Saturday. She pushes her totals to two goals and one assist for three points on the year.

Katerina Mrázová: She added two primary assists assists adding to her points lead.

 

2nd Game

On Sunday, the Whale played their final home game of the regular season, against the Minnesota Whitecaps.

In the first period, there were good back and forth action between the two teams. Unfortunately, a little over halfway through the first period, Whale forward Vanessa Gagnon went down with an apparent leg injury. Stunned by the situation, the Whitecaps would get a goal from Allie Thunstrom.

In the second period, the Whitecaps would jump out to a 2-0 leas when Lauren Barnes beat Erin O’Neil. The Whale would get a goal back which was provided by their captain Emily Fluke. Mrázová came around the net and sent the puck across the crease and Fluke was there to put the puck home.

Before the end of the second period, the Whitecaps would add to their lead with Lauren Barnes notching her second goal of the period and her second of the game.

In the third period, there was a lot of great back and forth action, with great goaltending being supplied by both goalies Amanda Leveille and Erin O’Neil. However the Whale wouldn’t be able to make a comeback as Kendall Coyne Schofield would add an empty net goal. The Whitecaps would win the game by the final score of 4-1.

3 Stars

Erin O’Neil: The goalie of record for the Whale, she kept them in the game. She made 30 saves on 33 shots.

Katerina Mrázová: Getting her third point over the weekend on an assist from the Emily Fluke goal, it pushes her point totals on the year to six goals and six assists for twelve points on the year.

Emily Fluke: She notched her third goal of the year, which combined with her eight assists, gives her a point total of eleven. It is good for second on the team in points, finishing up an impressive sophomore campaign for her.

 

Playoffs:

The Whale will square off against the Metropolitan Riveters in the playoffs again; as it will be a rematch of last years semi-final matchup. The game will be at the RWJ Barnabas Health Hockey House this Thursday March 7th at 7p EST.

 

Tweet from Women’s Sports Highlights was used with their permission and you can follow them here: @WSportHilites

Whale Set For Weekend Back To Back

The Connecticut Whale will close out their regular season with back to back home games at Terry Conners Rink in Stamford, CT, against the Buffalo Beauts and the Minnesota Whitecaps.

The first game against the Beauts will be on Saturday at 6p EST. The last time the Whale played the Beauts at home was on Opening Day in which the Whale were defeated 4-0. Also, unfortunately, the last game the Whale played against the Beauts, they were also defeated 3-1 in Buffalo.

The game can be watched here:

https://www.nwhl.zone/watch

3 Players to Watch

Katerina Mrázová: Having scored the only Whale goal against the Beauts, she looks to continue her great rookie campaign, in which she has scored six goals on the year.

Emily Fluke: She has had a great sophomore campaign in the NWHL, having scored two goals and added seven assists. She looks to continue to lead her team with fierceness and tenacity.

Michelle Löwenhielm: The Swedish rookie scored in her last game against the Boston Pride, as she looks to continue her great play she has consistently displayed all season long.

The Whale’s next game on Sunday is against the Minnesota Whitecaps. In the three previous games though, they have shown that they can skate well with them. Unfortunately the last game, they were defeated by the score of 9-0 and worse yet, that was the game they lost star goalie Meeri Räisänen for the rest of the season. Their last home game against the Whitecaps, they were beaten by a score of 4-1. The Sunday game will be at 3p EST.

The game can be watched here:

https://www.nwhl.zone/watch

3 Players to Watch

Amanda Boulier: In her previous homecoming match, the former Whale defender registered a goal and added two assists. Also, in her last game against the Whale in Minnesota, she scored a goal.

Michelle Löwenhielm: Having scored the only goal against the Whitecaps, off a sweet assist from Emily Fluke, the Swedish All Star has three goals and three assists in her rookie year in the NWHL

Shannon Doyle: She got a secondary assist on the Löwenhielm goal against the Whitecaps in Connecticut. She currently has registered five points in her last seven games.

February 20th, 2019 — News and Notes

Today is Wednesday, February 20th, 2019, and these are your news and notes.

 

There were nine contests yesterday in NHL action.

 

 

FLORIDA 4, Buffalo 2

The Florida Panthers would take on the Buffalo Sabres and would come away with the 4-2 win.  Florida’s Jonathan Huberdeau would score twice for the Panthers in this contest.

 

Pittsburgh 4, NEW JERSEY 3

The Pittsburgh Penguins would take on the New Jersey Devils and there would be four different scorers for the Penguins in this contest.

For the Devils, Patrick Warburton brought back his Puck Daddy character in a pre-game ceremony for New Jersey  with the ceremonial puck drop.

 
Tampa Bay 5, PHILADELPHIA 2

The Tampa Bay Lightning would take on the Philadelphia Flyers and would come away with the decisive 5-2 win at Wells Fargo Center last night.

 
NY Rangers 2, CAROLINA 1

The New York Rangers would defeat the Carolina Hurricanes thanks to scoring two goals after being down 1-0 in Raleigh last night.

MONTREAL 3, Columbus 2

There would be three different scorers for the Montreal Canadiens as they would take down the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 3-2 win in Montreal last night.

ST. LOUIS 3, Toronto 2 (OT)

The St. Louis Blues would mount a comeback and defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs with the 3-2 in the overtime frame.

TXHT’s Steve Gardiner has your full recap of the contest between the St. Louis Blues and the Toronto Maple Leafs at the following page.

Anaheim 4, MINNESOTA 0

The Anaheim Ducks would have another big win, getting a shutout against the Minnesota Wild.  The Ducks would take down the Wild 4-0.  Ryan Miller would get another shutout win and would add to his career win total after setting the NHL record for all-time wins by a U.S.-born goaltender on Sunday night.

Nashville 5, DALLAS 3

The Nashville Predators would take down the Dallas Stars with a 5-3 win, thanks to two goals from Nashville’s Roman Josi in the third period.  Filip Forsberg would also add a goal of his own in the third period, his 21st on the season.

Arizona 3, EDMONTON 2 (SO)

Shootout Summary

Arizona’s Vinnie Hinostroza would seal the win for the Coyotes with the lone goal in the shootout frame.

 

There are four contests on the NHL schedule tonight…

 

 

For more news, notes, information, and stats…

 

 

In NHL news…

Philadelphia’s Radko Gudas has a hearing today for High-sticking/slashing Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov in last night’s contest.

The Toronto Maple Leafs yesterday would release the throwbacks that they will wear on March 15th and March 16th.  The throwbacks worn will be the white Toronto St. Pats jersey worn in the 1920s.  These jerseys are similar to the ones that were worn for a game back in March 2017.

 

The jerseys are available for pre-order through the Toronto Maple Leafs team store at this link.

 

 

 

NWHL

 

Remaining NWHL Schedule of Games:

Saturday, February 23rd: Metropolitan Riveters at Buffalo Beauts

Sunday, February 24th: Boston Pride at Connecticut Whale (NWHL Twitter Game of the Week)

Saturday, March 2nd: Buffalo Beauts at Connecticut Whale

Saturday, March 2nd: Minnesota Whitecaps at Boston Pride

Sunday, March 3rd: Minnesota Whitecaps at Connecticut Whale

Sunday, March 3rd: Buffalo Beauts at Metropolitan Riveters

NWHL Isobel Cup Playoff Schedule will be announced at a later date