Tag: NWHL

Season 6 Timeline Announced by the NWHL

Today the National Women’s Hockey League announced their Season 6 timeline. Back in April, the league founded a COVID-19 Safety Committee, so that they could set forth a plan for a safe and strategic return to play. The NWHL tapped Infectious Disease and Sport Health officials to help lead these efforts.

On the Safety Committee are Doctors Andrew Feldman, MD and Guillen Gonzalez-Lomes, MD from the NYU Langone Health, an official partner of the NWHL, league executives and representatives of the NWHL Players Association. The priority for the committee is formulating a plan that protects the well being of all the participants and fans.

 

“The Safety Committee has and will continue to prioritize NWHL player, staff, fan, and media safety above all else while adapting to the ever-changing COVID-19 situation. We are eager to meet the challenge ahead and do our utmost to safely return the athletes to the sport they love.”

– Dr. Gonzalez-Lomas, assistant professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Health expert at NYU Langone Health

 

With today’s announcement, the committee laid the foundation for what they will look to accomplish, and their timeline of events for the remainder of 2020 heading into 2021.

 

  1. The NWHL will look to start optional on-ice practices and off-ice training, and have it available for all teams and players beginning the week of September 21st.
    • Teams will be looking to continue their focus on enhanced opportunities for player development starting in September as well.
  2. Then beginning on the week of October 19th, the NWHL will look to begin formal practices.
    • Throughout this process the NWHL teams will be strictly adhering to the protocols established by infectious disease experts, the NWHL medical team, and community experts in each market.
  3. In January of 2021 the NWHL will look to begin Season 6.
    • Each team will play a full season of twenty (20) games.
    • The Isobel Cup Playoffs is expected to be completed by the end of March.
    • The NWHL will look to hold the 2021 All Star Game after the Isobel Cup has been awarded.

 

“We are undoubtedly eager to get back on the ice and can’t wait for the season to start. However, we also recognize the challenges everyone faces by the global health crisis, and we want to ensure that not only are we protected but our fans, media, coaches, support staff, and arena personnel are protected as well. The league has done an awesome job at including us in these discussions. While a slight delay to the start of the season is tough, I feel strongly that everyone’s safety and health will continue to be at the forefront of all decisions. We will continue to practice and train in accordance with state, provincial, and league guidelines. When the time comes, we will be ready to battle for the Isobel Cup in Season 6 and to play for the best fans in the world.”

– Allie Thunstrom, Minnesota Whitecaps

 

One of the most interesting tidbit to come out of this is that the NWHL still plans to have a full 20 game regular season with the Isobel Cup awarded at the end of March. Looking at the calendar we could potentially see the NWHL kick start their season on Friday, January 1st, and have games every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday going to the end of February, and have the Isobel Cup Playoffs begin potentially on Friday, March 5th to achieve the goal of having the Isobel Cup awarded by the end of the month.

 

We’re about a month and a half away from Phase One beginning for the NWHL, and I’m for one am very excited for the return of the NWHL.

 

TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings and news are announced.

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Beauts Sign Draft Pick Defender

News coming out of Buffalo today, as they signed their 2020 fourth round draft pick, defender Kelly O’Sullivan.

 

Here is the profile that was written about her on draft night:

2 (20) – Buffalo – D Kelly O’Sullivan, Adrian College

Kelly O’Sullivan is from Iverness, Illinois. The defender played her college hockey at Adrian College, where she played for 4 years. In those 4 years, she scored 29 goals and added 85 assists for a total of 114 points. Which is good for 4th all time in the program’s history.

 

Congratulations and welcome to the league!

 

TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings and news are announced.

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The Six Add Another Forward

News coming out of Toronto today, and not just the Eastern Conference playoff teams reporting to the bubble. The Toronto Six have added forward Mackenzie MacNeil to their inaugural roster.

Mackenzie MacNeil is from Richmond Hill, Ontario. She played 4 years of college hockey at the University of Vermont. After college, she played 1 season in the CWHL with the Toronto Furies. Then, she went overseas to apply her talents, where she played in the EWHL in Denmark, playing for Hvidovre.

This will be her first season in the NWHL. Congratulations and welcome to the league!

 

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Huge Announcements For The Whale

A couple of announcements came out of Danbury yesterday.

Since finding out that teams will have a set of home and away jerseys for this season upcoming. A buzz for what Connecticut will be wearing has stirred. Would they keep the green jerseys, would they bring back their Season 1 blue jerseys?

Yesterday, the Whale released their new jersey. They are keeping the green jerseys, designating them for road games and they will be wearing white for home games. Here they are:

It is a little different than the previous white jerseys they used to have. The previous white jerseys had the wave on the bottom by the waist. It would appear that the current white jerseys have a whale tail at both of the arms of the jerseys. They have John Buccigross’ seal of approval.

 

It was also announced, during the live stream, that Janine Weber would be returning to the Whale for next season!

The late signing for the Connecticut Whale, last season played 8 games and had 4 assists before the season ended. Then in the playoffs, she added another assist.

It will be her 5th season in the NWHL for the Austrian native. She will bring her veteranosity to an already talented forward core.

 

Signings So Far:

Goalie

Brooke Wolejko

Abbie Ives

Defender

Shannon Doyle

Elena Orlando

Taylor Marchin

Victoria Howran

Maggie LaGue

Laurel Hill

Forward

Emma Vlasic

Kaycie Anderson

Hanna Beattie

Katelynn Russ

Melissa Samoskevich

Amanda Conway

Nicole Guagliardo

Kayla Friesen

Alyssa Wohlfeiler

Grace Klienbach

Sarah Schwenzfeier

Janine Weber

 

 

The NWHL Twitch Extravaganza and You Need to Know!!

Today in the National Women’s Hockey League they held a Twitch Extravaganza with all sorts of interviews, reveals, and free agent signing announcements!

 

Free Agent Signings!

  • Teresa Knutson signs with the Metropolitan Riveters. It will be her rookie season in the NWHL!
  • Mackenzie MacNeil signs with the Toronto Six. It will be her rookie year in the NWHL!
  • Taylor Turnquist signs with the Boston Pride. The last signee of Boston’s 2020 NWHL Draft.
  • Janine Weber re-signs with the Connecticut Whale. The latest signing for the Whale returns for another season!
  • Kayla Meneghin signs with the Buffalo Beauts. The Beauts sign the NWHL veteran, and it will be her first season in Buffalo.

 

Interviews!

Tori Sullivan

  • Massive TikTok’er
  • If the championship game were to be played, Pride would have won in overtime. Thunstrom would have scored for the Whitecaps.
  • Awesome to add another team, in Toronto.
  • Differences between privately owned teams vs. league owned teams. Mainly in terms of gear, food, and other accommodations.
  •  Mend on the Move, non-profit based in Detroit, employs survivors of abuse in Metro Detroit to create jewelry which provides them with an income while in recovery.
    • https://mendonthemove.org/pages/our-mission
  • Doesn’t know who Lucille Ball is??
  • Can’t wait for Season 6!

 

Rebecca Morse

  • Game winning goal, Isobel Cup win, and playing at Prudential Center amongst favorite NWHL memories.
  • Never apologizes for others blocking her shot
  • Started out as a goalie
  • Toronto is an excellent hockey city
  • “I’ve been taking the time to reflect how I can grow individually and how I can give back to the game.”
  • Nice getting to know new teammate Saroya Tinker
  • Talking about the awesome game that was the Buffalo Believes Classic
  • Support Local Business’ and promote LGBT Community

Jersey Reveal!

Connecticut Whale unveiled their new jersey today!

The Whale bring back the white jersey, with some subtle differences from the last time they had white jerseys.

 

Buffalo Believes Classic

The stream also played the entire Buffalo Believes Classic outdoor game between the Buffalo Beauts and Metropolitan Riveters. You can read about it here.

 

Intermission 1

Lindsay Eastwood of the Toronto Six is joined by Brooke Avery of the Metropolitan Riveters

  • Avery, had a ton of fun playing Buffalo Believes Classic. Recalls memories of playing the outdoor game at Fenway Park
  • Tom Brady is Avery’s favorite athlete
  • Both Eastwood and Avery played together at Syracuse University
  • Looking forward to getting back and being with teammates
    • Also looking forward to playing against the Six
  • Practiced for the Buffalo Believe Classic in Central Park
  • Uses slightly smaller shin pads, exposes her ankles to shots.
  • Switching her number from 21 to 16 for the season upcoming

 

Intermission 2

Lindsay Eastwood of the Toronto Six is joined by her teammate Mikyla Grant-Mentis of the Toronto Six

* Due to work, we were unable to watch the interview to give full details about this interview.

 

TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings and news are announced.

 

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A Special Announcement By The NWHL

The NWHL is set to do some programming on their Twitch page tomorrow Wednesday, July 22. It’s gonna be a special 3 hour program that will start at 11a, hosted by Gamer Doc!

NWHL

Amongst some of the things talked about are interviews with Tori Sullivan of the Boston Pride. Rebecca Morse of the Metropolitan Riveters. A pair of segments featuring Lindsay Eastwood of the new NWHL team, the Toronto Six.

However, more importantly, there will be live announcements of NWHL free agents! So the NWHL could be having players return for season 6 or could be introducing new players to the league. We’ll have to wait and see.

 

And in case that wasn’t enough, there will be an exclusive unveiling of new uniforms for the Connecticut Whale!

So, be sure to tune in to the NWHL’s Twitch page, tomorrow at 11a!

 

TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings and news are announced.

 

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Whale Make Splash Signings

News coming out of Danbury, CT, as the Connecticut Whale re-signed 3 players today. Forward Grace Klienbach, forward Sarah Schwenzfeier, and defender Laurel Hill are all coming back to the Whale for another season.

https://twitter.com/NWHL/status/1284148604395909120?s=20

All Star Grace Klienbach will be returning to the Whale for her third year on the team. Last season she played 24 games, she scored 1 goal and added 7 assists for 8 points on the year. In the playoffs, she added another goal.

Sarah Schwenzfeier is returning for her third year on the Whale. Last season, she played 22 games where she tallied 6 goals and added 3 assists for 9 points on the team. She was 2nd on the team in terms of goals, only behind Emma Vlasic.

Defender Laurel Hill will be returning for her second year in Connecticut. The late signing last season played for 7 games, tallying an assist on the year. This will be the first full season that she will play with the team.

https://twitter.com/CTWhale_NWHL/status/1284151677310861318?s=20

With these three signings, the Whale now have 19 players ready for next season.

Welcome back!

 

Signings So Far:

Goalie

Brooke Wolejko

Abbie Ives

 

Defender

Shannon Doyle

Elena Orlando

Taylor Marchin

Victoria Howran

Maggie LaGue

Laurel Hill

 

Forward

Emma Vlasic

Kaycie Anderson

Hanna Beattie

Katelynn Russ

Melissa Samoskevich

Amanda Conway

Nicole Guagliardo

Kayla Friesen

Alyssa Wohlfeiler

Grace Klienbach

Sarah Schwenzfeier

 

TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings and news are announced.

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Boston Pride Sign Draft Pick

News coming out of Boston today as they signed their 2020 5th round draft pick, defender Paige Capistran.

Paige was the last player taken in the 2020 NWHL Draft, here is the profile on her:

6 (30) – Boston – D Paige Capistran, Northeastern University

Paige Capistran is from Manchester, New Hampshire. She played her college hockey at Northeastern University for 4 years. In those 4 years, she scored 4 goals and added 26 assists for a total of 30 points.

 

Congratulations and welcome to the league!

 

TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings and news are announced.

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Beauts Re-Sign Trio

News coming out of Buffalo today, as the Beauts made a trio of signings today. They are bringing back goaltender Kelsey Neumann, forward Kristin Lewicki, and forward Emma Ruggiero.

Neumann will be returning for her 4th season with the Beauts. Last year she posted a record of 3-3-1 with a 4.40 GAA and a .879 Save Percentage.

Kristin Lewicki is returning for her 3rd season in Buffalo. Last year, in the 6 games she played, she tallied 2 goals and added 4 assists for 6 points on the year.

Emma Ruggiero is returning for her 2nd season in Buffalo. In the 10 games she played, she tallied 1 assist.

 

TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings and news are announced.

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Riveters Sign Draft Pick

News coming out of New Jersey today, as the Metropolitan Riveters have signed their 2020 4th Round pick, Bridgette Prentiss.

Here is her profile, from draft night:

3 (21) – Metropolitan – D Bridgette Prentiss, Franklin Pierce University

Bridgette Prentiss is from Buffalo, New York. The defender played 4 years of college hockey at Franklin Pierce University. In her senior season, she was named captain of the team. In her 4 years there, she scored 36 goals and added 61 assists for a total of 97 points. That is good for 5th all time in the program’s history.

 

Congratulations and welcome to the league!

 

TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings and news are announced.

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