December debuts with four games hosted by Minnesota and Montreal
The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) regular season schedule continues as the calendar turns to December. There’s another two weekend doubleheaders in store with two teams looking for their first wins including the Connecticut Whale who travel to Quebec to take on the Montreal Force, and the Minnesota Whitecaps who host the Metropolitan Riveters.
Here’s a closer look at more of what’s in store for puck drop.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 3, 2022
1:00 PM ET – Connecticut Whale (0-1-0) vs Montreal Force (2-2-0)
(ESPN+ & TSN.ca with Maura Sheridan and Erica Ayala, TVA Sports 2)
A week after their historic Montreal debut, the Force travel north to the town of Sept-Îles where they’ll host the Connecticut Whale who are hungry for hockey. In many ways it feels like opening weekend for the reigning regular season champions who hit the ice for the first time in four weeks and get to play their first full series of the new campaign. Connecticut is still in search of their first win after being shutout by Boston back on Nov. 5, then had their Nov. 19-20 series against Buffalo postponed. The Whale also lost their first test of the 2021-22 season, but rebounded to win a franchise record 15 games while supplying the league’s most potent offense with a 3.7 goals-per-game average. So far Montreal has won the opening game in both of their weekend series and rank third in scoring with a 3.25 average. Their power play ranks first with a .231 efficiency having converted on three of their opportunities so far with the advantage, and match up against the Whale who shared last season’s best penalty kill rate which could make for an interesting special teams battle. Montreal’s Jade Downie-Landry is tied for the PHF scoring lead following her five-point performance, one better than Kennedy Marchment’s single-game high of four during her first season with the Whale where she captured MVP honors and was the league’s top scorer.
7:00 PM ET – Metropolitan Riveters (2-3-0) vs Minnesota Whitecaps (0-2-2)
(ESPN+, TSN.ca with David Gascon and Erica Ayala)
Minnesota is also in search of their first win and hope that home cooking provides the recipe when they welcome the Metropolitan Riveters for a weekend set. The Whitecaps have salvaged two points thus far in overtime losses, including their last game in Richfield where they scored a season-high four goals Nov. 19 despite the heartbreaking loss to Boston. The teams meet for the first time since March’s preliminary playoff round where the Whitecaps earned a 4-1 win, led by Jonna Albers who recorded three assists and Sydney Baldwin who had two points including the game-winning goal. It was a matchup in the making given how close the Riveters and Whitecaps were during the 2021-22 campaign. The fourth and fifth place teams were separated by just two points in the standings, their goals for figure differed by only two, their goals against were off by one, and they split the head-to-head including a pair of three-goal differentials Feb. 19-20 in Minnesota. The Whitecaps hope history is on their side, holding a 4-2 all-time advantage on home ice against the Riveters. That won’t mean much for Metropolitan with 17 new faces, however their three returnees did fare well the last time in town with Madison Packer and Kendall Cornine each producing three-point weekends, plus two for Kelly Babstock.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 4, 2022
12:00 PM ET – Connecticut Whale vs Montreal Force
(ESPN+ & TSN.ca with Sam Fryman and Maura Sheridan, TVA Sports)
2:00 PM ET – Metropolitan Riveters vs Minnesota Whitecaps
(ESPN+, TSN.ca with David Gascon and Erica Ayala)
SALUT SEPT-ÎLES
The second of six home weekends for the Force to showcase professional women’s hockey across the province of Québec to celebrate their inaugural season takes us to Sept-Îles, which is French for Seven-Islands. Located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, the town is over 500 driving miles from Montreal and one of the northernmost locales in the province’s eastern region with a population around 25,000. It’s the hometown of Force captain Ann-Sophie Bettez who expects to have close to 30 family and friends in attendance. Perhaps a fitting visit for Connecticut, since the bay of Sept-Îles can often be home to marine life such as minke whales, fin whales, blue whales, and humpback whales.
WHALES TO WATCH
During Connecticut’s record-setting 2021-22 campaign the team had three players rank inside the league’s top-10 scorers. Kennedy Marchment led the way with 33 points, Taylor Girard tied for third with 24 points, and Amanda Conway tied for sixth overall with 21 points. Marchment was held off the scoresheet just twice all season, including last year’s opener before producing a 10-game point-streak. Neither Girard nor Conway went two games without a point once the calendar hit December which also makes them prime candidates for breakout performances now that the team is back in action.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEERI
Goaltender Meeri Räisänen turned 33 on Friday and surely hopes to celebrate her birthday weekend with a Whale win. The three-time Olympian who has also represented her native Finland at six IIHF Women’s World Championships returns to the PHF after competing in Connecticut during the 2018-19 season. Her last PHF appearance was January 20, 2019 in a year where she posted two victories including one shutout in 12 games, with a goals-against-average of 3.03 and save percentage of .908.
STACEY SNIPES
The only player on the expansion Montreal Force with any PHF experience heading into the season was Brooke Stacey, and she re-introduced herself to the league with a three-point weekend including her first goal of the year last Sunday against the Riveters. It should come as no surprise if she’s a factor again this weekend facing Connecticut, since eight of her 17 career points recorded as a member of the Buffalo Beauts including four of her eight goals scored during her rookie 2019-20 campaign came against the Whale.
SWEDISH HOCKEY HISTORY
When Riveters defender Ebba Berglund steps onto the ice opposite Whitecaps forward Ronja Mogren it will be the first time in PHF history where two players from Sweden have gone head-to-head. The pair are among a record 20 international players in the PHF this season and five to ever represent their country in PHF competition. There are two other Swedes currently in the PHF, both goaltenders, including Boston’s Lovisa Selander and Buffalo’s Lovisa Berndtsson who have yet to meet in game action.
STREAKING RIVETERS
Sarah Bujold and Fanni Gasparics enter the weekend as two of the hottest players in the PHF, both riding four-game point-streaks and combining for the only three shorthanded goals scored so far this season. Bujold tied for the league’s scoring lead in November with eight points, counting five goals, which included two shorthanded. Gasparics has four points including two goals, one of which was shorthanded. Their seven total goals represents half of the Riveters total output to date.
KEEP AN EYE ON KAYCIE, MAKINEN BACK IN MINNESOTA
Riveters forward Kaycie Anderson returns to her home state this weekend to take on the Whitecaps. The Maple Plain, MN native is competing in her sixth PHF season and first with Metropolitan after spending the last five with Connecticut. Last March when the Whale visited Minnesota she scored one of her two goals of the season. Another Riveters connection to the State of Hockey is goaltender Eveliina Mäkinen who spent time at the University of Minnesota-Duluth during the 2014-15 season. She’ll reunite with some former Bulldogs teammates turned Whitecaps in Ashleigh Brykaliuk, Sidney Morin, and Emma Stauber.
WHITECAPS CELEBRATE WOMEN’S HOCKEY HISTORY
On Sunday the Whitecaps will host a women’s hockey history game and are excited to welcome Sue Ring-Jarvi for the honorary puck-drop. She’s one of the sport’s pioneers who helped organize the University of Minnesota’s first women’s club hockey team in 1974, and founded the Women’s Hockey Association of Minnesota (WHAM) in 1977. She also founded the Minnesota Blue J’s team that inspired the Whitecaps’ new mascot, Rollie, who is a blue bird. The team will also celebrate new U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux who were members of the Whitecaps organization from 2015-17 when they competed independently before joining the PHF. Among their many highlights, the Lamoureux twins won Olympic gold with the 2018 U.S. National Women’s Team that featured current PHF stars in Minnesota’s Sydney Morin, Metropolitan’s Amanda Pelkey, and Boston’s Kali Flanagan.
CREASE CUTS
Montreal has routinely split the goaltending duties to date, giving Tricia Deguire the first game of both weekend series. She’s won them both with a goals-against-average of 3.36 and save percentage of .875. Marie-Soleil Deschênes is still looking for her first Force win, posting a 3.04 GAA and .867 SV% in her two Sunday starts. Abbie Ives is the only goaltender on record so far for the Whale, allowing four goals on 41 shots against Boston. Amanda Leveille has carried the torch the entire way for the Whitecaps and ranks third in minutes played and fourth overall in saves while producing a GAA of 3.26 and SV% of .893. Rachel McQuigge has also appeared in four games for the Riveters and ranks third in saves. The newcomer has a GAA of 3.54 and SV% of .891 to go with her 1-3 record. Eveliina Mäkinen picked up her first career win in her PHF debut on Sunday, stopping 25 of 27 shots.
STATS SNAPSHOT
Of the players in action this weekend, Montreal’s Jade Downie-Landry and Metropolitan’s Sarah Bujold are tied for the league-lead with eight points. Jonna Albers is the top scoring Whitecap with four points. Team shots on goal leaders are Bujold with 24, which ranks five behind the league-lead, Minnesota’s Sidney Morin with 16, Downie-Landry with 13, and Connecticut’s Alyssa Wohlfeiler with six. Players with top faceoff efficiencies include the Riveters’ Kelly Babstock (.629), Connecticut’s Katerina Mrazova (.577), Montreal’s Laura Jardin (.571), and Minnesota’s Sydney Brodt (.552).
Fans in the United States can enjoy live PHF action all season long exclusively on ESPN+ for just $9.99 a month (or $99.99 per year) at ESPN.com, ESPNplus.com or on the ESPN App (mobile and connected devices). In Canada, live coverage of the PHF is available to TSN subscribers through the network’s five television feeds as well as live streaming via TSN.ca and the TSN app. PHF games that are part of the ESPN International distribution network may be available in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa via ESPN Player, in Latin America via Star+, the Caribbean through ESPN Player via the ESPN App, and Oceania through Watch ESPN via the ESPN App. All Montreal Force games are available in French exclusively on TVA Sports.
Cover photo by Arianne Bergeron
