Regular season schedule reaches midway mark
The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) regular season featured five weekend games and six teams in action to officially bring the schedule to the midway mark with 42 games now complete. The Boston Pride took over first place with a weekend sweep over the visiting Buffalo Beauts, the Minnesota Whitecaps swept the host Metropolitan Riveters, and the Montreal Force picked up an exciting win over the Connecticut Whale in Pittsburgh.
Here’s a closer look at the results, top performers, and notable highlights:
SATURDAY JANUARY 14, 2023
Game 38
Montreal Force 5
Connecticut Whale 4
Box Score | Highlights
Montreal battled back from four different deficits to beat Connecticut in Pittsburgh thanks to a hat-trick by Ann-Sophie Bettez and the game-winner by Brigitte Laganière with just 19 seconds left in regulation.
Game 39
Minnesota Whitecaps 3
Metropolitan Riveters 2
Box Score | Highlights
Minnesota responded to a 1-0 Riveters lead with three-straight goals by Stephanie Anderson, Brooke Madsen, and Jonna Albers to win their first game at American Dream.
Game 40
Buffalo Beauts 0
Boston Pride 8
Box Score | Highlights
Boston displayed offensive and defensive depth in a dominant win over Buffalo led by Allie Thunstrom’s two goals and four points, McKenna Brand’s two goals and three points, and backed by Corinne Schroeder’s fifth shutout of the season.
SUNDAY JANUARY 15, 2023
Game 41
Minnesota Whitecaps 4
Metropolitan Riveters 1
Box Score | Highlights
The Whitecaps scored four unanswered led by defender Sidney Morin and fellow newcomer Natalie Snodgrass who finished with a goal and an assist each to complete the weekend and season sweep over the Riveters.
Game 42
Buffalo Beauts 1
Boston Pride 2 OT
Box Score | Highlights
Allie Thunstrom opened the scoring with a shorthanded marker and closed things out with the overtime winner as the Pride beat the Beauts for the fourth time this season.
STANDINGS AT HALF
The PHF regular season is exactly halfway through its 84-game schedule with eight more weekends still to play. The Boston Pride (11-2-0) reclaimed first place in the overall standings by collecting five of a possible six points to bring their total to 30 and three points ahead of the second place Toronto Six (9-1-2) who were inactive this weekend. The Minnesota Whitecaps (8-4-2) earned all six points this weekend and now have 26, just one behind T6 in third place. The Montreal Force (5-5-1) have 14 points in fourth place and used their win to climb over the Connecticut Whale (4-5-1) who sit in fifth with 13 points. The Metropolitan Riveters (4-10-0) are in sixth place with 11 points, followed by the Buffalo Beauts (1-7-2) in seventh place with five points.
SUCCESS IN STEEL CITY
The PHF’s fourth trip to Pittsburgh was one to remember as over 500 fans packed the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, the practice home of the NHL’s Penguins. The crowd was treated to a back-and-forth battle between Connecticut and Montreal, while the Whale honored the Pittsburgh Pennies who were pioneers in the sport when their program was founded 50 years ago. The day was officially declared ‘Pittsburgh Pennies Women’s Ice Hockey Day’ across Allegheny County. In addition to performing the ceremonial puck drop, members of the original Pennies were invited into the Whale dressing room to meet the team and read the starting lineup (watch here).
TWO SWEEPS COMPLETE SEASON SERIES
Minnesota became the first team in the PHF this season to earn all 12 points against their opponent with four regulation wins against the Riveters, outscoring them 15-7 in the process. Boston also won all four games against Buffalo earning 11 of a possible 12 points by virtue of Sunday’s overtime victory for a total score of 20-6. The Whitecaps now lead the Riveters 10-5 since 2018-19, while the Pride have a 28-11 all-time record against the Beauts since 2015-16. Should these teams meet again this season it would be in the Isobel Cup Playoffs and would both be rematches of the 2022 preliminary round.
BUFFALO VISITS CONNECTICUT
Both the Beauts and Whale will have a quick opportunity to rebound from weekend losses with a pair of mid-week matchups. The teams will face-off for the first time this season on Tuesday at Milford Ice Arena at 7:00 p.m. ET and again on Wednesday at ISCC at 7:30 p.m. ET. The first game is available via radio broadcast on Mixlr, a free audio streaming platform at https://mixlr.com/phfrn with Sam Fryman and Matt Wallace. Josh Eastern and Maura Sheridan will have the call in the second game, live on ESPN+ and TSN+. The series was rescheduled following Nov. 19-20 postponements. Connecticut swept the 2021-22 series and outscored Buffalo 15-5 over the four games.
BEAUTS SUSPENSIONS
Prior to Sunday’s puck drop, the PHF announced a two-game suspension for Buffalo head coach Rhea Coad as a result of a game misconduct assessed for verbal abuse of an official on Saturday against Boston. She’ll be eligible to return for Wednesday’s game in Connecticut. Beauts defenders Samantha Fieseler and Dominique Kremer were also out of the lineup on Sunday serving one game suspensions. The supplemental discipline was determined by the Player Safety Committee following automatic review of Saturday’s major penalties. Both players are eligible for Tuesday’s game against the Whale.
HAT-TRICK FOR BETTEZ
Montreal’s Ann-Sophie Bettez became the fifth PHF player to record a hat-trick this season following Toronto’s Brittany Howard, Boston’s Jillian Dempsey, Minnesota’s Natalie Snodgrass, and teammate Jade Downie-Landry who made Force history with the first three-goal game in the team’s home ice debut. The 35-year-old captain scored one goal in each period of Saturday’s game in Pittsburgh including her third power play goal of the season which ties for the PHF lead. Her eight goals overall are tied for fourth, while her 14 points are tied for seventh in the scoring race.
FIRST CAREER PHF GOALS
Brigitte Laganière picked the perfect time to score her first career PHF goal for Montreal. Suiting up for her 11th career game, the Force defender broke a 4-4 tie in Pittsburgh with just 19 seconds remaining in regulation time to lift her team to victory over Connecticut. Also on Saturday afternoon, Riveters defender Sarah Forster scored her first career PHF goal at the 15:25 mark of the second period in her 12th career game against Minnesota. The Switzerland native has three points so far this season.
EIGHTH TIME SCORING EIGHT
Boston tied a franchise record for most goals in a game on Saturday against Buffalo with eight. This marks the eighth time they’ve achieved the feat in a regular season contest following one occurrence in 2015-16, 2016-17, 2018-19, three times in 2019-20, and once during the 2021-22 campaign. This weekend’s outcome also matches their largest shutout margin following an 8-0 win over Connecticut back on Nov. 23, 2019. The Pride become the first team in the PHF this season to post eight goals, and were one of three teams to do it last season. The PHF record for goals in a game is nine, done three times by Minnesota during Season 4 including a 9-0 shutout on Jan. 20, 2019 vs the Whale.
GABEL TAKES OVER SCORING LEAD
Boston’s Loren Gabel is the PHF’s new leading scorer with 19 points including nine goals and 10 assists in 11 games following weekend action. She surpasses Toronto’s Brittany Howard who returns to action next weekend with 18 points including a league-leading 12 goals in 12 games. Gabel’s 10 assists are tied for the most in the PHF with Montreal’s Jade Downie-Landry. Minnesota’s Sidney Morin is currently the league’s top scoring defender with 13 points including six goals in 14 games, followed by Toronto’s Kati Tabin who has 11 points in 12 games.
SCORING STREAKS
The longest active point-streaks across the PHF include Boston’s Jillian Dempsey at eight games, followed by Minnesota’s Jonna Albers and Toronto’s Brittany Howard both at seven games. T6 defender Kati Tabin will look to continue her five-game point-streak next weekend, while Montreal’s Alexandra Labelle extended her stretch to five games, with Connecticut’s Kennedy Marchment and Melissa Samoskevich both at four games, and Justine Reyes at three games. Whale forward Taylor Girard previously held the longest streak at eight games before being held without a point on Saturday.
WU18 BRONZE FOR DECKER
Brianna Decker is returning from Sweden with some hardware to add to her collection. The PHF’s Team and Player Development Advisor served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team that claimed bronze with a 5-0 win over Finland on Sunday at the 2023 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. Canada won gold with a 10-0 win over Sweden led by Caitlin Kraemer who set a Canadian record for most goals in a tournament with 10. Slovakia’s Nela Lopusanova was named MVP with a tournament-high 12 points. 55 current PHF players have WU18 experience representing eight different national team programs, combining for 61 medals in the top division. Full list.
BETTEZ AND BRODT SET FOR ECHL STAGE
Montreal’s Ann-Sophie Bettez and Minnesota’s Sydney Brodt will hit the ice tonight in the 2023 Warrior/ECHL All-Star Classic in Norfolk, VA live on NHL Network. The event features four teams competing in a 3-on-3 tournament with an integrated skills competition. The Force captain will suit up for the ECHL’s Eastern Conference All-Stars, while the Whitecaps captain will play for the ‘Destroyers’ made up of members from the host Norfolk Admirals roster. This marks the second-straight season that PHF players are competing at the ECHL event following Jillian Dempsey and Allie Thunstrom in 2022.
Following the week’s Buffalo and Connecticut series, a full weekend of PHF is on the docket including three weekend doubleheaders between the Whale and host T6, the Beauts and visiting Riveters, and the Pride and host Force. All of the action is available across the United States live on ESPN+ and in Canada on TSN+, with both Montreal games available through TVA Sports.
Cover photo by Joe Sargent / Pittsburgh Penguins
