Six games and six different winners across a trio of doubleheaders
The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) regular season schedule continued with second half action ahead of the All-Star break. The weekend featured three series doubleheaders that all produced split results between the Boston Pride and Montreal Force, Connecticut Whale and Toronto Six, and Metropolitan Riveters and Buffalo Beauts.
Here’s a closer look at the results, top performers, and notable highlights:
SATURDAY JANUARY 21, 2023
Game 45
Connecticut Whale 4
Toronto Six 7
Box Score | Highlights
Toronto scored three goals in a span of 54 seconds to break a 2-2 tie in the middle frame and defeat Connecticut with multi-goal performances from Breanne Wilson-Bennett, Tereza Vanišová, and Brittany Howard.
Game 46
Boston Pride 5
Montreal Force 0
Box Score | Highlights
Boston’s Loren Gabel tied a PHF record with four goals and fellow newcomer Corinne Schroeder turned aside all 50 Montreal shots to earn her sixth shutout in 12 wins.
Game 47
Metropolitan Riveters 1
Buffalo Beauts 4
Box Score | Highlights
Buffalo snapped a franchise record 10-game losing streak with a home ice win over the Riveters backed by a 41-save performance by Lovisa Berndtsson who earned her first career PHF win.
SUNDAY JANUARY 22, 2023
Game 48
Metropolitan Riveters 8
Buffalo Beauts 2
Box Score | Highlights
The Riveters rebounded with an eight-goal offense led by Kelly Babstock and Madison Packer who both had two goals and one assist each as the team combined for six in the third to stun the Beauts.
Game 49
Boston Pride 1
Montreal Force 2 OT
Box Score | Highlights
Jade Downie-Landry scored on the power play at 4:02 of the extra frame to lead the Force to the franchise’s first ever overtime victory and win against the Pride in Rivière-du-Loup.
Game 50
Connecticut Whale 4
Toronto Six 1
Box Score | Highlights
Kennedy Marchment scored twice and Caitrin Lonergan added a goal and an assist for the Whale who became the first team to defeat T6 on Canadian ice in regulation.
STANDINGS THROUGH 50 GAMES
All seven teams have now completed over half of their regular season schedules with a total of 50 games from the league’s record 84-game calendar complete. The Boston Pride (12-2-1) secured four of a possible six points this weekend by virtue of their regulation win and overtime loss and remain in first place with 34 points through 15 games. The Toronto Six (10-2-2) picked up three points and stand pat in second place with 30 points, followed by the Minnesota Whitecaps (8-4-2) who remain in third place with 26 points after a weekend off. The Connecticut Whale (7-6-1) matched Toronto’s three points in head-to-head action but got a mid-week boost with a six-point sweep against Buffalo to bring their fourth place total to 22. The Montreal Force (6-6-1) earned two points, enough to hold onto fifth place with 16, followed closely by the Metropolitan Riveters (5-11-0) who grabbed three points and sit in sixth place with 14. The Buffalo Beauts (2-10-2) earned a needed regulation win but remain in seventh place with eight points.
SIX GAMES, SIX DIFFERENT WINS
A trio of weekend series splits represents the first time in PHF history where six different teams won a game over a two-day period. Now that all seven teams have played each other at least once, the group of Boston, Connecticut, and Toronto all hold the distinction of winning at least one game over all their opponents for the second straight season. It’s still possible for Minnesota to achieve the feat in 2022-23 with success in upcoming games against the Pride and T6, while Montreal can also be added to the list with a win over their Canadian rivals.
CANADIAN HISTORY FOR CONNECTICUT
The Whale’s 4-1 win represented the first time that anybody has ever taken three points away from Toronto in a single game on home ice. T6 won all 10 of their home contests during the 2021-22 campaign, and had previously won four of their first five this season with just a single shootout loss to the Riveters. Of note, Connecticut’s Kennedy Marchment made history last season when she scored the very first PHF goal on Canadian ice and was also credited with Sunday’s game-winner.
RECORD SCORING FOR RIVETERS
The Riveters tied a franchise record with their second ever eight-goal output on Sunday in Buffalo. The offensive production equals their 8-6 victory over Connecticut back on Jan. 29, 2017, when they were powered by a Madison Packer hat-trick. While this occurrence marks the league’s second eight-goal offense of the season, the Riveters generated a PHF record six goals in the third period. Only two other times has a PHF team scored six goals in single period, with both instances taking place in the middle frame performed by Boston on Dec. 7, 2019, in an 8-3 win over the Riveters, and Minnesota on Feb. 23, 2020, in a 9-3 victory over the Beauts.
GABEL TIES SINGLE GAME GOALS MARK
Boston’s Loren Gabel has tied another PHF single game record, this time scoring four goals in the Pride’s 5-0 victory over Montreal on Saturday. Her first two goals came on the power play in the first period just 1:49 apart, followed by a pair of even strength tallies in the third period within 1:01 of each other. The 25-year-old newcomer had three previous two-goal games this season including Dec. 11 where she added four assists and tied the PHF single game record with a six-point performance. Buffalo’s Taylor Accursi is the last player to score four goals in a game back on Dec. 28, 2019.
SENSATIONAL SCHROEDER
While Gabel was scoring goals at one end of the ice, Corinne Schroeder was keeping them out. The Boston newcomer posted her sixth shutout in 15 games so far in 2022-23 which doubles the previous single season record of three. Her latest against Montreal on Saturday makes it five different teams she’s blanked, while her 50 saves are the most in a single shutout performance on record. This tops her previous high of 49 saves on Nov. 18 against Minnesota when she became the first in PHF history to earn three consecutive shutouts.
TWO FIRST CAREER PHF GOALS
Jessica Healey’s first career goal was a big one for Buffalo. The 26-year-old defender scored at 16:42 of the first period on Saturday against the Riveters which held as the Beauts’ game-winner. The goal came in her 13th career game and was part of her first multi-point performance to bring her point total to seven. On Sunday, Montreal defender Taylor Baker notched her first in the PHF at 10:18 of the second period, also in her 13th career game and part of a multi-point effort. The 25-year-old All-Star added an assist on the overtime winner to give her six points this season.
BERNDTSSON GETS FIRST WIN
Buffalo netminder Lovisa Berndtsson was brilliant on Saturday recording her first PHF victory with a career-high 41 saves in a 4-1 triumph over the Riveters. The second year stopper from Stockholm, Sweden has made 15 appearances including 11 starts since being the first overall pick in the league’s 2021 international draft. In eight games this season she carries a 1-5-2 record with a goals-against-average of 3.51 and save percentage of .893 that ranks sixth among PHF starters.
FIRST OT WIN FOR FORCE
Another PHF first was recorded on Sunday by Montreal when the Force triumphed in overtime against Boston. Four of the expansion unit’s first 13 games have required extra time, with the other three going to shootout where they hold a 2-1 record. The historic goal scored by Jade Downie-Landry is the first game-winner of her career and follows shootout winners by Samantha Isbell and Ann-Sophie Bettez. Five of the PHF’s 50 games thus far have been settled in overtime with an additional four by shootout.
PHF SCORING RACE
Pride forward Loren Gabel remains atop the PHF scoring race with 24 points in 13 games which includes 14 goals and 10 assists and a league-high 1.8 points-per-game average. Toronto’s Brittany Howard ranks second with 23 points in 14 games which includes a league-leading 15 goals. Connecticut defender Allie Munroe leads all skaters with 12 assists in 14 games, while Kati Tabin of T6 has moved into a tie with Minnesota’s Sidney Morin for first among blue liners with 13 points in 14 games each.
SCORING STREAKS
T6 forward Brittany Howard is the new PHF leader with an active point-streak of nine games, followed by Connecticut’s Kennedy Marchment who has propelled herself into third in the scoring race with an eight-game streak. When Minnesota returns to action, forward Jonna Albers will look to continue her seven-game stretch. Whale defender Tori Howran has developed a four-game point-streak along with Riveters forward Kelly Babstock. A pair of Buffalo forwards both have three-game streaks intact including Mikyla Grant-Mentis and Courtney Maud.
SECOND ANNUAL CI SUMMIT
The 2023 Carnegie Initiative Summit was hosted in Toronto over the weekend, building on a foundation forged in Boston in early 2022. Co-founded by Bernice Carnegie and Bryant McBride of the T6 ownership group, the event gathered thought leaders, industry titans, and grassroots champions from across the hockey world to drive meaningful, scalable, inclusive impact by amplifying the work of the game’s changemakers. For more information about the event, the first Herbert Carnegie Trailblazer Award recipients, and on-demand session recaps, visit carnegieinitiative.com.
The PHF regular season continues with just one game on Friday night between Montreal and Connecticut, then all eyes turn to the All-Star showcase on Sunday night in Toronto at 7:00 p.m. ET live on ESPN2 and TSN.
Cover photo by Nathan Fernandes
