A record seven weekend games all won by road teams to start 2023
The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) returned from a two-week holiday break with the busiest weekend in league history featuring seven games and all seven teams in action to start 2023. The Toronto Six held onto first place with a pair of wins over the Montreal Force in the first all-Canadian matchup, the second place Boston Pride kept pace with victories against Connecticut and Metropolitan, the Minnesota Whitecaps solidified their hold on third place with a weekend sweep over the Buffalo Beauts, and the Whale climbed into fourth place by beating the Riveters.
Here’s a closer look at the results, top performers, and notable highlights:
FRIDAY JANUARY 6, 2023
Game 31
Boston Pride 5
Connecticut Whale 2
Box Score | Highlights
Boston built a 4-0 lead with goals by Christina Putigna, Taylor Wenczkowski, Élizabeth Giguère, and Jillian Dempsey, and got their fifth from Loren Gabel who finished with three points in Connecticut.
SATURDAY JANUARY 7, 2023
Game 32
Toronto Six 3 SO
Montreal Force 2
Box Score | Highlights
Brittany Howard scored twice in the shootout to give Toronto the extra point over Montreal in the first game in PHF history ever played between two Canadian teams.
Game 33
Minnesota Whitecaps 4
Buffalo Beauts 1
Box Score | Highlights
Minnesota quickly erased a 1-0 deficit with four unanswered goals by Sidney Morin, Natalie Snodgrass, Sydney Brodt, and Denisa Křížová to beat Buffalo.
Game 34
Boston Pride 4
Metropolitan Riveters 1
Box Score | Highlights
The Pride offense opened with four-straight goals for the second-straight game, this time to top the Riveters with tallies from Kali Flanagan, Jillian Dempsey, Élizabeth Giguère, and Kayla Friesen.
SUNDAY JANUARY 8, 2023
Game 35
Connecticut Whale 6
Metropolitan Riveters 0
Box Score | Highlights
Taylor Girard paced the Whale offense with a career-high four-point performance, and Meeri Räisänen turned aside all 23 Riveters shots to record her first shutout of the season.
Game 36
Minnesota Whitecaps 5
Buffalo Beauts 3
Box Score | Highlights
The Whitecaps completed the perfect six-point sweep over the Beauts with a balanced offensive attack led by Jonna Albers and Brittyn Fleming who both finished with a goal and an assist.
Game 37
Toronto Six 3
Montreal Force 2
Box Score | Highlights
Emma Woods scored twice including the game-winner and Elaine Chuli made a career-high 44 saves to backstop T6 to a weekend sweep over the Force with a second-straight 3-2 decision.
POST-HOLIDAY STANDINGS
The Toronto Six (9-1-2) continued their winning ways by earning five of a possible six points to stay on top of the overall standings with 27 points. T6 is now one of three PHF teams who have played 12 games, representing the halfway point of their regular season schedule. The Boston Pride (9-2-0) gained a little ground with a perfect six-point weekend and remain in second place with 25 points through 11 games, and the six points earned by the Minnesota Whitecaps (6-4-2) at the halfway mark of their season gives them 20 points which is good for third. The Connecticut Whale (4-4-1) are in fourth place with 13 points in nine games, the Metropolitan Riveters (4-8-0) have 11 points through 12 games in fifth place, while the Montreal Force (4-5-1) also have 11 points but in 10 games. The Buffalo Beauts (1-6-1) have played just eight games but remain in seventh place with four points.
RECORD SETTING ROAD WARRIORS
Not only did this weekend have the most games in PHF history with seven, but every single contest was uniquely won by the visiting team to establish a new league benchmark. For comparison, the most dominant road weekend during the 2021-22 campaign was Dec. 18-19 when all four games were won by the visitors. Of this weekend’s road warriors, T6 has now won six of their eight games played so far in visiting rinks, Boston is six of seven, Minnesota is three of six but riding a three-game streak, and Connecticut is two for three.
SHOOTOUT HISTORY FOR T6
Toronto’s 3-2 victory over Montreal on Saturday made PHF history in the first battle between two Canadian teams, but it also counts as the franchise’s first ever shootout win. T6 was previously 0-3 in such contests, losing to Minnesota 6-5 during the shortened 2021 campaign, falling to Boston 2-1 once last season, and dropping a 3-2 decision to Metropolitan earlier this year. In this contest, Toronto’s Brittany Howard and Montreal’s Ann-Sophie Bettez both scored in their team’s first three attempts, with Howard capitalizing on a second effort in the extra round. Elaine Chuli then stopped Kristina Shanahan to secure the win. The Force have now played in three shootout games and have won twice. Three shootout wins is the PHF single season record set by Connecticut in 2015-16.
BABSTOCK JOINS CENTURY CLUB
Kelly Babstock has officially joined the prestigious PHF century club, playing in her 100th career regular season game on Sunday. The Riveters forward is the sixth player all-time to reach the milestone, following Boston’s Jillian Dempsey and Kaleigh Fratkin, teammate Madison Packer, Connecticut’s Shannon Turner, and former Buffalo defender Elena Orlando. Like Fratkin and Orlando, Babstock accumulated her total as a member of three different PHF teams including the Whale for 49 games over three seasons from 2015-18, the Beauts for 16 games in 2018-19, and the Riveters for 35 games since 2020. She currently ranks fourth in all-time scoring with 84 points including 36 goals and 48 assists.
FIRST CAREER PHF GOALS
Sunday’s battle between the Beauts and Whitecaps featured three players recording their first career PHF goals. Minnesota’s Brooke Madsen opened the scoring at the 5:19 mark of the first period, and fellow newcomer Brittyn Fleming tallied the team’s fifth goal at 19:28 of the middle frame. The goals registered as Madsen’s first PHF point and Fleming’s seventh, with both players competing in their 12th games of the season. For Buffalo, newcomer Courtney Maud scored her first goal and second point 57 seconds into the third period of her eighth game. Also on Sunday, T6 defender Emma Greco scored her first career PHF goal in a victory over Montreal, playing in her 24th game over three seasons.
LABELLE LIGHTS THE LAMP
The PHF record books will remember Montreal’s Alexandra Labelle as the one to score the first goal in the league’s first ever all-Canadian matchup against Toronto. The Force forward tallied at 8:25 of the first period at even strength and added an assist on the team’s second goal of the game. The 26-year-old is currently holding a hot stick with goals in three-straight games beginning with her first career tally Dec. 18 in Minnesota.
RAISANEN SHUTS OUT RIVETERS
Meeri Räisänen earned her first shutout of the season and second of her career on Sunday for the Whale with a perfect 23-save performance to blank the Riveters 6-0. Back when she first played for Connecticut during the 2018-19 campaign, she posted a 31-save shutout against the Riveters on Dec. 2, 2018, in a 4-0 victory. That game was played in Pittsburgh at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex where the Whale will take on Montreal next Saturday. Sunday’s game marked the first time in PHF history that featured two goaltenders from Finland, with Räisänen going up against Eveliina Mäkinen. The Whale netminder has made four starts this season with two wins and a goals-against-average of 2.70 that ranks third among PHF starters.
ONE START, ONE WIN FOR BRENNEMAN
It wasn’t a busy night for Jenna Brenneman, but Minnesota’s sophomore stopper was up to the task on Saturday when she turned aside 12 of 13 shots to help the Whitecaps win 4-1 in Buffalo. The victory is her first of the season and second of her career after making seven appearances including five starts in 2021-22. The 2021 fourth round pick won her only other game on Feb. 19, 2022, with 29 saves in a 5-2 triumph over the Riveters. Amanda Leveille has started and played 11 full games this season, including Sunday’s 5-3 win over the Beauts where she made 25 saves.
TWO MORE WINS FOR CHULI AND SCHROEDER
As the PHF’s top two teams continue to win, their starting netminders continue to shine. Reigning Goaltender of the Year Elaine Chuli picked up a pair of victories for Toronto to bring her season total to seven in 10 starts, while Boston’s star rookie Corinne Schroeder also won twice to give her nine victories in 11 games. Schroeder stopped 70 of 73 shots to raise her league-leading save percentage to .941, with Chuli’s 79 saves on 83 shots improving her season SV% to .916 which ranks third. The players rank one-two in victories, and two-three in minutes played behind Minnesota’s Amanda Leveille.
GIRARD A SPECIAL TEAMS SNIPER
Whale forward Taylor Girard is tied for third in league scoring with 14 points in nine games. The 2021-22 Newcomer of the Year also has five goals, with each of them tallied in special team situations. This past weekend she scored her second power play goal of the season as well as her third shorthanded marker of the campaign which has tied a PHF single season record. Allie Thunstrom (2021-22), Alex Carpenter (2016-17), and Brianna Decker (2015-16) are the only other players to score three times shorthanded in a season. Riveters newcomer Sarah Bujold has two SHG so far this season in addition to a pair of PP markers, while Toronto’s Brittany Howard leads the way with three PPG.
BEAUTS BOLSTER PP
They may not have generated the results they wanted in the win column, but the Beauts power play improved to number one across the PHF after converting on two of their five weekend opportunities. Claudia Kepler and Courtney Maud both scored with the advantage on Sunday to bring Buffalo’s season-long efficiency to .206. They’ve now scored seven PPG in eight games, however PP production accounts for exactly one-third of their total offense.
PRIDE PRODUCTION
When Kayla Friesen scored Boston’s fourth goal in a 4-1 win over the Riveters on Saturday it gave the Pride widespread offensive production and a unique distinction. All 17 of the team’s active players under contract have now contributed to the scoresheet with at least one point this season, including 16 players who have scored goals. For comparison, there are 18 Toronto Skaters, 17 from each of Buffalo, Connecticut and Montreal, 16 from Minnesota, and 13 from Metropolitan to all record points so far this season, however all of those teams have one or more contract players who have appeared in games this season and have not recorded a point.
2023 SCORING RACE
With all seven teams in action over the weekend, the league’s top scorers all had equal opportunity to add to their impressive totals. Toronto’s Brittany Howard didn’t score any goals outside of the shootout but did add two assists and now has 18 points including 12 goals in 12 games. After a five-point weekend, Boston’s Loren Gabel now shares the scoring lead with 18 points including eight goals and a league-high 10 assists in nine games. She also leads the PHF with a points-per-game average of 2.0. Toronto’s Emma Woods, Boston’s Jillian Dempsey, and Connecticut’s Taylor Girard round out the top-five scorers with 14 points each. Toronto’s Kati Tabin and Minnesota’s Sidney Morin share the lead in scoring among defenders with 11 points in 12 games.
STILL STREAKING
10 PHF players have active point-streaks of four or more games. Connecticut’s Taylor Girard leads the way at eight games, followed by Toronto’s Brittany Howard at seven, and Boston’s Jillian Dempsey at six. Pride defender Kali Flanagan, Buffalo’s Claudia Kepler, Minnesota’s Jonna Albers, and T6 defender Kati Tabin are all at five games, with four-game streaks belonging to Boston’s Loren Gabel and Élizabeth Giguère, and Montreal’s Alexandra Labelle.
The PHF regular season will officially reach the halfway point with next weekend’s five games that include Connecticut and Montreal in Pittsburgh, plus weekend doubleheaders between Boston and visiting Buffalo, plus the Whitecaps and host Riveters. All of the action is available across the United States live on ESPN+ and in Canada at TSN.ca.
Cover photo by Arianne Bergeron
