Let’s work that back in reverse.
Who can step up to the plate? It could be last year’s second leading scorer, and team captain Shiann “Shidark” Darkangelo. She was 10 points behind Grant-Mentis with 20 in 20 games. Though, she did play most of those games with Grant-Mentis, she was 8th in the league in primary points (goals and first assists) with 16, so she can certainly be a key contributor again.
Another possibility is Michela Cava, who was with the team for about half the season before having to return to Russia due to what I presume were contractual obligations. She scored 7 points in 11 games, most of those with a super hot start, scoring 6 points in her first 3 games.
Or maybe it’ll be one of the new players?
The Six have brought aboard a bunch of brand new faces to the organization, so let’s take a quick look at who they are and what they might be able to bring to the team.
You’ll also notice on the website that the team staff is different from last year. Firstly, Canadian hockey icon for Black women and hockey fans in general, Angela James has taken on the general management role, in addition to her new digs as team owner. Also, Canadian Olympic Gold Medal winning Geraldine Heaney takes over from Mark Joslin at head coach. She joins her former teammate Sami Jo Small in the organization, who is now the President of the Club. All in all, the staffing changes are big news because these are huge names in Canadian hockey now running Canada’s longest serving pro women’s hockey club. Undoubtedly their high profile will bring the attention the PHF deserves.
This is James’ first stint as a general manager, but her life in hockey gives her more than enough experience to do the job well. For Heaney, once she retired she immediately took up coaching with the University of Waterloo. She stepped down from that role after 6 years to coach her daughter’s team, and now is getting back into higher profile hockey with this position. Sami Jo Small has some experience in front office management, as she served as the GM of CWHL’s Toronto Furies, where she signed two players who are now with the Toronto Six, Elaine Chuli and Shiann Darkangelo.
Overall, there’s a lot to be excited about but there’s also a lot up in the air. How will all these new faces in the front office fare in relatively new roles? What does the prestige of these names do for the club’s financial goals? How will the on-ice product fare without the phenom Mikyla Grant-Mentis?
For those who can’t attend the games, they will be broadcast on TSN Live, under their bonus streaming content. The Montreal Force games will also be available to stream there. In the US, the games will be broadcast on ESPN+. The games will not be shown on any of the cable TSN networks.
