2019–20 NWHL season

The 2019–20 NWHL season was the fifth season of the National Women's Hockey League. All five teams from the previous season returned: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, and the Minnesota Whitecaps.

2019–20 NWHL season
LeagueNational Women's Hockey League
SportIce hockey
Regular season
Season championsBoston Pride
Season MVPJillian Dempsey (Boston)
Allie Thunstrom (Minnesota)
Top scorerJillian Dempsey (Boston)
Isobel Cup
ChampionsNot awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic

The NWHL completed the semifinal round of the 2020 Isobel Cup playoffs, but had to postpone the championship game between Boston and Minnesota originally scheduled for March 13, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On May 15, the final was cancelled and the Isobel Cup was not awarded.[1]

League changes

2019 offseason events

Following the 2018–19 season, the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) ceased operations citing the fragmentation of corporate sponsors between the CWHL and NWHL caused their league to be financially infeasible.[2] The NWHL then announced it was pursuing adding two CWHL markets to the league, Montreal and Toronto, if the NWHL found financial backers for the teams.[3]

On May 2, 2019, over 200 players from both the CWHL and NWHL released a joint statement announcing their intent to not participate in any North American professional league for the 2019–20 season citing their dissatisfaction in the operations of both leagues in that neither provided health insurance or a livable salary.[4] The NWHL responded with that they were pursuing many more sponsors than in previous years and hoped to increase player salaries.[5] and agreed to give players a 50 percent split of revenue on league sponsorship and media deals. On May 20, 2019, the players formed a worker's union called the Professional Women's Hockey Player Association (PWHPA) to further push for their stated goals of a league that provides financial and infrastructure resources to players, health insurance, and support to training programs for young female players.[6][7] With a large number of North American players boycotting the league, more than half of the signed players on opening rosters were new to the league.[8]

On May 8, 2019, Pegula Sports and Entertainment (PSE), the owners of the Buffalo Beauts, relinquished ownership and operations of the team back to the NWHL,[9][10] but continued to claim rights to the Beauts name as part of the turnover.[11] The Beauts then changed their home venue from the PSE-owned Harborcenter to the Northtown Center in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst.[12]

On May 17, 2019, the New Jersey Devils ended their partnership with the Metropolitan Riveters.[13][14] The Riveters then changed their home venue from the Devils' practice rink to ProSkate Ice Arena in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey,[12] and returned to their original jersey colors.[15]

With the player strike, loss of support from the NHL teams, and lack of additional investors, the NWHL announced they would not be able to increase to full-time salaries or provide players with health insurance outside of the typical worker's compensation for injuries, but had come to an agreement to a 50 percent revenue split on all league-wide sponsorship and media deals. In addition, the league also stated they would not add Montreal and Toronto for the 2019–20 season.[16] The league announced a longer 2019–20 season for the teams, going from 16 to 24 games.[12]

Also during the offseason, the Connecticut Whale relocated to Danbury, Connecticut,[17] and the Boston Pride were purchased by a group of investors led by Miles Arnone.[18]

Head coach changes
Team 2018–19 head coach 2019–20 replacement Notes
Connecticut Whale Ryan Equale Colton Orr Orr was named head coach of the Whale on September 17, 2019.[19] The Whale had relocated to Danbury Ice Arena during the offseason and Orr operates hockey clinics and a junior team out of the arena.
Buffalo Beauts Cody McCormick Pete Perram McCormick, a former player for the Buffalo Sabres, was named the head coach for in December the previous season.[20] After the Beauts' split from the association with the Sabres and were returned to a league-operated team, Pete Perram was hired as the next head coach.[21]
Metropolitan Riveters Randy Velischek Ivo Mocek After the split with the New Jersey Devils, the Riveters hired former Czech junior national team player Ivo Mocek on August 12, 2019.[22]

Regular season

Standings

Final standings.[23]

GP W L OTL PTS GF GA
Boston Pride2423104612043
Minnesota Whitecaps2417523610652
Metropolitan Riveters2410113237091
Buffalo Beauts2481511771116
Connecticut Whale242202639100

Schedule

Playoffs
Play-in game
March 6 		Semifinal game
March 8 		Isobel Cup Championship
Cancelled[lower-alpha 1]
         
1 Boston 5
5 Connecticut 1
4 Buffalo 3
5 Connecticut 5
1 Boston —
2 Minnesota —
2 Minnesota 1
3 Metropolitan 0
  1. Cancelled due the COVID-19 pandemic.[26]

All-Star Game

The 2020 NWHL All-Star Game and its weekend festivities took place on February 8–9, 2020, at Warrior Ice Arena, the Boston Pride's home arena.[27] The teams were captained by Jillian Dempsey of the Boston Pride and Madison Packer of the Metropolitan Riveters, who drafted their rosters from the selected all-star players in a draft.[28]

The skills challenge took place on February 8. Team Packer won the fastest skater (Grace Kleinbach of Connecticut) and hardest shot (Kaleigh Fratkin of Boston), while Team Dempsey won fastest goalie (Mariah Fujimagari of Buffalo), shooting accuracy (Jillian Dempsey), and the team relay. Team Packer ultimately won the skills competition via the team shootout competition.[29] On February 11, the league awarded fastest skater to Team Dempsey's Allie Thunstrom of the Minnesota Whitecaps following a review and a timing error.[30]

The All-Star Game took place the following day on February 9. The game was a four-on-four format with Team Dempsey winning 5–2. The game was sold out in the 800-seat arena and had about 10,000 viewers watching the game live on Twitch.[31]

Awards and honors

References
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  2. "Final Public Communication" (PDF). CWHL. July 2, 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2020. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  3. "U.S.-based women's hockey league OKs plan to expand to Canada after CWHL folds | The Star". thestar.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  4. "More than 200 players call for overhaul of women's pro hockey". The Sports Network. May 2, 2019. Archived from the original on November 16, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
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  22. "Riveters name Ivo Mocek head coach". The Ice Garden. August 12, 2019. Archived from the original on September 14, 2019. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
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