PWHL schedule resumes on Apr. 26 following the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship
NEW YORK AND TORONTO (April 8, 2025) – A closer look at highlights on and off the ice from around the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) with just nine games remaining in the schedule following the international break.
PWHL PLAYOFF PICTURE
Montréal (11-6-3-7, 48 points) enters the break in first place in the PWHL standings and the only team to have officially clinched a berth in the playoffs. All five other teams remain in contention for the three remaining playoff spots, each with three games remaining. Toronto (12-2-5-8, 45 points) is in second place and can clinch with just a single point. The race tightens with Boston (8-6-4-9, 40 points), Ottawa (11-1-4-11, 39 points) and Minnesota (8-5-4-10, 38 points) occupying third, fourth and fifth place and playoff fates that could come down to the wire. New York (7-4-4-12, 33 points) is in sixth place and will need no less than seven of a possible nine points and favorable results among other league matchups to stay in the hunt. Click here for full PWHL standings and here for the tiebreaking procedures.
ATTENDANCE TRACKER
Last week’s games totaled 12,605 fans at Montréal’s Place Bell and Boston’s Tsongas Center. PWHL attendance through 81 games of the regular season now stands at 593,567 – an average of 7,328 per game.
BACK-TO-BACK SHUTOUTS
The PWHL schedule featured two straight shutout victories for the first time in regular-season history. Corinne Schroeder made 16 saves to backstop New York to a 1-0 win at Montréal on Tuesday, then rookie Gwyneth Philips stopped all 17 shots faced in Ottawa’s 4-0 win at Boston on Wednesday. Schroeder (3) and Philips (2) have accounted for five of the league’s nine total shutouts this season, with Minnesota’s Maddie Rooney (2) also recording multiple shutouts this campaign. Including last week’s results, seven of the league’s nine shutouts have been recorded by the visiting team. Last season, the road team produced five of the league’s 11 shutouts. Click here for the PWHL schedule and scores.
HAT TRICK FOR DARKANGELO
Ottawa’s Shiann Darkangelo became the fifth player in the PWHL to record a hat trick this season with her three goals powering the Charge past the Fleet. Teammate Tereza Vanišová (Feb. 13 and Mar. 22) has two of the other four hat tricks, along with Montréal captain Marie-Philip Poulin (Jan. 29) and Boston captain Hilary Knight (Mar. 5). The Charge are the first team in PWHL history to record three hat tricks in a season. The inaugural season featured eight hat tricks with Ottawa, Montréal and Toronto each recording two.
INAUGURAL PWHL BREAKTHROUGH CUP
The PWHL Breakthrough Cup, powered by PLAY Hockey and presented by Warrior, took place over the weekend in Blaine, MN, bringing together teams of all ages and skill levels from across North America to pave the pathway to women's professional hockey. A total of 36 teams and 640 athletes participated with the following teams crowned champions in their respective divisions: Minnesota Frosty’s (14U Upper), PH Selects (14U Lower), MN Steel Elite (12U Upper), Naperville Sabres (12U Lower), and Wisco (10U Lower). Frost players Natalie Buchbinder, Mellissa Channell-Watkins and Maggie Flaherty participated in an autograph session on Saturday, then Frost goaltender Maddie Rooney and Victoire forward Abby Boreen attended the games on Sunday to hand out medals and interact with the teams. Click here for more.
WOMEN’S WORLDS STARTS WEDNESDAY
The 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship opens Wednesday in České Budějovice, Czechia. A total of 57 PWHL players have been named to rosters of seven of the ten competing countries in the top division tournament. Group A includes Canada, Czechia, Finland, Switzerland and the United States, while Group B consists of Germany, Hungary, Japan, Norway and Sweden. The group competition will take place daily through Apr. 15, followed by quarterfinals on Apr. 17, semifinals on Apr. 19 and the bronze and gold medal games on Apr. 20. Click here for more information about the event, and here for a tournament preview on the Jocks in Jills podcast.
PWHL OFFICIALS AT WOMEN’S WORLDS
Players won’t be the only PWHL representatives on the ice in Czechia as 15 members of the league’s Officiating Team are among the 24 women who will serve as on-ice officials for the World Championship. Eight of the tournament’s 12 referees are from the PWHL, including Americans Kelly Cooke, Melissa Doyle, Samantha Hiller and Amanda Tassoni, and Canadians Cianna Lieffers, Elizabeth Mantha, Michelle McKenna and Shauna Neary. Seven of the 12 linespersons are from the PWHL including Sarah Buckner and Jennifer Cameron from the United States, plus Alex Clarke, Laura Gutauskas, Justine Todd, Kirsten Welsh and Erin Zach from Canada.
AURARD, MEIXNER, SCHAFZAHL ON WORLD STAGE
A trio of PWHL players will represent their countries at the IIHF’s Division I – Group A Women’s World Championship Apr. 13-19 in Shenzhen, China. New York’s Chloé Aurard will compete for France, while Ottawa’s Anna Meixner and Boston’s Theresa Schafzahl will play for Austria. The six-team tournament also includes China, Denmark, Netherlands and Slovakia, with the top two ranked countries earning promotion into the top division in 2026. Click here for more.
KNIGHT AND POULIN CELEBRATE #GR8NESS
On Sunday afternoon, Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals made NHL history eclipsing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record with his 895th career tally. The world’s greatest competitors and entertainers, including PWHL stars Knight and Poulin, congratulated Ovi in a video compiled by the NHL. Click here to watch.
COYNE SCHOFIELD BOBBLEHEAD GIVEAWAY IN ROCKFORD
The Rockford IceHogs, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, recently celebrated “Women in Hockey Night” with a special tribute to Kendall Coyne Schofield as the first 2,500 fans in attendance received a bobblehead of the Frost captain. The native of Palos Heights, IL, made history in the organization back in November 2020 when she was the first woman hired by the Blackhawks in the role of Player Development Coach and later became the first woman to serve as an assistant coach for the IceHogs in May 2021. Click here for more.
LEAGUE LEADERS
The PWHL scoring title will be highly contested over the final nine games of the season. Knight (15G, 13A) enters the break in the lead with 28 points, followed closely by Sirens rookie Sarah Fillier (12G, 15A) with 27 points and Sceptres forward Daryl Watts (11G, 15A) with 26 points. Toronto’s Hannah Miller (10G, 14A) ranks fourth with 24 points, followed by Poulin (17G, 6A) in fifth with 23 points. Vanišová is tied with Knight for second among goal scorers with 15 goals behind Poulin’s 17. Toronto’s Renata Fast (6G, 15A) leads all defenders with 21 points and is tied with Fillier and Watts for the league lead in assists with 15. In goal, Montréal’s Ann-Renée Desbiens, continues to lead the league in wins (13), goals-against-average (1.85) and save percentage (.932). Click to see PWHL stats.
SCHEDULE UPDATES
Start times and broadcast details have been confirmed for six regular season games that were previously listed on the schedule as TBA. Here is a list of the updates:
- The Apr. 26 matchup between the Charge and the Victoire at TD Place will take place at 12 p.m. ET. The game will be available on TSN and RDS in Canada.
- The Apr. 26 matchup between the Fleet and the Sceptres at the Tsongas Center will take place at 2 p.m. ET. The game will be available locally on NESN and on CBC in Canada.
- The Apr. 28 matchup between the Victoire and the Fleet at Place Bell will take place at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be available on TSN and RDS in Canada and on NESN in the Boston region.
- The Apr. 30 matchup between the Charge and the Frost at TD Place will take place at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be available on TSN in Canada and FanDuel Sports Network North in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region.
- The May 3 matchup between the Sceptres and the Charge at Coca-Cola Coliseum will take place at 12 p.m. ET. The game will be available on TSN in Canada.
- The May 3 matchup between the Fleet and the Frost at the Tsongas Center will take place at 1 p.m. ET. The game will be available locally on NESN and on FanDuel Sports Network North in the Minneapolis/St. Paul region.
All PWHL games will be streamed on the league’s YouTube Channel and at thepwhl.com, and are available to watch worldwide outside of Canada, and in Czechia and Slovakia where games are available via Nova Sport.