The 2017–18 CWHL season is the 11th season of the

Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; french: Ligue canadienne de hockey féminin ‒ LCHF) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league ...

. This is also the first season in which the teams pay their players a salary. It would also prove to be the final full season in which

Brenda Andress Brenda Andress was the first Commissioner for the Canadian Women's Hockey League, serving in the position from 2008–09 to 2017–18. Professional career Andress was a former director of recreation for the Town of Newmarket, Ontario. She was al ...

served as commissioner of the league, tendering her resignation on July 18, 2019.

Offseason

On June 5, 2017, the league revealed at the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

that it would expand into China with the Kunlun Red Star WIH, a women's team associated with the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

Kunlun Red Star HC Kunlun Red Star () is a Chinese ice hockey club that joined the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) prior to the 2016–17 season. History Preparation of the team In March 2016, representatives of Kunlun Red Star and the KHL signed a protocol o ...

men's team. The recent expansions into China is aimed for developing their ice hockey teams for when Beijing hosts the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

. Prior to the official announcement of the team joining the CWHL,

Noora Räty Noora Helena Räty (born 29 May 1989) is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender, playing in the Naisten Liiga (ice hockey), Naisten Liiga (NSML) with HPK Kiekkonaiset. She is affiliated with the Minnesota chapter of the Professional Women's Hockey Play ...

and American forward

Kelli Stack Kelli Allison Stack (born January 13, 1988) is an American former ice hockey forward, who played for Kunlun Red Star in the Canadian Women's Hockey League. She is a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team. Stack competed for ...

were at the announcement at the Hockey Hall of Fame wearing Red Star jerseys. The league soon added a second Chinese team in the

Vanke Rays The Shenzhen Vanke Rays () were a women's ice hockey team that played in the 2017–18 season of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). They were based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China and played at the Shenzhen Dayun Arena. The team was develo ...

. On July 11, 2017, it was announced that the Brampton Thunder, a founding franchise of the CWHL and the league's first champions, would be moving east to the Markham community of Thornhill, Ontatio. The move was announced with a press conference at their new arena with commissioner Brenda Andress, Mayor Frank Scarpitti, CWHL Director and esteemed Thunder alumni Vicky Sunohara, interim General Manager Chelsea Purcell (later named GM in August), and many Thunder players present. On September 1, the league announced that it would begin having salaries for their players for the first time. Each player is set to make a minimum of $2,000 per season and a maximum of $10,000 with a team salary cap of $100,000. At the time of the announcement, it made the league the second fully professional women's hockey league in North America after the launch of the rival

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and ha ...

in the United States in 2015.

Head coaching and front office personnel changes

Head coaches

Front office

CWHL Draft

The 2017 CWHL Draft marked the first time that the Draft involved the Kunlun Red Star WIH and

Courtney Turner Courtney Turner (born June 17, 1994) is a women's ice hockey player. She played with the Union Dutchwomen and amassed 28 career points while with the college program. She was selected first overall in the 2017 CWHL Draft by the Boston Blades, th ...

was selected with the first overall pick in the draft, claimed by the Boston Blades, becoming the first American-born player to be selected with the top pick.

News and notes

*December 13, 2017: Erin Ambrose was traded from the Toronto Furies to les Canadiennes de Montreal. Ambrose did not play any games with the Furies this season as she had been centralized with the Canadian National Women's Team. In return, Toronto received Montreal's 2018 first and third round picks, a 2019 first round pick, and a 2020 third round pick. *January 10, 2018: Megan Bozek signed as a free agent with the Markham Thunder. *January 15, 2018:

Alexandra Carpenter Alexandra "Alex" Carpenter (born April 13, 1994) is an American ice hockey player and member of the United States women's national team. She most recently played in the 2020–21 season of the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) with the KRS Vanke R ...

joined the Kunlun Red Star. KRS drafted her, but she had not played up until this date because she was centralized with the USNWT. *March 8, 2018: Hilary Knight signed as a free agent with Les Canadiennes de Montreal, joining the team for the 2018 Clarkson Cup playoffs. *March 20, 2018: Prior to the 2018 Clarkson Cup finals,

Cassie Campbell Cassie Dawin Campbell-Pascall (born November 22, 1973) is a former Canadian ice hockey player and a current broadcaster for Sportsnet and ESPN. Born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Campbell grew up in Brampton, Ontario, playing for the Brampton Canad ...

-Pascall resigned from her role as a CWHL Governor.

Regular season

Standings

Clarkson Cup playoffs

Laura Stacey would score against Noora Raty of the

with 2:11 left in the 4-on-4 overtime, as Markham prevailed by a 2–1 score for its first Clarkson Cup win.

Awards and honors

Regular season

*Chairman's Trophy: Les Canadiennes de Montreal

Postseason awards

2018 Clarkson Cup The 2018 Clarkson Cup was held at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto on 25 March 2018 with the Markham Thunder defeating the Kunlun Red Star by a score of 2–1. Laura Stacey scored the game-winning goal with 2 minutes 11 seconds remaining in the overtim ...

Playoff MVP:

Erica Howe Erica Howe (born July 17, 1992) is an ice hockey goaltender, currently with the PWHPA. As a member of the gold medal winning squad at the 2010 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, a hockey card of her was featured in the Upper Deck 2010 World of S ...

*First Star of the Game:

Laura Stacey Laura Rachel Stacey (born May 5, 1994) is a Canadian ice hockey player, currently affiliated with the Montreal chapter of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) and a member of the Canadian women's national ice hockey team. ...

Offseason

Head coaching and front office personnel changes

Head coaches

Front office

CWHL Draft

News and notes

Regular season

Standings

Clarkson Cup playoffs

Awards and honors

Regular season

Postseason awards

CWHL Awards

References

External links