The 2017–18 NWHL season was the third season of the

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 ...

. All four teams from the previous two seasons returned for this season: the

Boston Pride The Boston Pride are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL; 2015–2021). The ...

Buffalo Beauts The Buffalo Beauts are a professional ice hockey team based in Amherst, New York, United States. The team was established in 2015 as one of the four founding franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), originally named the National Women' ...

, Connecticut Whale, and the

Metropolitan Riveters The Metropolitan Riveters (originally the New York Riveters) are a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink. They were one of the four charter franchi ...

League news and notes

*In October 2017, the Russian women's national team participated in exhibition series, called the 2017 Summit Series, going 5–0 against the Pride, Riveters, and Whale. The Beauts played one game against the Chinese national team, which the Beauts won 4–2. *A Battle of the Sexes match was scheduled between the

and

Buffalo Jr. Sabres The Buffalo Jr. Sabres are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Buffalo, New York. They are a part of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League. Its current head coach and general manager is Nick Tuzzolino, who played in the organization during its Buffalo ...

15U youth team for October 16 with the Jr. Sabres 15U winning 9–4. *On October 5, the New York Riveters partnered with the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. The Riveters, having played in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Metropolitan Riveters The Metropolitan Riveters (originally the New York Riveters) are a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink. They were one of the four charter franchi ...

. As part of the partnership, the Riveters had their opening home game at the

Prudential Center Prudential Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the men's basketball program of Seton Hal ...

. *On December 14, the NWHL announced that they are playing

USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the Sport governing body, governing body for organized ice ...

Women's National Team in

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

for two exhibition matches for January playing at the U.S. Women’s National Team’s training complex at Florida Hospital Center Ice. *On December 21, the Buffalo Beauts were acquired by their landlord,

Pegula Sports and Entertainment Pegula Sports & Entertainment (PSE) is an American sports and entertainment company based in Buffalo, New York. The company was established after multi-billionaire Terry Pegula and his family combined their sports, property and entertainment ass ...

; Pegula owns several sports teams in the Buffalo area, including the NHL's

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

Head coaching and front office personnel changes

Head coaches

Regular season

News and notes

Brittany Ott Brittany "The Otter" Ott (born June 12, 1990) is an American professional ice hockey player. , Ott plays for the New Hampshire region team in the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association. She previously played two seasons for the Boston ...

of the Boston Pride and

Amanda Leveille Amanda Leveille (born June 10, 1994) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Minnesota Whitecaps of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She currently holds the PHF record for all-time wins, and has won the Isobel Cup twice. Ca ...

of the Buffalo Beauts served as team captains for the

3rd NWHL All-Star Game The 3rd NWHL All-Star Game took place on February 11, 2018 at TRIA Rink in Saint Paul, Minnesota. A skills competition was held the day prior on February 10, 2018. Brittany Ott of the Boston Pride and Amanda Leveille of the Buffalo Beauts serve ...

Standings

Final standings.

Playoffs

Awards and honors

* Alexa Gruschow, Metropolitan Riveters, 2018 NWHL Most Valuable Player * Alexa Gruschow, Metropolitan Riveters, 2018 NWHL Scoring Champion *

Jillian Dempsey Jillian T. Dempsey (born January 19, 1991) is an American ice hockey player who currently captains the Boston Pride in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She currently holds the all-time PHF records for games played, goals, assists, and points ...

, Boston Pride, 2018 NWHL

Denna Laing Denna Christine Laing (born May 12, 1991) is an American former professional ice hockey player. She last played for the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) until a career-ending injury. At the collegiate level, she accumul ...

Perseverance Award *

Courtney Burke Courtney Burke (born September 2, 1994) is an American ice hockey defenseman. She was drafted fourth overall by the Buffalo Beauts during the 2015 NWHL Draft for the inaugural season of the National Women's Hockey League. In 2011, she helped th ...

, Metropolitan Riveters, 2018 NWHL Defensive Player of the Year Award *

, Buffalo Beauts, 2018 NWHL Goaltender of the Year *

Hayley Scamurra Hayley Scamurra (born December 14, 1994) is a women's ice hockey player who currently plays internationally for the USA Women's Ice Hockey team, and previously played for the Buffalo Beauts of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). Before joining ...

, Buffalo Beauts, 2018 NWHL Rookie of the Year

Player of the Week

Draft

The 2017 NWHL draft was the third in the history of the

and took place on August 17, 2017, in Brooklyn. Goaltender Katie Burt of Boston College was selected first overall by the Boston Pride. It marked the first time that the Boston Pride held the first pick overall in the draft, which the franchise obtained from the Connecticut Whale in the trade that sent

Zoe Hickel Zoe Hickel (born July 10, 1992) is an American ice hockey player who currently serves as assistant coach to the Ohio State Buckeyes women's ice hockey program. She most recently played with Linköping HC of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL ...

to the Whale on February 7, 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 NWHL season NWHL Premier Hockey Federation seasons