The 2018–19 NWHL season is the fourth 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 three seasons returned: 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 franchis ...

while the

Minnesota Whitecaps The Minnesota Whitecaps are a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF; formerly known as the National Women's Hockey League). They play in Richfield, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, at ...

entered the league as an expansion team bringing the league to five teams.

League news and notes

*This is the first full season of the

being owned and controlled by

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 ...

, the owners of the

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 ...

NHL team, instead of the league. The Beauts took part in a doubleheader event immediately before a Sabres game on December 29, 2018, at

KeyBank Center KeyBank Center is a multipurpose indoor arena located in Buffalo, New York. Originally known as Marine Midland Arena, the venue has since been named HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center. Home to the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey Leagu ...

. *On May 15, 2018, the league announced its first expansion franchise; the

had been purchased by the league and had joined the NWHL for the 2018–19 season. The Whitecaps had played in the

Western Women's Hockey League The Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL) was a women's hockey league in Canada. The league was established in 2004, and consisted of teams in Canada (some former National Women's Hockey League teams) and one from the United States. The league offic ...

(WWHL) from 2004 to 2011 and then operated independently from any league after the WWHL ceased operations, including playing a few exhibition games against other NWHL teams during the inaugural 2015–16 season. *On August 13, 2018, the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

revealed its partnership with the Whitecaps. As part of a cross-promotional marketing agreement, the Whitecaps' home opener on October 6 at the

TRIA Rink TRIA Rink is an ice hockey arena and practice facility in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is located on the fifth floor of Treasure Island Center, a former Macy’s department store in downtown St. Paul. The arena was constructed as part of a redevel ...

, the Wild's practice facility, became part of a doubleheader to take place before the Wild's home opener at the

Xcel Energy Center Xcel Energy Center (also known as "The X") is a multipurpose arena in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Completed in 2000, it is named for its locally based corporate sponsor Xcel Energy. With an official capacity of 17,954, the arena has four ...

. *August 21, 2018: The Whitecaps' new logo and colors of blue, while, silver and black were unveiled. *September 29, 2018: The Champions Cup was played between the NWHL's 2018 Isobel Cup champion Metropolitan Riveters and the

Swedish Women's Hockey League The Swedish Women's Hockey League ( sv, Svenska damhockeyligan), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016– ...

(SDHL) 2018 champion

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening is an ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are the northernmost team in the league and h ...

Hobey Baker Memorial Rink Hobey Baker Memorial Rink is a 2,092-seat hockey arena in Princeton, New Jersey. It is home to the Princeton University Tigers men's and women's ice hockey teams as well as the venue for club and intramural hockey teams, intramural broomball, fi ...

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

. Luleå defeated the Riveters 4–2. The game had been originally scheduled to take place at Norrbotten Arena in Sweden, but scheduling challenges forced a relocation. Luleå *January 10, 2019: The Boston Pride and the NHL's

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

announced a partnership to further promote women's hockey in Massachusetts. The partnership makes the Pride the fourth NWHL to become officially associated with an NHL team. *At the conclusion of the season, the league had set new attendance records with 16 sold out games, led by the Whitecaps selling out all ten home games including the playoffs.

One league movement

Starting in March 2018 and throughout the off-season, current and former players took to

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

to promote the concept of one unified professional women's hockey league between the NWHL and 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 ...

. Players utilized the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

#OneLeague to indicate their support. The push continued during the NWHL All-Star Game.

Head coaching and front office personnel changes

Head coaches

All-Star Game

The 2019 NWHL All-Star Game and its Weekend festivities took place on February 9–10, 2019, at

Bridgestone Arena Bridgestone Arena (originally Nashville Arena, and formerly Gaylord Entertainment Center and Sommet Center) is a multi-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1996, it is the home of the Nashville Predators of ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. The skills challenge took place on February 9 at the Ford Ice Center, the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

' practice facility, in front of a sell-out crowd.

Kendall Coyne Schofield Kendall Coyne Schofield (born May 25, 1992) is an Americans, American professional ice hockey player who is currently a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team. With the national team, she has won six gold medals at the IIHF ...

of the Minnesota Whitecaps won the fastest skater, two weeks following her appearance as the first woman to compete in the NHL's

Skills Competition Skills competitions refer to special exhibition contests that take place during all-star games or other special events in professional sports. Generally, they are held the day before the all-star games. These events seem to serve at least two p ...

as part of the

2019 National Hockey League All-Star Game The 2019 National Hockey League All-Star Game was held at SAP Center in San Jose, home of the San Jose Sharks on January 26, 2019. San Jose last held the NHL All Star Game in 1997. This was the fourth consecutive All-Star Game that used a four-te ...

also in the fastest skater competition. Meanwhile, three Buffalo Beauts teammates won the other skills challenge events:

Blake Bolden Blake Alexis Bolden (born March 10, 1991) is an American ice hockey player and scout for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). On October 11, 2015, she became the first African-American player to compete in the National Women' ...

had the hardest shot, Nicole Hensley won the fastest goalie competition, and

Dani Cameranesi Danielle Cameranesi (born June 3, 1995) is an American women's ice hockey forward, currently playing for the Minnesota section of the PWHPA. She made her debut for the US national women's team at the 2014 4 Nations Cup in Kamloops, British Colum ...

captured the accuracy shooting title. The All-Star Game took place on February 10 immediately following a game between the NHL's

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

and the

. The game was a four-on-four format between teams led by

Shannon Szabados Shannon Lynn Szabados (; born August 6, 1986) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the PWHPA and the Canada women's national ice hockey team. Szabados had played for the MacEwan University Griffins and the NAIT Ooks men's hock ...

and

Lee Stecklein Lee Ethel Stecklein (born April 23, 1994) is an American ice hockey defenseman and member of the US national team, currently playing in the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) with Team Harvey's. She has represented the Unit ...

, with Team Szabados winning 3–2 following a shootout. The game set an attendance record with 6,120 at the arena.

Regular season

Standings

Final standings.

Schedule

*All regular season games were scheduled to be contested on Saturdays and Sundays. There is one neutral-site game in Pittsburgh on December 2 with the Connecticut Whale as the home team against the Metropolitan Riveters at the

UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex UPMC may refer to: *University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, an international health enterprise based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States *The University of the Philippines Manila Chorale, a choral music group at the University of the Philip ...

. *On December 29, 2018, the Whitecaps faced the Beauts at the KeyBank Center as part of a doubleheader involving both the NWHL and the NHL. After the NWHL game, the

hosted the

Playoffs

Awards and honors

* Maddie Elia, Buffalo Beauts, 2019 Most Valuable Player *

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, 2019 Players' Top Player of the Year *

, Buffalo Beauts, 2019 Goaltender of the Year *

, Buffalo Beauts, 2019 Defender of the Year * Hayley Scamurra, Buffalo Beauts, 2019 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, 2019

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 ...

League news and notes

One league movement

Head coaching and front office personnel changes

Head coaches

All-Star Game

Regular season

Standings

Schedule

Playoffs

Awards and honors

Regular season weekly awards

Transactions

Retirement

Signings

References

External links