The 2019–20 NWHL season was the fifth 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 five teams from the previous season 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, Connecticut Whale,

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 ...

, and 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 ...

. 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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On May 15, the final was cancelled and the Isobel Cup was not awarded.

League changes

2019 offseason events

Following the 2018–19 season, 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 leag ...

(CWHL) ceased operations citing the fragmentation of corporate sponsors between the CWHL and NWHL caused their league to be financially infeasible. 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. 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. The NWHL responded with that they were pursuing many more sponsors than in previous years and hoped to increase player salaries. 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 A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

called the

Professional Women's Hockey Player Association The Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to advocating for the promotion of professional women's ice hockey. It was founded in May 2019 following the dissolution of the Canadian W ...

(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. 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. On May 8, 2019,

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 ...

(PSE), the owners of the Buffalo Beauts, relinquished ownership and operations of the team back to the NWHL, but continued to claim rights to the Beauts name as part of the turnover. The Beauts then changed their home venue from the PSE-owned

Harborcenter LECOM Harborcenter is an American mixed-use development in Buffalo, New York developed by Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The building occupies a full 1.7 acre city block formerly known as the Webster Block, directly across from and connected ...

to the

Northtown Center The Northtown Center at Amherst, formerly the Amherst Ice Center and the Amherst Pepsi Center, is a 1,800-seat multipurpose arena in Amherst, New York, located adjacent to the University at Buffalo. The current sponsor is Northtown Auto, a Buffa ...

in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst. On May 17, 2019, 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 ...

ended their partnership with the

. The Riveters then changed their home venue from the Devils' practice rink to ProSkate Ice Arena in

Monmouth Junction, New Jersey Monmouth Junction is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) located within South Brunswick Township, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. and returned to their original jersey colors. 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. The league announced a longer 2019–20 season for the teams, going from 16 to 24 games. Also during the offseason, the Connecticut Whale relocated to

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

, and the

were purchased by a group of investors led by Miles Arnone.

Head coach changes

Regular season

Standings

Final standings.

Schedule

Playoffs

All-Star Game

The 2020 NWHL All-Star Game and its weekend festivities took place on February 8–9, 2020, at

Warrior Ice Arena Warrior Arena is an ice hockey arena and practice facility in Brighton, Boston, Massachusetts. The arena is part of a larger mixed-use development being constructed by New Balance at Boston Landing that includes the headquarters of New Balance an ...

, the

's home arena. The teams were captained by

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 ...

of the Boston Pride and

Madison Packer Madison Packer (born June 25, 1991) is an American professional ice hockey forward, currently serving as captain of the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation. One of the longest tenured players in PHF history, she is the league' ...

of the

, who drafted their rosters from the selected all-star players in a draft. 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. On February 11, the league awarded fastest skater to Team Dempsey's

Allie Thunstrom Allison Thunstrom (born April 20, 1988) is an American ice hockey forward for the Boston Pride in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She currently holds the PHF record for goals scored in a single season. She has also played for the U ...

of the

following a review and a timing error. 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 Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

Awards and honors

(Boston Pride) and

(Minnesota Whitecaps), 2020 Most Valuable Players *

Lovisa Selander Lovisa Selander (born 14 March 1996) is a Swedish ice hockey player for the Boston Pride in the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) and the Swedish national team. She currently holds the record for women’s hockey NCAA Division I career saves ...

, Boston Pride, 2020 Goaltender of the Year * Kaleigh Fratkin, Boston Pride, 2020 Defender of the Year * Jillian Dempsey, Boston Pride, 2020 Scoring Champion *

Kate Leary Kate Leary (born August 10, 1993) is an American ice hockey forward, currently playing for the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation. Career Across four seasons with Boston College Eagles women's icy hockey, Leary never mis ...

, Metropolitan Riveters, 2020 Newcomer of the Year

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 NWHL season NWHL NWHL season 2019–20 in women's ice hockey leagues