The 2015–16 NWHL season is the first season of operation 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 ...

. Four teams competed for the inaugural Isobel Cup: the Boston Pride,

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 ...

New York 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 Connecticut Whale.

League business

* July 2015: The NWHL Foundation hosted a Canadian Training Camp Series in four different Canadian cities (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor). *Late July 2015: A training camp for European players took place at Ristuccia Memorial Arena outside Boston on July 23, hosted by Boston Pride head coach Bobby Jay. Players from Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Japan attended.

All-star game

The

1st NWHL All-Star Game The 1st NWHL All-Star Game took place on January 24, 2016 at HarborCenter in Buffalo, New York. The event featured two 20-minute periods in a 4-on-4 format and a Skills Competition. Team Pfalzer entered the game with a 4-0 lead having won all even ...

was held January 24, 2016 at

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 ...

in Buffalo, the home of the Beauts.

Regular season

Standings

Schedule

''All times in

Eastern Standard Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and ...

( UTC−05:00).''

Playoffs

Statistics

Scoring leaders

*''The following players led the league in regular season points at the conclusion of season.''

Milestones

Awards and honors

Brianna Decker Brianna Decker (born May 13, 1991) is an American women's ice hockey player who plays for the Calgary section of the PWHPA and the United States women's national ice hockey team. She won the 2012 Patty Kazmaier Award while playing for the Univer ...

, Boston Pride, 2016 NWHL Most Valuable Player * Hilary Knight, Boston Pride, 2016 NWHL Scoring Champion * Denna Laing, Boston Pride, 2016 NWHL Perseverance Award * Denna Laing, Boston Pride, 2016 NWHL Foundation Award *

Gigi Marvin Gisele Marie "Gigi" Marvin (born March 7, 1987) is an American ice hockey player for the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League. As a member of the United States national women's ice hockey team, Marvin won a silver medal at the 201 ...

, Boston Pride, 2016 NWHL Defensive Player of the Year Award *

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 ...

, Boston Pride, 2016 NWHL Goaltender of the Year

Transactions

NWHL draft

The 2015 NWHL draft took place in Boston on June 22, 2015. The draft was not binding on the players, who did not enter their names and did not have to give their consent. It was not clear that the players felt themselves bound by the decisions made in the draft. However, during the season the NWHL was frequently active on social media about draft picks' success in the NCAA, and on April 1, 2016 the NWHL announced that the draft would be enforced insofar as there would be salary cap penalties for teams that signed other teams' draftees. A draft lottery was held by NWHL commissioner

Dani Rylan Dani Rylan Kearney (born August 5, 1987) is an American entrepreneur and former ice hockey player. She is the founder and former commissioner of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), the first professional women's hockey league in the United ...

, with the

earning the first pick overall. Notable first round picks included

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

forward

Hannah Brandt Hannah Brandt (born November 27, 1993) is an American ice hockey centre, currently playing for the Minnesota section of the PWHPA. She was named to the United States women's national ice hockey team, which represented the United States at the 20 ...

by Connecticut,

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in Charlotte, North Ca ...

forward

Kendall Coyne Kendall Coyne Schofield (born May 25, 1992) is an 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 World Wome ...

by Boston, and

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

defenseman

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 the ...