Goals, starts, wins, crowds and a few firsts, here's Cee Benwell's Holiday Wish List for the PWHL.
In the spirit of giving, these are just some of the gifts we’d love to see for some of the PWHL’s teams, players, staff, and fans:
Starts (and wins) for all backup goalies. This season, we’re already seeing more backup netminders gets starts compared to last season when the number ones carried almost all of the load for most teams. With rookies Gwyneth Philips, Raygan Kirk, and Kayle Osborne making appearances, it’s a sign of good things to come. Abbey Levy, Elaine Chuli, and both Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley have also gotten into games. We’re looking at you, Boston - Emma Söderberg and Klára Peslarová are deserving of a start, too.
More overtime and one-goal games. This one’s for fans, not necessarily coaches. The PWHL had so many tight finishes last season that the standings were in doubt right until the end. And every game seemed to hinge on a goal late into the third period. Overtimes and shootouts gave us all the drama we could handle, and no one was complaining.
A point (preferably a goal) for Sceptres’ first-rounder Julia Gosling. The only first-round pick from this summer’s draft without a single point, Gosling has all the talent to make this happen but has been snake-bitten along with many on the team. With her shot, she can achieve this gift for herself quickly, too.
More highlight reel goals. Abby Boreen’s score against Toronto is an early candidate for goal of the year, but there have been amazing passes (hello, Fillier and Carpenter), odd bounces, jailbreak goals, solo efforts. and buzzer beaters aplenty in just the first few weeks. The skill level of the PWHL has been something to behold, and we just want this trend to continue in the new year.
Big crowds at all of the Takeover Tour games. An easy one, and it won’t be hard to achieve. With sellouts already for the Vancouver, Edmonton, Seattle, and Quebec City, there’s still time for the other markets to catch up. St. Louis, Denver, and Detroit will have great crowds, and seeing the PWHL succeed in Raleigh and/or Buffalo would be a nice gift for everyone involved.
A goalie goal. Wouldn’t this be a perfect tree topper? We’ve seen goalies score in almost every other league, and with an empty net, you could see one of the PWHL’s talented puck handling backstoppers make this happen. Who will it be? My money is on Ann-Renee Desbiens, who is a real gambler with the puck occasionally and has the attitude to try to pull it off.
Good health for Erica Howe and all who battle cancer. We saw during the Battle Against Cancer game that players are touched by this fight in their lives with relatives, friends, family members, and more affected. If there’s one thing we all want during this sentimental season, it’s for cancer to become a thing of the past and for everyone to achieve a full recovery.