To be the PWHL's ironwoman, a player must not miss a regular season game for any reason. It's an accolade that is held sacred in the hockey world showing consistency, longevity, and a unique ability to avoid injury and illness throughout a career.
In the NHL, the current ironman streak belongs to Phil Kessel, who appeared in 1,064 consecutive games. Considering the feat of reaching 1,000 career games is considered a significant milestone for any NHL player, the fact Kessel played more than 1,000 consecutive games speaks volumes. He passed the previous record holder 989, who lost his streak when the Philadelphia Flyers made him a healthy scratch in 2022.
In the PWHL, it will take significantly longer to hit games played milestones with the inaugural season featuring only 24 games, and year two and three capped at 30 games.
For NHL players, to become an official "iron man," the mark is typically 500 consecutive games. In the NHL's current 82 game schedule, that mark takes just over six consecutive seasons without missing a game.
It will be some time before the PWHL hits their sixth season, but there is a group of players who are set to enter year three without missing a game. Currently, that list sits at 27 players.
Susanna Tapani Tops Them All Under Unique Circumstances
With a 24 and 30 game season completed by the PWHL, Susanna Tapani tops all ironwomen in the PWHL due to the unique fact that during season one she was traded from a team that had played more games, to a team that had played less when PWHL Minnesota sent Tapani to Boston in exchange for Sophie Jaques.
Because of the trade, Tapani played 26 regular season games in year one, and added a full 30 game regular season in year two. Sitting at 56 games, she's the PWHL's current all-time games played leader, and as a result, ironwoman.
There are 26 players behind her however with complete 54 game records to their names.
Among them are nine defenders and 17 forwards who have all yet to miss a game. Four of those players - Daryl Watts, Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Jessie Eldridge - also sit in the PWHL's top ten all-time scorers after two seasons. They're followed closely in those scoring ranks by another group of ironwomen in the top 25 league scorers all-time including Renata Fast, Emily Clark, Tapani, Abby Roque, Megan Keller, and Emma Maltais.
The remainder of the PWHL's ironwoman list currently includes Michela Cava, Kelly Pannek, Jesse Compher, Hannah Brandt, Jamie Lee Rattray, Blayre Turnbull, Jaime Bourbonnais, Jade Downie-Landry, Savannah Harmon, Lee Stecklein, Denisa Krisova, Kali Flanagan, Sidney Morin, Emma Woods, Maggie Connors, Allie Munroe, and Jessica DiGirolamo.
Fourteen rookies and newcomers to the league played all 30 games in the 2024-25, starting themselves down a path to challenge for this mark as players begin to fall off the list in the coming seasons.
For now however, after two seasons, the PWHL's ironwoman is officially Susanna Tapani.