No team saw a rise following the World Championships like PWHL Boston, and no team saw a fall following Worlds like PWHL Minnesota. The break changed the fates of the season for both.
Heading into the World Championships in April, PWHL Boston was riding a five game losing streak and PWHL Minnesota was riding a five game winning streak.
Following the World Championships, everything changed, rapidly.
After the World tournament in Utica, New York, Minnesota returned having lost their momentum and went on a five game losing streak. The team didn't collect a single point to close out the season, and their stars disappeared.
Conversely, PWHL Boston returned and got red hot, winning four games in regulation and dropping only a single game in a shootout. They collected points in every game they played, and their stars came to play.
If flipped the script on the PWHL playoff picture and draft order. Heading into the World Championships, Toronto sat first with 36 points, followed by Minnesota with 35. Behind this duo, who were the top teams for most of the PWHL season were Montreal (31), Ottawa (27), Boston (22) and New York (21).
By the time Minnesota and Boston had played their final games of the season, Toronto remained in first, but Montreal climbed to second with 41 points, followed by Boston with 35 points, tying Minnesota who stayed at 35. Every team in the PWHL collected points following the World Championships, except Minnesota.
In part, Minnesota's stars came back from Worlds cold, including a banged up Kendall Coyne Schofield, and first overall pick Taylor Heise. In the five games prior to the World Championships, Heise and Coyne Schofield combined for three goals and 11 points. In the five games following the World Championships, the duo didn't register a goal, and only recorded four assists, combined.
In Boston, players like Alina Muller and Hilary Knigth saw a slight uptick, recording four goals and seven points as a pair following the break compared to four points total in the five games preceding the break.
Not to be overlooked in the turnaround either was the play of Aerin Frankel in Boston's net. Prior to the break, her last four starts saw Frankel post a 0.892 save percentage. After the break, she started four games posting a 0.932 save percentage.
For PWHL Minnesota, Nicole Hensley was 0.910 in her last three games before the break, and 0.869 in her three starts after the break.
No teams saw their fates change as drastically as PWHL Minnesota and PWHL Boston following a reset at the World Championships. For one it put a stop to a disastrous losing skid, and for the other it put a stop to their winning momentum.
It was a break that defined the year for both teams, one for the better, and one for the worse.