The Hockey News discusses the PWHL's new No Escape Rule Each of the PWHL's six teams played three games. It's been ten games in the first ten days of the regular season. Now the teams will break for international competition as a 6 Nations Women's Euro Hockey Tour stop takes place in Finland, along with a 4 Nations tournament in Denmark, and an exhibition series between Germany and Norway. With time to reflect on the opening games of the season, here's a look at ten interesting statistics from the PWHL's first ten days. 1. BIG BAD BOSTON BLUELINERS Emily Brown and Megan Keller head the PWHL's hit column by a landslide. Brown has 16 hits through three games, while Keller follows with 15. The next highest total in the league? Nine hits by Minnesota's Britta Curl-Salemme. Boston's blueline is by far the most active physically. Beyond Brown and Keller, Sydney Bard (8), Emma Greco (7), and Jessica DiGirolamo (6) are all in the top 12 in the league. Forward Shay Maloney is tied for fourth in the league with Bard with 8. 2. ATTENDANCE UP OVER LAST SEASON The PWHL hasn't played a neutral site game yet, but attendance is already up across the league. Last season, the PWHL averaged 5,448 fans across their 70 game season for a total of 392,259 total fans. In 2024-25, the league is already well on their way to eclipsing last seasons totals even before sold out neutral site games and the Battle on Bay Street factor in. Through 9 games this season, the PWHL has seen 64,473 fans attend games. It's an average of 7,163 fans, more than 1500 more per game than last year. As a more direct comparison, last season the first 10 games of the PWHL season drew 50,856 fans, or 5,085 per game. The increased capacities in Toronto and Montreal have played a big role in these numbers. 3. POWER PLAY PERCENTAGES UP Although the sample size is small (only 53 power play attempts across the league) through ten games, early indications are power play percentages are up. While the league may point to the new "No Escape Rule" as the cause, very few of those goals came prior to teams being able to make a change. Still, it's hard to understand what the secondary impacts of the rule could be. A more likely reasoning is the increased offensive talent in the league this year through another season of drafting. Boston has gone from worst to first jumping from a paltry 7.5% across the entirety of last season, to a 33.3% success rate through three games. Overall, teams are averaging 23.79% this season compared to 16.11% last year. Regardless of the reasoning, that's progress. 4. FAMILY FACES AT THE TOP Looking at time on ice, it's familiar faces at the top including the Toronto duo of Renata Fast and Jocelyne Larocque as two of only three players in the league averaging more than 25 minutes of ice per game. The league leader? New York captain Micah Zandee-Hart who is playing 26:06 per game. New York also has the PWHL rookie with the highest time on ice average in defender Maya Nylen Persson who has averaged 23:24 through three games, good for fourth in the league. At the other end of the spectrum, there are 24 players in the league averaging under 10 minutes per game. 5. ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER There's no rhyme nor reason to goaltending strategy in the PWHL, yet. Right now, four of the league's six teams - Ottawa, New York, Boston, Toronto - have rolled with only one netminder. Minnesota and Montreal are the only teams to play both of their goalies. It means that while Emerance Maschmeyer, Corinne Schroeder, Aerin Frankel, and Kristen Campbell have made their debuts, there are a number of PWHL goalies waiting to see the ice for the first time. In Ottawa (Gwyneth Philips and Logan Angers), Boson (Klara Peslarova), New York (Kayle Osborne) and Toronto (Raygan Kirk and CJ Jackson) it's also a wait for the first start in PWHL careers. 6. FIRST OVERALL TO FIRST OVERALL Through her first three games in the PWHL, Sarah Fillier has yet to disappoint recording points in each game, and leading the league with six points in that span. She went from being the first overall pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft, to sitting first overall in PWHL scoring. There's a long way to go, especially for a rookie on a team coming off a last place season, but things are certainly looking up in New York and for Sarah Fillier. 7. DOWN TO ZERO It's never a number fans will want to see in the PWHL, but the New York Sirens are already down to zero reserve players. Without a development system and with limited wages and no benefits for reserve players, it proved more difficult this season for the league to sign players for the position. In New York, only Kayla Vespa accepted their offers for reserve contracts. Vespa was quickly signed after an injury to Jill Saulnier leaving New York with no reserves. It proved an important number when the team had to place Ella Shelton on injured reserve, resulting in them needing to sign a player from another team to remain roster compliant. New York signed Olivia Knowles from Toronto, dropping their reserve pool to two players. 8. SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS From the rush and from the point, Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey, and Sophie Jaques lead the league with 14 shots on net each. On the receiving end of the puck, Emerance Maschmeyer finds herself in a position neither she nor the Ottawa Charge wanted to be in again this year. Last season Maschmeyer faced more shots against than any goalie in the PWHL, albeit partially because she played the most minutes of any goalie in the league and was one of only three goalies to play more than 1000 minutes last season. This year, Maschmeyer is atop both stats again playing five minutes more than any goalie already, and facing the most shots, 96, of any goalie in the league as well. 9. PLENTY OF FIRSTS ALREADY Of the 42 players selected in the 2024 PWHL Draft, and the 39 of those players who made opening night rosters, 18 have recorded their first career PWHL points. That includes Sarah Fillier's league leading six points, and Dominique Petrie of Minnesota who is tied for the league lead with three goals, scoring one in each of her first three games. Fillier, Petrie, Britta Curl-Salemme, Cayla Barnes, Jennifer Gardiner, Sydney Bard, Izzy Daniel, Gabby Rosenthal, Danielle Serdachny, and Mannon McMahon also scored their first career PWHL goals, as did second year Ottawa Charge defender Jincy Roese. 10.NOBODY BEATS O'NEILL If you drop a puck in front of Kristin O'Neill, few in the league can beat her on the draw. O'Neill has won an incredible 76.9% of her draws this season. The busiest players in the face-off circle this season is Katerina Mrazova with 63 draws taken, followed by Sarah Nurse (61) and Marie-Philip Poulin (60). Of those three however, only Poulin sits above 50% winning 58.3% of her draws.
