#auroraliiga

[grantmentis]

Women's Hockey Roundup: October

Woof, I fell off of these for a while. Blame baseball and college! Anyway, I'm going to just do what happened in women's hockey in October (and maybe the last few days of September) for all leagues. This is only confirmed news and games, so rumors are not included

If you're new, i recap the top stories from around club play women's hockey (so not collegiate) and try to give more detail on european women's hockey, since that's less reported on in north america :-) Feel free to add if i miss anything!

PWHL (USA/Canada)

The PWHL schedule has been released! We have a few TBD's in venues, most likely for playing select games in bigger venues or neutral sites. we do not currently have streaming/television info, so stay tuned for that. There will be a preseason, but not open to the public.

Training Camp Begins November 12, with preseason/mini camps The 19-22. New York's training camp roster is here. Boston's is here. Minnesota's is here. Montreal is here. Ottawa's is here. Toronto's is here.

Nov. 27: Deadline to finalize rosters of 23 players and 3 reserves

Abigail Boreen signed a three year deal with the Montréal Victoire. She played with the Minnesota Frost last year, including in the playoffs, as a reserve player.

Ronja Savolainen signed a three year deal with the Ottawa Charge. She played with Luleä most recently and is a star of the Finnish national team.

Sarah Lefort, most recently with Montréal Victoire, has announced her retirement

The PWHL has begun the process of expansion for 2025-2026, targeting two new cities

SDHL (Sweden)

Fanni Garát-Gasparics signs with Brynäs IF, though is still rehabbing the injury she sustained last year with the Ottawa Charge

Dutch national team legend Savine Wielenga signs with Leksands IF

Rookie Reece Hunt of Luleä is out for the season with a torn knee ligament

Frölunda general manager Kim Martin Hassons is extended to 2028, and head coach Erika Holst is extended to 2026. Frölunda has been massively successful thus far this year, currently in second place in the standings and coming off a big win against firs place Lulëa

While Luleä and Frölunda are at the top of the table, MoDo is making noise in third place, having won six of their last eight.

A couple key story lines: -> Finish National Team forward, Elisa Holopainen (Frölunda) is lighting the league on fire in her first year in the SDHL. She has 9 goals and ten assists in 13 games -> We have a few wonderful comeback stories this year. Hanna Olsson (Frölunda) is back to her old self after missing most of last year with injury, with 16 points in 13 games, good for fourth in the league. Erica Reider, (Luleä) who did not play for two seasons, looks like she never left, currently leading all defenders i the league in points. And Kassidy Sauvé (SDE), who missed almost two full season's with a hip injury, currently leads all goaltenders in save percentage. -> MoDo Hockey is being powered almost entirely by a youth movement: top producers Ebba Hedqvist, Adéla Šapovalivová, Mira Hallin, and Lovisa Engström are all 18 or younger and playing prominent roles on the 3rd place team

Auroraliiga (Finland)

Canadian Emma Hall joins KalPa after playing in the NDHL (Sweden's second division) last year

Kärpät will retire the number 20 in honor of long time legend Saija Tarkki. After 21 seasons with Kärpät as well as the Finnish national team, Tarkki retired in 2019. She will be honored Novembe 23rd.

A Couple key storylines: -> 18 year old Czech forward Barbora Juříčková i having a breakout year with HPK, already surpassing her point total from last season with 22. She joins Emma Ekoluoma (Ilves), who was a star on the U18 Finnish team last year, as one of the young players to keep an eye on in this league -> Kiekko-Espoo sits at the top of the table, with Ilves right behind. Last year's champions HIFK are feeling the loss of several star players and sit in fourth place. -> Sister's Jennika , Joanna and Jatta Ojala all played for the same team together for the first time at the top level for Team Kuortane

SWHL A / Postfinance Women League (Switzerland)

Not technically league play, but since they play in this league too ill put it here: EV Zug won the EWHL Euro Cup, which is played at the beginning of the season including select club teams across europe! They bear the German league's Memmingen to do so. Noemi Neubauerova, who is set to play with the Toronto Sceptres when the PWHL game begins, scored the game winning goal

Sponsor PostFinance announces that in 2025/2026, they will only financially support men's club teams that have a women's counterpart

Nadine Hofstetter of EV Zug is out three weeks with a broken finger. She is one of the team's veteran defenders who also plays for the Swiss national team. Vanessa Ryhner, Nina Harju, and Julia Näf are also out with injury for EV Zug, though Rhyner should be back any day now.

ZSC Lions Fraun is hit with injuries: Slovakian forward Tereza Lahova is out for the year with injury, and Aurela Thalmann and Alena Polenská (aka Alena Mills) are also injured. They are calling up Univ. of Saskatchewan alumni Sophie Lalor

A few storylines: -> Elizabeth Lang (HC Davos Ladies) is leading the league in points in her rookie year and scoring at a goal per game pace. She graduated from University of Calgary last year -> Lara Stalder (EVZ Women's team) continues to do Lara Stalder things and is tied with Lang in goals, but newcomers Michaela Pejzlová (HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls) and Clara Rozier (SC Bern Fraun) who were stars in last year's finnish league are close behind. The top scorer race for this league will be exciting, and that's not to mention old friends like Rahel Enzler and Estelle Duvin, among others. -> HC Davos Ladies is currently at the top of the standings, but EV Zug and SC Bern Frauen are very close behing them -> 18 year old Ivana Wey (EVZ Women's Team) has been off to a blistering hot start, a lot of hype surrounding her after a strong performance at both u18 and senior worlds. Another interesting young player is Lucie Tenenbaum, an American set to play at Minnesota State next year but is spending this year in Switzerland. The 18 year old has 5 goals and two assists with HC Davos Ladies so far

EWHL (Central/East Europe)

EV Bozen Eagles are currently dominating the league, with the help of players such as import Kristin Della Rovere, who has 16 points in 9 games. The Bozen eagles are part of a larger plan to help get italy's women's national team ready for the 2026 olympics

HK PSRZ Bratislava are undefeated thus far this season, after winning last year's title.

Canadian USport alumni are thriving in this league; Cassidy Maplethorpe, Hannah Tait, and Lauren Nicholson among top goal scorers

Slovak Ema Tothova continues to be the young player to watch, after her breakout seeason last year the 17 year old forward has 10 goals in five games. She is also competing in a boy's league in Slovakia while playing in the EWHL

OTHERS

watch this space for Czech forward Adéla Mynaříková to mak the u18 team this year. She's 15 and just steamrolling people in the Czech top league, with 15 goals and 5 assists in 8 games playing against a lot of grown adults

Norweigan forward Une Bjelland Strandborg, who was arguably one of the best NCAA DIII players of all time and graduated last year, is killing it in Germany's league with newly added Austrian team HK Budapest. She has 7 points in 6 games

[pwhlottawa]

watching the second period of an auroraliiga game. no commentary, just ambient hockey noises. a goal one right after the other from each team. i missed women's hockey so much

[grantmentis]

Women’s hockey roundup: 10/31-12/9

As per usual, this covers the PWHL but also all professional women’s hockey and some international news with some added focus on international leagues. It does not cover college due to time constraints but happy to point to any resources if needed. 100% confirmed news only

Also did something a bit different this month and tried to order points from what I think is most newsworthy at the top but it’s not a super strict order

PWHL (USA/Canada):

I covered a lot in my primer in terms of rule changes and broadcasting and neutral site games, so this will focus on everything else for the most part:

Official rosters are in. All rosters available here (toggle drop down menu to change teams)

The Sirens signed Kayla Vespa and Olivia Knowles after initial roster announcements

Maggie Flaherty (Minnesota Frost) was suspended two games for her hit on Alina Müller

Taylor House signs a SPA with the Ottawa Charge

Current players on injured reserve: Jill Saulnier (NY), Ella Shelton (NY), Dominika Lásková (MTL), Kennedy Marchand (MTL), Hadley Hartmetz (BOS), Natalie Spooner (TOR), Megan Carter (TOR.), Alexa Vasko (Ottawa Charge)

The PWHL is testing out other streaming platforms in the United States, including Twitch. If you are having trouble finding a PWHL stream outside of Canada, make sure to check the PWHL social media for updates!

SDHL (Sweden)

SDHL leading point leader Elisa Holopainen extends her contract with Frölunda. She joins Linnéa Pettersson Dove who extended for two seasons and Sofie Lundin (who’s sixth in the SDHL in points) and Ella Hellman who extended for one season. This waves of signings comes off of Frölundas two year rise since their inception and demonstration of significant financial investment to individual players and the team

Haruka Toko, team Japan star and last years top scorer for Linköping, has season ending surgery due to a cruciate ligament injury

Peter Elander, prominent former Swedish hockey player, former Swedens women’s national team coach, and most recently an assistant coach for Ohio states women’s hockey program, has accepted a job as coach for SDE

Emma Nordin (Luleå) became the all time points leader in the SDHL, surpassing Denise Altmann's record from 2020. Congratulations to Emma, who has 566 points in 461 games

Sarah Bujold, who played with Montreal victoire last year, signed with luleå

Alexa Gruschow, who played with the New York sirens last year, signed with MoDo hockey

Savannah Norcross, who played with the New York sirens last year, signed with luleå

Maude Poulin labelle, who played with the Toronto sceptres last year, signed with Brynäs

Audrey-Anne Veillette, who was with the Ottawa Charge last year but did not play due to injury, joins HV71

Sanni Vanhanen of Brynäs and the Finnish national team committed to play with Ohio state university next season

Czech goaltender Blanka Skodova joined Skellefteå

Standings updates: Frölunda sits in first place, but Luleå and MoDo are extremly close behind. HV71 and Leksands are in the relegation spots right now, with Linköping pretty comfortably ahead of them

Top Players/Players i want to highlight: -Stephanie Neatby (Fröluda), Frida Axell (Luleå), and Kassidy Sauvé (SDE) are all neck and neck for best goaltending stats -Elisa Holopainen (Frölunda) continues to lead in scoring with 31 points, with Petra Nieminen (Luleå) and Hanna Olson (Frölunda) close behind at 25 -Lovisa Engström (MoDo) has been the most impactful U18 player, scoring 8 goals thus far in her age 17 season and rookie year

AuroraLiiga (Finland)

Ella Välikangas rejoins HPK. She played there last season and had 23 points in 32 games played

Czech forward Anna Kalová of RoKi is out for the season.

Mentioned in my last roundup, but Saija Tarkki officially had her jersey! Congratulations to Saija on this incredible accomplishment

Six teams have clinched a playoff spot: Kiekko-Espoo, HPK, HIFK, Team Kuortane, Ilves, and Karpa. TPS, Kärpät, and Roki are left to battle out the remaining spots and avoid relegation. Kiekko-Espoo has a comfortable first place lead

RoKi got their first win of the season!

Top players: - After a bit of a down year last year, Salla Sivula (KalPa) has a .944 save percentage while facing the highest workload of any goalie in the league, and has four shutouts on the year. Sivula has been in the league since 2018-2019 and is currently on pace to set career highs on her new team - 21 year old Lisette Täks continues to make her case for the national team after playing at an elite level in auroraliiga the past two years. She has 46 points in 24 games at Kiekko-Espoo -18 year old Czech forward Barbora Juříčková is having a breakout year with HPK, already doubling her point total from last year. in 23 games this year, she has 40 points -Emma Nuutinen, a league veteran, is your current points leader with 49 points in 22 games for Kiekko-Espoo

SWHL A/ Postfinance Women's League (Switzerland)

The league is showing a wonderful increase in attendance, with a new record attendance set in a game between EV Zug and HC Davos Ladies on November 17th: 2,163 !

ALL WOMEN'S LEAGUES GAMES ARE ONCE AGAIN FREE TO STREAM FOR ALL HERE: https://www.red.sport/en-ch/page/womens-league this includes full replays, highlights, and interviews!!!

New playoff format: the 1st and 2nd placed tams will get a by to the semi-finals. The 3rd to 6th placed teams will play in best of three series to determine who goes on to the semi-finals. The bottom two teams in the table will have a best-of-five playoff series to determine relegation. The semi-finals and the final will be best of five, and there will be a one game bronze medal match.

Coach Johanna Ikonen of HC Davos Ladies signs an extension through 2026/2027. The former Finnish National Team Player is in her first year coaching the HC Davos Ladies, but has a wealth of experience coaching women's pro teams. HC Davos Ladies are currently in second place, a major improvement from last year when they were in fifth place with a negative goal differential.

Swiss hockey hall of famer Evelina Raselli, who captained Team Switzerland, won five swhl championships, and won an Isobel Cup with the Boston Pride, accepted a assistant coaching role for HC Davos starting in January

Ivana Wey (EVZ), a up and coming star for the Swiss national team, committed to Northeastern University

Naemi Herzig (EVZ) has committed to College of the Holy Cross

New Injuries: Annika Fazokas (EVZ) it out with a concussion

SC Bern Frauen is in first with HC Davos right behind. EVZ Women's Team could also make a run for one of the first two spots and have a game in hand. SC Langenthal Damen and Neuchâtel Hockey Academy Dames will almost certainly be relegated

Current top performers: - Elizabeth Lang (HC Davos Ladies) rookie out of University of Calgary with a league leading 37 points in 18 games -Estelle Duvin (SC Bern Fraun), who's been one of the MVP's of the SWHL the past few years, has 34 points in 18 games -Michaela Pejzlová (HC Ambrì-Piotta), a czech national team player in her first SWHL season after many years as a MVP caliber player in Auroraliiga, has 31 goals in 17 games

EWHL (Central/Eastern Europe)

Aisulu Almaty, HK PSRZ Bratislava, SKN Sabres St.Pölten are all extremely close in points in the top three spots. EV Bozen Eagles and KSV Neuberg Highlanders sit close behind them. Anyone in the top five spots could finish first.

Top players -Kristin Della Rovere (EV Bozen Eagles) is your top scorer with 33 points in 14 games -Latvian goaltender Kristiana Apsite for DEC Salzburg Eagles has been the most impressive goaltender to me. While goalies like Seeley have better numbers, Apsite's workload has been insane. Despite being on the worst team and facing the second most shots in the league (about 38 shots a game) she is putting up respectable numbers with a .911 save percentage -Slovak forward Ema Tothova is still the best u18 player, just as she was last year. The 17 year old has 18 points in 13 games. She is also playing in a boy's-majority u18 league at the same time

International news:

The 6-Nations event in Tampere begins December 11 to 15th, with Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Sweden, USA, and Canada. The tournament rosters are made up primarily of the younger talent and ncaa players in each national teams pipelines. Most pro leagues are on break as a result

The u18 tournaments will be coming up in January! I will post more about them later, but if you would like to read more about them check out the IIHF page

[grantmentis]

Undrafted / unsigned players as of right now

With the SDHL / AuroraLiiga / Postfinance Women’s League / EWHL / other leagues either underway or soon to be underway, a lot of rosters are close to solidified with only a few spots left.

A lot of PWHL teams have made clear that they plan to not sign any / very few remaining free agents or draft picks until after training camp where they plan to have everyone remaining compete for spots. Obviously signed players and drafted players will be there, but who else? This is meant to give some light to that

This list does not include NCAA / USports players who went undrafted, mostly just due to lack of time. But feel free to add anyone notable!

Current list of rumored undrafted training camp invites.

Please note that this is not from PWHL teams officially and may not include all players invited / some may still be responding to offers

Boston Fleet -Jillian Dempsey, Klara Peslarova, Cami Kronish, Maude Poulin Labelle, Kelly-Ann Nadeau

Minnesota Frost - Claire Butorac, Brook Bryant, Lauren Bench, Charlotte Akervik

Montreal Victoire- Clair DeGeorge, Sandra Abstreiter, Gabrielle David, Alexandra Labelle, 

New York Sound - Chayla Edwards, Madison Bizal, Taylor Baker, Savannah Norcross

Ottawa Charge - Taylor House

Toronto Sceptres - Rylind MacKinnon, Jessica Kondas, Lauriane Rougeau

Players on PWHL teams last year currently not affiliated with any teams / camp invites

Players with * is who I feel have the best spot at camp invites

Lindsey post

Brooke Hobson

Carley Olivier

Jade downie-landry *

Élizabeth Giguere *

Paetyn Levis *

Jill saulnier *

Alexa Gruschow

Madison packer *

Kayla Vespa

Mellissa channell *

Nikki nightengale

Abby cook

Kelly babstock

Kaleigh Fratkin *

Gigi Marvin *

Amanda pelkey *

Samantha isbell

Brooke Bryant

Sydney Brodt *

Brigitte Laganière

Ann-Sophie Bettez *

Sarah bujold *

Leah lum

Sarah Lefort. *

Brooke Stacey

Alex poznikoff

Marlène Boissonnault

Rachel mcquigge *

Samantha ridgewell *

Emma buckles

Victoria Howran

Taylor Davison

Lauren MacInnis

Samantha Davis

Rosalie Demers

Audrey-Ann Veillette *

Sam Cogan

Kaitlin willoughby

Jess jones

Fanni Garát-Gasparics *

Notable players who played in other leagues last year who are currently not affiliated with any team

Please note, I’m not saying all of these players will be PWHL invites, but as all leagues look to fill remaining spots these are names that may be on their call list. I put an * on players I think could have a shot at a camp invite for the PWHL based on a few factors including if they declared for the draft

Nicola Eisenschmid *

Laura kluge *

Shae Demale *

Tatum Amy

Emma Murén

Sarah-Ève Coutu-Godbout

Ally Johnson

Iveta Klimášová

Emily pinto

Autumn Macdougall

Sally Hoerr

Anna Purschke

Sara Krauseneck

Eleri McKay *

tanner Gates *

Yoshino Enomoto

Christine Deaudelin

Aoi Shiga

Lilla Carpenter-Boesch

Anna Kilponen

Anniina Kaitala

Ella Välikangas

[pwhlottawa]

watching auroraliiga again. hpk is really good