The 10 biggest women's hockey stories of 2024: New league, setting records and making history

As 2024 draws to a close, it feels like a nice time for us to reflect on a consequential year in womens hockey.

The league officially dropped the puck on Jan.

1 and broke records throughout its inaugural season.

We witnessed the brilliance of Natalie Spooner in Toronto, while a star emerged in teen phenom Chloe Primerano.

Advertisement Trophies were handed out to Team Canada, Ohio State and Minnesota .

And the year concludes with more optimism in New York, thanks to Sarah Fillier.

Heres a look at the 10 most interesting and impactful stories from the womens hockey world in 2024, in chronological order.

The PWHL s first game The womens hockey year kicked off on New Years Day with the first PWHL game ever played.

New York defender Ella Shelton scored the leagues first-ever goal en route to a dominant 4-0 win over host Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Corinne Schroeder was the star of the game with a 29-save shutout win.

The game puck, Sheltons stick and Schroeders were donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Ella Shelton with the first goal in PWHL history gives New York a 1-0 lead pic.twitter.com/nzJNz48ygd Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) January 1, 2024 Almost 3 million viewers watched the game on Canadian television and the livestream, still available on the leagues YouTube channel, has over 170,000 views.

It was a historic moment after a six-month sprint to get the league together and marked the arrival of the PWHL the third womens professional hockey league to launch with the hope of creating a sustainable future for the sport since 2007.

Before the PWHL, there was the Canadian Womens Hockey League (2007-2019) and the National Womens Hockey League (later renamed the Premier Hockey Federation) launched in 2015.

Chloe Primerano dominates U18 worlds Chloe Primerano first made headlines in 2022 when she became the first female skater ever selected in a Canadian Hockey League draft.

In 2024, she made her international debut at the under-18 world championships and solidified herself as one of the most promising prospects in womens hockey.

GO DEEPER This hockey phenom made an unusual career choice.

Why she could be one of the greats Primerano, 16 at the time, led the tournament in scoring, set a record for points by a defender (16) and was named best defender and tournament MVP.

She went on to dominate her Canadian prep school league, scoring 35 goals and 89 points in 29 games two single-season records en route to winning another league title and MVP.

Advertisement She had outgrown the league she was playing in, said Byron Ritchie, the former NHL forward who worked with Primerano at RINK Academy.

Primerano is now playing for the University of Minnesota as a 17-year-old after graduating from high school a year early and having already played for the Canadian senior womens national team the second-youngest player to ever crack the roster.

The first-ever blockbuster trade On Feb.

11, Super Bowl Sunday, the PWHL dropped a blockbuster trade.

Sophie Jaques, the 2023 Patty Kazmaier winner and Boston s 10th overall pick in the PWHL Draft, was sent to Minnesota in exchange for forward Susanna Tapani and defender Abby Cook.

GO DEEPER Patagonia jackets, frantic moves and a missed Super Bowl party: Inside a historic trade Jaques hadnt really hit her stride in Boston at that point, but former GM Natalie Darwitz still targeted Jaques due to her dominance in college and offensive upside.

For Boston, Tapani added more depth, particularly at center.

The trade proved mutually beneficial, with Jaques establishing herself as a top-pair staple in Minnesota while Tapani chipped in two goals and eight points with Boston in the regular season before adding three massive goals in the playoffs, including against Jaques and Minnesota in the Walter Cup Final.

Its great to see (Jaques) doing well ...

I think her poise with the puck and the way she moves it has been great, said Boston coach Courtney Kessel.

The trade worked out for both of us.

More than anything, the deal was a reminder of a new reality for players in the PWHL.

In previous womens hockey leagues, players were drafted, signed and traded to the markets they had chosen.

That is no longer the case, which massively changed the dynamics for front offices, players and league executives.

Ohio State wins another national championship On March 24, the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 1-0 to win the programs second NCAA championship.

Advertisement The game a rematch of the 2023 championship, which ended in a 1-0 Wisconsin victory was scoreless through the first two periods.

It was a tense, evenly matched, exciting championship game.

Eventually, Joy Dunne, the national rookie of the year, scored the winner with 7:12 left in the game.

The Buckeyes No.

1 goaltender Raygan Kirk made 26 saves for the win.

It was the second national championship in three years for the Buckeyes, who have become a perennial contender after head coach Nadine Muzerall took over the once-middling program in 2016-17 and turned it into a destination for players seeking postseason success.

Eight Buckeyes went on to be drafted in the 2024 PWHL Draft including two in the first round the most of any college program.

Wisconsin (1) and Ohio State (2) are once again the top two teams in college hockey and could be on yet another national championship collision course in 2025.

Canada wins gold at womens worlds The gold medal game between Canada and the United States at womens worlds might have been the best game between the two rivals ever outside of the Olympics .

During the preliminary round, the two teams played in a tense battle that needed overtime for just one goal, which Team USA won 1-0.

The championship game, however, was high-scoring, back-and-forth and highly entertaining.

The game was tied five different times with four lead changes, and it was the second-highest-scoring gold medal game ever at womens worlds and the highest since the U.S.

won 7-5 in 2015.

Ten goals in regulation didnt solve anything, so as usual, the game went to overtime, where Danielle Serdachny scored the game-winning goal for Canada just over five minutes into the extra frame for a 6-5 victory.

No lead was safe, said Serdachny, who became the second-overall pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft.

(A lot of) back and forth goals.

It was pretty wild and incredible to be part of it.

Advertisement Records set and broken The theme of 2024 in womens hockey? Setting records and making history.

It started on January 2, with 8,318 fans in attendance for a professional womens hockey game in Ottawa.

Just four days later, the bar was set even higher at Xcel Energy Center when 13,316 fans were in attendance at Minnesotas home opener.

Then on Feb.

16, the league set an all-time record for a womens hockey game period, with 19,285 fans at a game between Toronto and Montreal at Scotiabank Arena, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It was the largest crowd to watch womens hockey ever, including at the Olympics, world championships or NCAA .

Until April, that is, when the league smashed the record at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

A capacity crowd of 21,105 watched Toronto beat Montreal in overtime on a goal by Canadian star Sarah Nurse.

The highlight of the game, however, was the deafening ovation that lasted over 20 seconds for Montreal captain Marie-Philip Poulin.

Une ovation exceptionnelle pour notre capitaine The people love Pou pic.twitter.com/J6lii5ais2 PWHL (@thepwhlofficial) April 20, 2024 Honestly, I didnt know what to do, how to react, the emotions were so high, Poulin told The Athletic .

Having the Bell Centre packed for womens hockey ...

it (felt like) we finally made it.

Minnesotas championship and changes In May, PWHL Minnesota made history as the first team to win the league championship.

GO DEEPER What to know about the Walter Cup, womens hockeys newest counterpart to the Stanley Cup Minnesota entered the postseason as the No.

4 seed after a five-game losing streak to end the season.

They upset top-ranked Toronto in the first round and ultimately beat Boston which played its way into a playoff spot with a hot streak to end the season and swept No.

2 Montreal in Round 1 in five games.

Minnesota native Liz Schepers scored the game-winning goal her first career PWHL goal.

Taylor Heise, the 2023 No.

1 pick, was named playoff MVP and captain Kendall Coyne Schofield was the first player to lift the Walter Cup.

GO DEEPER PWHL Minnesota wins first-ever Walter Cup championship: 'We knew we had to have it' Theres so much about this day that she deserves, said Minnesota goalie Nicole Hensley.

She has obviously done so much for this sport and for this professional league.

Its completely fitting that shes the first one to touch the Walter Cup.

Just nine days after Minnesota won, the league announced it was parting ways with the teams general manager, Natalie Darwitz, effective immediately.

The league maintained the decision came after a review of the teams operations that found there wasnt a path forward with the current personnel in place.

Still, when the PWHL hosted the 2024 draft and awards in St.

Paul, Minn.

four days after Darwitz departed, fans were dispirited.

Advertisement Melissa Caruso, a former AHL executive, was named GM in September.

To start the year, and close out 2024, Minnesota looks like the team to beat once again.

Natalie Spooners excellence No player was more dominant in 2024 than Natalie Spooner.

She led the PWHL in goals (20) and points (27) and was a critical driver of Torontos offense all year.

In the regular season, Spooner scored 29 percent of Torontos goals and factored into 39 percent.

Nobody in the league scored more game-winning goals (five), first goals (five) or insurance goals to put a game out of reach (four) than Spooner.

In June, she was named the inaugural PWHL MVP and won Forward of the Year.

Spooner scored the first goal of the PWHL playoffs for Toronto, the No.

1 seed, but suffered a knee injury in Game 3 against Minnesota and missed the remainder of the postseason.

Without Spooner in the lineup, Toronto scored one goal in the final two games of the semifinals and was eliminated by Minnesota, the eventual champion.

Spooner had knee surgery in late May and has yet to play for Toronto this season.

As the calendar flips to 2025, the return of Spooner will surely be a major storyline in the PWHL and for the Sceptres, who have had another slow start to the season.

Sarah Fillier drafted first overall It certainly wasnt unexpected that Fillier would be the No.

1 pick in the PWHL draft this year.

She was widely considered to be the best player in the class of 2024 and was the top prospect in both editions of The Athletics PWHL draft ranking .

Before stepping foot in the pros, Fillier had already won three world championships, an Olympic gold medal and was named MVP at the 2023 womens world championships.

Still, there might not have been a more impactful roster move in 2024.

Since joining the New York Sirens, Fillier has linked up with Alex Carpenter to become the most lethal duo in the PWHL.

Theyre tied for the league lead in points (7) and nobody in the league has more goals than Carpenter.

Fillier has set up all but one of Carpenters four goals to start the season.

Advertisement After finishing last in the PWHL standings last year and winning the right to draft Fillier New York is second in the league, largely buoyed by Fillier, Carpenter and new coach Greg Fargo.

The PWHL unveils names and logos Through all the excitement and growth in womens hockey, one thing was missing in Year 1 of the PWHL: team names, logos and branding.

League executives said team branding was too important to fit into the leagues right schedule to prepare for launching in Year 1.

Instead, each team had their own unique color scheme but was otherwise identified by their home city or state.

Finally, in September, the league unveiled team names the Montreal Victoire, Toronto Sceptres, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens and logos for all six teams.

Two months later, jerseys and full kits were revealed.

GO DEEPER Ranking PWHL jerseys: Which of the 6 new looks is our No.

1? Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldnt be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward, Amy Scheer, the PWHLs senior vice president of business operations, said in the press release.

These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our leagues history, and we cant wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.

(Top photo of Billie Jean King and Jayna Hefford before dropping the puck for the PWHLs inaugural game: Mark Blinch / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.