Five Takeaways from Week 12 of the PWHL: Boston’s alive, Montreal’s a force, trophy name woes

We’re witnessing a series of heated battles to determine postseason seeding in the PWHL’s inaugural season.

From teams regaining their stride to others fighting with everything they have to keep their playoff hopes alive, and some interesting choices for trophy names, many things happened this past week to tee up an exciting slate of action over the next six days.

Take a look at the current standings as of Monday.

Boston refuses to go away

The race for the final playoff spot will go down to the wire, and we’re here for it.

Things were looking bleak for Boston when they lost to Ottawa, the team they were chasing, in a shootout last Wednesday. That meant Ottawa just had to match Boston’s point total this past Saturday to help finalize the final four. However, after Montreal shut out Ottawa earlier in the day, that opened the door for Boston.

Boston was in a battle with Minnesota, another team vying to clinch a playoff spot. Trailing by one in the third, Boston came out flying, with Alina Müller tying the game on the power play. Then, with just seconds to go in regulation, Hannah Brandt scored her first goal in over a month, giving Boston a huge three points.

The victory tied Boston with Ottawa for fourth in the standings. It was a vital win because it looked like Ottawa would ride the momentum they built before the Women’s Worlds break into the postseason.

However, Ottawa still has the cards. They have two games left in the regular season and can clinch fourth with a regulation win against New York on Tuesday. Boston has only their matchup next Saturday with Montreal. If Ottawa falters, it will set up a wild weekend.

Minnesota’s head is on a swivel

Minnesota is another team with two games this week. Though the odds of advancing to the inaugural playoffs are in their favor, they must be weary of falling back in the standings.

Minnesota had a chance to clinch a postseason spot on Saturday, but Boston’s Brandt’s late goal forced Minny to wait another day. With a looming matchup with last-place New York, Minnesota is unlikely to miss the playoffs, especially since they only need one point to punch their ticket.

However, while there is a chance Minnesota wins its upcoming matchups with N.Y. and Toronto, helping the team steal home-ice advantage, there is also a possibility Minnesota could slip back to fourth, if not miss the playoffs entirely.

Ottawa could sneak by them if they win each of its final two games, and Minnesota accumulates no more than three points.

Boston could even jump past Minnesota. If Minnesota loses both games in regulation, and Boston scores a regulation win on Saturday against Montreal, Boston would win the tiebreaker based on head-to-head points.

Minnesota needs to focus on the task at hand, get the necessary points, and build momentum to be a threat in the playoffs.

Montreal wants first place

I’m not afraid to admit that I doubted Montreal when they lost captain Marie-Philip Poulin. However, the legend found health over the Women’s World Championship, which has carried into the resumption of the regular season.

The team has gone unbeaten in their four games since the break, picking up notable wins over Minnesota and Ottawa. Ann-Renée Desbiens was outstanding in her 31-save shutout against Ottawa on Saturday, which temporarily put Montreal in sole possession of first place.

Even though they had already clinched a playoff berth, Montreal clearly wants more. While Poulin has been playing well, a cast of characters contributed. From Kristin O’Neill riding the high of her performance in Utica to Melodie Daoust making plays happen on another 10-day contract, Montreal has been getting contributions from everywhere in the lineup.

As it stands, Montreal is tied for first in the PWHL with Toronto, with Toronto having a game in hand. Montreal’s lone mark on their recent run was the overtime loss at the Bell Centre, which might end up costing Montreal first place.

New York, oh, New York

New York became the first team in league history to be eliminated from playoff contention. While they caught everyone by surprise early on, stringing together wins against some of the best in the league, N.Y. started to stumble prior to the trade deadline and never recovered.

For a team boasting Alex Carpenter, Abby Roque, and Ella Shelton, you’d think they’d have enough talent to make it work. However, a lack of depth and overall lack of execution over the last couple of months have pushed New York to the bottom of the standings, with the team losing 10 of its last 11 games.

To make matters worse, the team had an opportunity on Sunday to clinch the first-overall pick in this year’s PWHL Draft, thanks to the league’s “Gold Plan,” with a win. However, they were hammered 6-2 by Toronto, so they’ll need to find a way to pick up some points over its final two games.

Trophy names…why?

Last week, the PWHL revealed the 10 individual awards that will be handed out at the end of the season. The two Most Valuable Player awards, for both the regular season and playoffs, were named after the league’s founding advisory board members – tennis legend Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss.

Prior to that, the league announced that the championship trophy would be named the Walter Cup, paying homage to Mark Walter of the Mark Walter Group, one of the driving forces behind the creation of the PWHL.

I understand the reason – or at least the sentiment – behind the names of the aforementioned trophies. That said, the league missed an opportunity to honor great players from women’s hockey’s past.

When Hunter Crowther and I gave our picks for the trophy names, we did pick King to be honored with the championship trophy. However, we figured the individual honors would be named after players like Angela James, Hayley Wickenheiser and Cammi Granato.

The PWHL’s leadership has seemingly chosen to honor those who have been catalysts in creating this league, not the pioneers and legends of the game who laid the groundwork for the sport’s future success. It feels wrong not to connect the league with players and coaches from yesteryear who put in countless years of work to put women’s hockey on the map.

There are still a few awards yet to be named. I hope the PWHL brass finds it in their best interest to name the trophies in honor of those who walked so today’s generation can run.