PWHL New York had great goaltending and a hot start. So what went wrong?

When the PWHL kicked off on New Year’s Day in Toronto, the women’s hockey world was talking about one team, and it wasn’t the home side…it was New York.

The team won the league’s inaugural game with a convincing 4-0 win over a team laden with Olympians and other national team mainstays. However, despite an impressive start to the 2024 season, the team tailed off in the second half, finishing last place in the standings with a 5-4-3-12 record. Their nine total wins matched Ottawa — who also missed the postseason — for the fewest in the PWHL.

Former head coach Howie Draper admitted there were ups and downs in year one, which was expected.

“There were smooth moments and there were rough moments,” Draper said. “From an organizational standpoint, from the highest levels straight through to the team level…there were some hiccups. That’s going to be expected when you start something brand new.”

Draper and the team mutually agreed on a coaching change on Saturday, but Draper will stay with the team as a special advisor.

New York began the season with wins in three of its first six games, beating Minnesota and Boston. Well into February, the team was in playoff contention, winning three straight games around Valentine’s Day. But a seven-game losing streak heading toward the Women’s Worlds break sent the team to the bottom of the league.

There were multiple reasons for the team faltering. Draper admits the way the team won early on in the season was unsustainable.

“[Corinne Schroeder] and Abbey Levy were keeping us in games. We were still being outshot considerably. That continued to be an area that we were trying to improve on…I kind of knew at some point those games wouldn’t necessarily go our way.”

Another thing that did not go New York’s way was the team’s ability to get on the board first. In 11 of the team’s final 13 games, N.Y. was playing catchup. Draper still wonders if consistently giving up the first goal was psychological.

“I don’t know how that happened. Maybe it was sort of that we were going into games worried that might happen. When you worry about that happening, you can’t play your best hockey, then it happens, and now you’re chasing again.”

New York had arguably one of the most unique home arena setups–in that they didn’t really have a home. The team held its home contests in three different states, playing four games at Total Mortgage Arena (Bridgeport, Conn.), six at UBS Arena (Elmont, N.Y.) and two at the Prudential Center (Newark, N.J.).

Draper says there were obvious challenges of not having a stable home venue.

“I think there were pros and cons with that,” Draper said. “The pro is, we got to bring the game to different markets. We got to test the waters and see which was the best fit for us. The tough part is not really having your home and not having the benefit to practice in the facility that you were going to play in. You were having to travel to all the other destinations in the league, then to have to travel to our games made it tough.”

After New York was officially eliminated from playoff contention last month, they secured the first-overall pick, part of the PWHL’s “Gold Plan,” by beating Ottawa and Minnesota to cap off the regular season. Draper said the losing skid helped the team start to focus on doing the little things right defensively, even though there was not a lot of runway left in the season.

“I thought we dropped the shot count against us, we limited the chances, and as a result, we won a few games. I feel like we could’ve won a few more.”

One of the big facets that New York realized was how quick the tempo is in the PWHL. Draper says the team will take strides to address that, among other things.

“We got to figure out a way to get our team speed up. That might mean a few personnel pieces. It might mean some tweaks in our forecheck and our defensive play.”

The team’s biggest strength was between the pipes. Though New York gave up the most goals (67), the team posted the third-best team save percentage in the league (.923), sitting behind Montreal (.932) and Toronto (.927).

Arguably, the team’s best player was Corinne Schroeder. The former Boston Pride netminder gave New York a chance to win almost every night, finishing with a 7-7-0 record. Her .930 SV% was second in the PWHL behind Montreal’s Elaine Chuli (.949).

Draper did not hold back in saying how good Schroeder was this season.

“I may come off with a little bias–I feel like she is the best goalie in the league. I feel like she definitely deserves to be recognized as one of the top, if not the top, goalies.”

It is worth noting that New York gave, by far, more shots on goal than any team in the league (802). Draper says the players were slowly working on team defense, but both Schroeder and Abbey Levy put in their best efforts game-in and game-out.

“We gave up a lot of shots, a lot of quality scoring chances, and Schroeder, along with Levy, they were amazing for us, they kept us in games. Many of the losses, were one-goal games.”

The teams lost seven one-goal games, with 10 of their 15 defeats coming by two goals or less. Levy went 1-5-2 in eight appearances with a .906 SV%.

While New York was second-to-last in goals for (53), they possessed two of the best offensive weapons at their positions. Alex Carpenter finished tied for second in league scoring with 23 points, while Ella Shelton led all defenders with 21 points.

With the first overall pick, there is some optimism surrounding the team heading into the offseason. Draper did not disclose who the team is planning on drafting with the No. 1 pick next month but admits general manager Pascal Daoust will do his due diligence before making his selection.

“I know Pascal and his crew are weighing all the options. I know that we’re set to have a little conversation about it as well. In the end, he’s going to make the decision that he feels best for this program,” Draper chuckled. “How’s that for a nice little political response?”