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CWHL

Staturday: Kessler, Kohanchuk and the Clarkson Cup Playoffs

After a week off Staturday is back just as the NWHL regular season comes to a close. Three late season 2016 Draft pick signings have added plenty of intrigue to an already must-watch weekend of women’s hockey. Sunday’s games will determine the match-ups of what looks to be an NWHL postseason with much greater parity.

In the CWHL the 2017 Clarkson Cup Champion has been crowned. Les Canadiennes are once again Canada’s champions and many women’s college hockey teams have joined them in the offseason.

How is it already March?

CWHL

  • Let the second-guessing begin. Genevieve Lacasse posted a 2-0 record and a .966 save percentage but the Inferno went with Emerance Maschmeyer against Montreal in Ottawa. Lacasse’s numbers were second only to Charline Labonte’s in the 2017 CWHL Playoffs.
  • Christina Kessler was sensational for Toronto in the playoffs. She faced 140 shots in three games and had a .943 save percentage against the best offense from the regular season.
  • Inferno winger Rebecca Johnston took one minor penalty in 20 regular season games and four postseason games this year. Johnston’s only penalty was a trip against Montreal on Jan. 15th. Quite a well-behaved lady./
  • Furies’ veteran Jenelle Kohanchuk didn’t score a power play goal all season, but she buried two for Toronto in three games against the Inferno. She and Marie-Philip Poulin were the only players to score four goals in the postseason.
  • Bailey Bram was scoreless in the playoffs after finishing the regular season tied for sixth in CWHL scoring with Brampton’s Laura Stacey. Stacey was also kept off the scoreboard in her two postseason games against Montreal.
  • Poulin finished the regular season with a league-best 1.61 points per game. She finished the postseason with a league-best 2.00 points per game. Pou had 30 primary points in 26 games with Les Canadiennes de Montreal this year./

NWHL

  • Hilary Knight now has 14 points in eight games for the Boston Pride. She’s averaging a blistering 6.8 shots per game since the beginning of February./
  • Buffalo defender Paige Harrington has the longest point-scoring drought of the 2016-17 NWHL season. She has yet to register a point in 16 games for the Beauts this year.
  • Kelli Stack has four goals in her last three games for the Whale. She and Boston’s Meghan Duggan are the only skaters in the NWHL with 10 even strength goals thus far this season.
  • Buffalo’s Corinne Buie and New York’s Amanda Kessel share the power play point and primary point lead in the NWHL. Kessel has played in seven games this year, Buie has played in 16.
  • Michelle Picard is the highest-scoring skater in the league who doesn’t have a power play point. She has nine points this year for the Riveters, all of which were scored at even strength.
  • Emily Janiga leads the Buffalo Beauts in even strength production thus far this season. Nine of her 11 points this year have come at even strength and eight of those have been primary.
  • Brianna Decker needs four more shots to hit the century mark this season. She finished the 2015-16 season with exactly 100 shots. Decker is the only NWHL player with a real chance of getting to triple digits in shots this year./

NCAA Division I

  • St. Lawrence’s Hannah Miller leads the nation in even strength assists. Ten of her 31 even strength assists this year have come on the first goal of the game.
  • Wisconsin hasn’t lost a game since the beginning of the New Year. They have 14 wins and three ties since hanging up a new calendar.
  • Boston University’s Mary Parker was tied for second in the nation in goals at the time of signing her contract with the Boston Pride.
  • Princeton freshman Carly Bullock closed out her Ivy League season with 14 goals in her last 16 games. She had 30 points in 33 games for the Tigers, 20 of which were goals./
  • Sophomore goaltender Lovisa Selander has played in 98.9 percent of RPI’s total minutes since the beginning of the New Year. That is the heaviest workload of any goalie in women’s college hockey in that time.
  • Among goalies who played at least 500 minutes in losing efforts, Harvard’s Molly Tissenbaum had the highest save percentage in losses. Tissenbaum posted a .917 save percentage and a 2.87 goals against average in nine losses this year./

Last Staturday: 2/25, CWHL season wrap-up

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