2024-25 PWHL Power Rankings: Week 15 (03/07-03/13)

Welcome back to The Ice Garden’s weekly power rankings! Check back every Friday for a new installment and remember: if you think your team is ranked too low, it’s definitely, totally, 100% because we hate them.

Believe it or not, we've already seen more weeks of PWHL regular season action this year than last (which capped out at 14), and it's far from over. The PWHL trade deadline passed yesterday without much hubbub, with only Montréal and Toronto making a swap. The stretch run is now on for real, as teams scrap it out for the four playoff spots over their last 6-8 games. It’s a light week around the league, with just four games on the docket, but with lots of valuable points on the line, light certainly doesn’t mean boring. Welcome to the thunderdome, folks.

Deep in the Hundred Acre Woods, I found inspiration for this week’s power ranking theme. Eeyore was my favorite Disney character as a kid (no, I don't know why I, a generally content albeit shy kid, gravitated towards a depressed donkey), and I honestly don’t know how it took me so long to use Winnie the Pooh as a theme. But, I am now, so join me on my willy nilly silly old quest to pair each PWHL team with a Winnie the Pooh character.

#1. Montréal Victoire (10-6-2-5, 44 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 1 (-)

This Week’s Results:

• Sat, March 8 @ BOS- 3-2 OTW
• Wed, March 12 @ NYS- 3-2 OTL

Upcoming Schedule:

• Tue, March 18 @ BOS- 7 p.m. ET, Tsongas Center, Lowell, MA (Amazon Prime, NESN, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Rabbit

Rabbit is perhaps the smartest of the Pooh gang and often the best choice to lead them on their many adventures. However, he’s also quite set in his ways, which can cause problems when things go wrong. Likewise, while the Victoire remain the best team in the league, recently they’ve been heavily reliant on their top line and Ann-Renée Desbiens to win games. When that doesn’t work, they've struggled to adjust.

The Victoire finally scored a goal this week without their top line on the ice, but the depth scoring still leaves much to be desired. That said, Victoire head coach Kori Cheverie is doing what she can to find the right line combinations, and perhaps the newly-acquired Kaitlin Willoughby, who Cheverie is familiar with from the PWHPA, will help some. It feels like a team this talented will figure it out eventually, especially where they were fine earlier in the season. In the meantime, they’re still finding ways to get points and are now just nine away from clinching the first playoff spot.

#2. Boston Fleet (9-2-5-7, 36 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: Tied for second (-)

This Week’s Results:

• Sat, March 8 vs MTL- 3-2 OTL

Upcoming Schedule:

• Sat, March 15 @ OTT- 2 p.m. ET, TD Place, Ottawa, ON (NESN, CBC, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)
• Tue, March 18 vs MTL- 7 p.m. ET, Tsongas Center, Lowell, MA (NESN, Amazon Prime, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Owl

Owl is a wise character who thinks he knows a lot, but the reality is different. His friends usually succeed eventually, but there are frequent misadventures when they listen to him. Likewise, the Fleet theoretically have a pretty complete team, and they are getting wins, but they rarely make it easy on themselves, particularly offensively.

The Fleet had a quieter, albeit still exciting, week. They played their first game in the city of Boston, and it was a sellout crowd at Boston University’s Agganis Arena. I spoke with several fans from the city who were attending their first game, which is precisely what the Fleet were hoping to see. Anyway, after a tough start, the Fleet managed to rally yet again and secure a point against the top team in the league, who they’re set to face again on Tuesday after a date with the Ottawa Charge tomorrow. Both games are sure to be good battles, as the Charge continue their fight to join the playoff picture while the Victoire close in on being the first team to clinch a playoff spot.

#3. Toronto Sceptres (7-5-4-6, 35 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: Tied for second (-1)

This Week’s Results:

• Sun, March 9 vs MIN- 2-1 OTL

Upcoming Schedule:

• Wed, March 19 vs NYS- 7 p.m. ET, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto, ON (TSN, MSGSN2, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Tigger

Tigger is a boisterous creature who always means well, but sometimes his energy gets him and his friends into trouble. Similarly, the extra energy the Sceptres get on the power play causes fits for other teams. However, much like Tigger is the only Tigger, the power play is essentially the only scoring they have right now.

Another week, another rankings where I have to talk about the Sceptres 5v5 scoring struggles. Their one goal this week did come at even strength, but it was just one goal. Meanwhile, they went 0-for-4 on the power play. You’re not going to win many games in this league when you just score once, and right now the Sceptres are rarely able to manage more than that if their power play is quiet. They must figure it out quickly to stay in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot.

#4. Minnesota Frost (7-5-4-8, 35 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 4 (-)

This Week’s Results:

• Fri, March 7 vs OTT- 5-0 W
• Sun, March 9 @ TOR- 2-1 OTW
• Tue, March 11 @ OTT- 3-2 L

Upcoming Schedule:

• Sun, March 16 @ NYS- 6:30 p.m. CT, Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI (FanDuel Sports Network North, MSG2, TSN, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Winnie the Pooh

Pooh is a kind, loyal bear who often finds himself leading missions due to his desire to help his friends. However, his brain is as filled with fluff as the rest of his body, so that leadership role doesn’t last long. The same can be said of the Frost’s season. They started hot, but others have rightfully taken their place at the front of the pack.

The Frost did their jobs to begin the week, earning five of six points. However, the regulation loss to Ottawa to cap things off was damaging, as they no longer control their playoff destiny. They still have six games remaining (and everyone else has 7-8), so there’s plenty of time for that to change given how close the standings are. Still, it speaks to how listless the Frost have been lately, as they sat in first or second place for much of the first half. The good news is, they generally played better this week than the past couple, so there’s still hope. They have a light week with just one game against the basement-dwelling Sirens, so they must do what they can to walk away with a regulation win to start setting themselves back up for success. 

#5. Ottawa Charge (8-1-4-9, 30 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 5 (-)

This Week’s Results:

• Fri, March 7 @ MIN- 5-0 L
• Tue, March 11 vs MIN- 3-2 W

Upcoming Schedule:

• Sat, March 15 vs BOS- 2 p.m. ET, TD Place, Ottawa, ON (CBC, NESN, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Piglet

Piglet is a timid character who can overcome his fears with the help of his friends. The Charge have overcome poor play several times this season thanks to Emerance Maschmeyer, but after she left Tuesday’s game with an apparent ankle injury, they’re left very, very afraid.

Just when things look like they might be turning around for the Charge, it gets scary again. They started the week off with a whimper in a shutout loss to the Frost, but then rallied and now sit in the driver's seat for the final playoff spot– five points back of Minnesota with two games in hand. However, Maschmeyer's injury overshadows that. She was placed on LTIR this morning, meaning she has to miss at least 21 days. It's unclear whether that move is retroactive to her injury date, but if it is, she'll be eligible to return in the last game before the Worlds break on April 2. However, based on GM Mike Hirshfield's tweet that they're cautiously optimistic they'll see her again before the end of the season, it feels unlikely she'll be ready before Worlds (which is also bad news for Canada). Regardless, while she's out they're left with a young, inexperienced goaltending trio, as Gwyenth Phillips, Logan Angers, and newly-signed Lucy Morgan all graduated college last year. Phillips has mostly played fine this season, but she's yet to steal a game in the PWHL like Maschmeyer has multiple times. This is a great opportunity for her to show what she can do, but it's probably safe to say the Charge wish they didn't have to find out this way.

#6. New York Sirens (4-4-4-10, 24 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 6 (-)

This Week’s Results:

• Wed, March 12 vs MTL- 3-2 OTW

Upcoming Schedule:

• Sun, March 16 vs MIN- 7:30 p.m. ET, Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI (MSG2, FanDuel Sports Network North, TSN, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)
• Wed, March 19 @ TOR- 7 p.m. ET, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto, ON (MSGSN2, TSN, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Eeyore

Eeyore is perpetually gloomy, but his friends don’t leave him out because he is still a good, loyal friend. Similarly, the Sirens have shown flashes of being a good team and they’ve been competitive in most of their games, but the results are often still depressing.

The losing streak may have ended at nine, but there’s a lot of work still to do in New York. Their regulation winless streak has hit ten (their last one was all the way back on January 27), and while they’re playing better, they find themselves in a steep hole. They’re a heck of a lot closer to playoff elimination (13 points gained by Minnesota or lost by NY) than clinching a spot (29). It’d take an epic finish and subsequent collapse by other teams for the Sirens to see the postseason. Luckily for them, they're probably better off with the first overall pick again anyway. However, from a league parity and fanbase building standpoint, one hopes that Wednesday’s win will boost their confidence enough they at least keep playing decent hockey down the stretch.