2024-25 PWHL Power Rankings: Week 16 (03/14-03/20)

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.

The PWHL regular season kept trucking along with a quieter but still eventful week. The league officially brought its one-millionth fan through the gates, a second team lost their star goaltender to injury, and two players played leapfrog for the league lead in scoring. Next up is another lighter week, this time with five games on the docket as teams fight to make sure they're in a playoff spot come the Worlds break in two weeks.

What’s up, doc? Things are getting real Looney in the PWHL power rankings this week. I may be young, but I grew up on all the classic cartoons, and I have no idea why it took me so long to use them for the rankings (big shoutout to my colleague J Gray for the idea!). Now, without further ado, let’s see which Looney Tunes character belongs to which team! 

#1. Montréal Victoire (10-6-3-5, 45 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 1 (-)

This Week’s Results:

• Tue, March 18 @ BOS- 3-2 SOL

Upcoming Schedule:

• Sun, March 23 vs TOR- 12 p.m. ET, Place Bell, Montréal, QC (TSN, RDS, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)
• Wed, March 26 @ MIN- 8 p.m. ET, Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MIN (TSN, RDS, FanDuel Sports Network North, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Bugs Bunny

Everyone’s favorite wisecracking rabbit often outwits and humiliates his opponents. However, he also takes his fair share of beatings on his way to the top. The Victoire are in that stage right now, but something tells me they still have a few more tricks up their sleeve.

The Victoire haven’t been banking as many points as they’d like lately. They have just one overtime win in their past four games, although they also have only one regulation loss. Still, they’ve been a far cry from the dominant team we saw earlier in the season, and I very nearly knocked them out of first place because of it. A little bit of humbling adversity can be a good thing though, and at the end of the day, they’re still finding a way to get enough points to stay somewhat solidly in first place. However, if they don’t get back in the regulation win column soon, they won’t hold onto this spot much longer.

#2. Boston Fleet (8-6-4-6, 40 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 2 (-)

This Week’s Results:

• Sat, March 15 @ OTT- 5-2 W
• Tue, March 18 vs MON- 3-2 SOW

Upcoming Schedule:

• Wed, March 26 vs TOR- 7 p.m. ET, Agganis Arena, Boston, MA (NESN, TSN, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Roadrunner

Bad starts? Offensive struggles? Frankel going on an adventure in the dying seconds of a period? It doesn’t matter, the Fleet have sped like the Roadrunner through all obstacles this season. 

The Fleet kept the good times going this week with two big wins to keep themselves in second place. Wednesday's was a particularly important one, as not only did it come against the league's top team, but the Fleet finally played a complete game and won without Aerin Frankel. It’s been a long time since either of those things have happened. This week is a crucial matchup for them, with the Toronto Sceptres trailing the Fleet by just one point in the standings. If they can secure a regulation win, it’ll keep them in the driver's seat for securing home-ice advantage in the playoff semifinals and even give them a smidge of breathing room.

#3. Toronto Sceptres (10-2-5-7, 39 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 3 (-)

This Week’s Results:

• Wed, March 19 vs NYS- 2-1 W

Upcoming Schedule:

• Sun, March 23 @ MON- 12 p.m. ET, Place Bell, Montréal, QC (TSN, RDS, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)
• Wed, March 26 @ BOS- 7 p.m. ET, Agganis Arena, Boston, MA (TSN, NESN, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Tweety Bird

Tweety often finds himself in trouble at the hands of Sylvester, just like Toronto has been finding themselves in a pickle with their lackluster 5v5 offense recently. However, Tweety always manages to escape just in time and get back to having a good time, similar to how the Sceptres keep finding ways to escape with wins.

Don't look now, but the Sceptres scored more than one even-strength goal in a game this week! Granted, I’m not quite sure how the second one stood as a goal considering Miller whacked Schroeder, but it did. There’s still a lot of work to do in the 5v5 offense department, but for now, they’re still getting the job done and it’s hard to argue too much with that. They might be in trouble if they don't figure it out before playoffs though.

#4. Minnesota Frost (7-5-4-9, 35 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 4 (-)

This Week’s Results:

• Sun, March 16 @ NYS- 4-1 L

Upcoming Schedule:

• Wed, March 26 vs MON- 7 p.m. CT, Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MIN (FanDuel Sports Network North, TSN, RDS, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com).

Character: Elmer Fudd

Every time Elmer thinks he finally has Bugs Bunny, Bugs finds another way to outsmart him. The same can be said of the Minnesota Frost trying to stay in the playoff hunt. Three wins in ten games since the second international break does not scream skilled hunter.

Minnesota is playing with fire lately. It looked like they might have gotten back on track last week when they secured their first consecutive wins since January 26-28. However, they followed it up with a fairly listless loss to the Sirens on Sunday. Things don’t get any easier for them this week, as they’ll face off against a top-seeded Montréal team that also really wants to get back in the win column. The Frost have been lucky lately that the teams trailing them have also not been banking a ton of points, but that luck may still run out if they're not careful.

#5. New York Sirens (5-4-4-11, 27 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 6 (+1)

This Week’s Results:

• Sun, March 16 vs MIN- 4-1 W
• Wed, March 19 @ TOR- 2-1 L

Upcoming Schedule:

• Sat, March 22 vs OTT- 12 p.m. ET, Prudential Center, Newark, NJ (MSGSN2, GEM, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)
• Tue, March 25 @ OTT- 7 p.m. ET, TD Place, Ottawa, ON (MSG, Amazon Prime, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Sylvester

Like Sylvester tries to catch and eat Tweety Bird and Speedy Gonzales, the Sirens are trying oh so hard to catch up to the teams currently in the playoff picture. Will they succeed? Probably not! But it sure is fun to watch them try.

It's a miracle—the Sirens have emerged from the power rankings basement for the first time in Week 11! In all seriousness, the Sirens have been playing much better hockey lately, and it’s finally translating into some points again. I’m still Team It's Too Little Too Late, but considering the Charge have lost Maschmeyer and the Frost can’t get out of their own way, who knows what might happen in these final games.

#6. Ottawa Charge (8-1-4-10, 30 points)

Last Week’s Ranking: 5 (-1)

This Week’s Results:

• Sat, March 15 vs BOS- 5-2 L

Upcoming Schedule:

• Sat, March 22 @ NYS- 12 p.m. ET, Prudential Center, Newark, NJ (GEM, MSGSN2, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)
• Tue, March 25 vs NYS- 7 p.m. ET, TD Place, Ottawa, ON (Amazon Prime, MSG, PWHL Youtube Channel, thepwhl.com)

Character: Wile E. Coyote

Just when the Charge think they’ve caught the final playoff spot, the massive "Emerance Maschmeyer injury" boulder smushes their hopes.

Let's play good news bad news, shall we Charge fans? First, the good news: Ottawa didn’t play poorly in their first Maschmeyer-less game this week. In fact, Gwyneth Philips kept them in the game for a long time, and she really had no chance on any of the Fleet’s goals. However, now it's time for the bad news: almost everyone else's execution was off, and that's been a common theme all year. They're competitive and they get their chances, but they have little to no finish. From a points perspective, the Charge are far from out of the playoff race yet, but the belief that they'll find a way to make it diminishes by the day.