2024-25 PWHL Preview: New York Sirens

The New York Sirens will be looking to bounce back after a disappointing inaugural season that saw them finish last in the standings with a 5-4-3-12 record. Despite what many saw as one of the strongest rosters in the league, they struggled to string together wins. For all of the scoring potential on their roster, they floundered offensively. Even while their goaltenders made highlight-reel saves, they just couldn’t produce enough to get wins. They were also plagued by rumors of trouble in the locker room and problems with the team developing chemistry, which surely contributed to any structural problems when it came to their play. 

This year, they will be looking to turn all of that around. They’ve made some off-season moves that they hope will bolster their chances, including a new head coach and some exciting new talent. A new venue - and hopefully better attendance with it - could also prove an asset. 

Those moves won’t be enough, though, if the team doesn’t find a way to fix last year’s problems with cohesion. That will be the question hanging over the Sirens as the season gets underway: will they be able to strike the combination of chemistry and innate skill to succeed in the league?

Location and Coaching Changes

On May 13, Howie Draper and New York mutually parted ways, and shortly after Draper was replaced by Greg Fargo of Colgate University. The Sirens were the only team to replace their Head Coach in the off-season, a move that many saw coming before it was announced due to the Sirens’ lackluster performance during the season. Fargo comes to the Sirens with a 255-147-34 record during his time at Colgate, and already has relationships with many of the players on the Sirens, either having coached them himself in the case of Jessie Eldridge (Colgate ‘19) or having coached against them during their time in the NCAA. 

In his pre-season media availability, Fargo expressed a desire not to dwell on last season but to stay in the moment and focus on what could be done to succeed this season: “There’s something exciting about coming in with a fresh voice, I think. As a coach that’s done this for a while, I have my own kind of style and way that I like to coach and do things and have my teams play,” he said at the beginning of training camp. He emphasized the team’s offensive potential and overall depth. 

The Sirens will also have a new home this season. While they spent their inaugural season bouncing between rinks in three different states, they will have a permanent home in the 2024-2025 season in New Jersey. Their practice facility will be Richard K. Codey Arena in West Orange, and their home games will be played at the Prudential Center in Newark. The two games that took place at the Rock last season were easily the best attended of any home games the Sirens played, a welcome change to what had been underwhelming attendance results for much of the season. Crowds had been small for much of the year, likely as a result of the venue-hopping and the distance of the venues from New York itself. Hopefully, a consistent home that is more accessible for fans will help increase that attendance even further. 

Key Arrival

If there was one silver lining to the Sirens’ disappointing inaugural season, it is that they secured the first-overall pick in the draft through the league’s Gold Plan. With this, they were able to select forward Sarah Fillier out of Princeton University, who they signed to a one-year deal during the off-season. An Olympic golad medalist with Team Canada, Fillier scored 194 points in 120 games played over the course of her Princeton career, as well as being named NCAA Rookie of the Year in 2019 and finishing in the top ten in voting for the Patty Kazmeier Award three times, in 2019, 2020, and 2024. Fillier is sure to make an immediate impact on the Sirens’ forward group, providing a scoring boost to an already strong offensive core. 

Key Departure

The only major departure from New York’s roster over the off-season was Emma Woods, who signed a two-year contract with the Toronto Sceptres in free agency. Though Woods only posted 5 points last season, she has been a significant producer in the past, averaging nearly a point per game with the Toronto Six of the PHF in the 2022-2023 season. She also plays a very strong-two way game, which is something the Sirens may miss in her absence as defense was one of their main weaknesses last year. If she starts producing for the Sceptres at the rate she did for the Six, the Sirens might not be thrilled to have her on the other side of the ice. 

Prediction

The Sirens have made all the right moves in the off-season to set themselves up for success. They brought in Greg Fargo when it was clear that the coaching was not working last season; they had an excellent draft; they moved to a new home where they will likely draw larger and more enthusiastic crowds. While there are still variables at play that could work against them, I think this will be a bounce-back season for the Sirens - and I think we see them in the Walter Cup Playoffs. 

Their forward corps, which includes Alex Carpenter, Sarah Fillier, and Abby Roque, to name only a few, is among the best in the league, and they have phenomenal goaltending; both Corinne Schroeder and Abbey Levy were able to keep the Sirens in games last year by standing on their heads against flurries of shots. They’re poised to win games and play hard against the rest of the league, and hopefully climb in the standings. While it may not quite be their season to take home the Walter Cup (though never say never), if everything falls together as the team and coaching staff hope, they may live to see their very first postseason next spring.