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Behind the Glass: the CWHL holiday break

Poulin and Bettez are both riding unbelievable point streaks

It’s time for another installment of Behind the Glass — our weekly column collecting stories, stats, trends, and observations from the world of professional women’s hockey.

  • The 2018 NWHL Draft marked the first time that we had to wait until the eighth pick to see a Canadian player selected. The Buffalo Beauts selected Loren Gabel at the eight spot. Gabel, who plays for Clarkson University, is the highest scoring player in the NCAA.
  • The Riveters second pick of the draft (6th overall) was RIT’s Kendall Cornine. Cornine is a New Jersey-native who played her high school hockey at Morristown-Beard School, the school where current Riveters head coach Randy Velischek coaches. (stick taps to Matt Falkenbury)
  • The Riveters made history yesterday by selecting the first D-III player in the NWHL Draft’s four year history. Courtney Wittig of the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire went 11th overall as the Riveters’ first pick in the second day of the draft./

Early impressions of the 2018 NWHL Draft

  • Marie-Philip Poulin is currently riding an unbelievable point scoring streak. She has put up at least two points — including one goal — in six consecutive games. During that six-game span Poulin has put up a total of 13 primary points./
  • As impressive as MPP’s point streak is, Ann-Sophie Bettez has it beat. Bettez has picked up points in 10 straight games for Les Canadiennes de Montréal for a total of 23 points since Oct. 28. In this current scoring streak, Bettez has been held to one point just once by the opposition. (stick taps to @nightingaleMTL)
  • If the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays finished the 2018-19 season with a 12-game winning streak, they would still have fewer wins than Kunlun Red Star had last season. Shenzhen is 7-8-0-1 and are 0-4-1-0 in their last five games. They were swept in three games in their most recent series against Les Canadiennes.
  • This season, 29 of Shenzhen’s 44 goals have been scored by players who are designated as international imports. Last season, 64 of Kunlun Red Star’s 95 goals were scored by international imports. Thanks to Rachel Llanes’ big season, Shenzhen is relying less on offensive contributions from its international imports than Kunlun Red Star (or the Vanke Rays) did last year.
  • Erica Howe of the Markham Thunder is leading the CWHL in shots against (379) and saves (349). Howe is facing an average of 32.86 SA60 this year, the highest rate she’s seen since her rookie season in 2014-15. She faced 31.15 SA60 last season and 23.94 SA60 in the 2018 Clarkson Cup Playoffs./
  • Shea Tiley of the Toronto Furies is the youngest goalie in the CWHL this season. Through eight starts this season she has turned in six quality starts with a .911 save percentage. Tiley has the third-highest QS% (percentage of quality starts) in the CWHL.
  • The Toronto Furies’ 4-1 victory over the Calgary Inferno on Dec. 15 was just the second time this season that the Inferno have lost a game in regulation. It was also the first time that the Furies beat the Inferno in Calgary since Dec. 5, 2015.
  • Halli Krzyzaniak of the Calgary Inferno is leading all rookie defenders in points (6) and plus/minus (+20). She’s also second among CWHL rookie D in penalty minutes and is the only blueliner in the league with a shorthanded goal thus far this season.
  • The Worcester Blades’ 21-year old rookie forward Morgan Turner now has goals in three straight games. Turner is the third-youngest player on the Blades’ roster and is now leading the team in points (5), despite missing three games this season.
  • The NWHL season resumes on Dec. 29 and the CWHL season resumes on Jan. 5, 2019. At the moment, the Furies and Les Canadiennes have played the fewest games in the CWHL (15). In the NWHL, the Beauts and Whale have played the fewest games to date (7). The Pride are the NWHL’s hottest team with a three-game winning streak and Les Canadiennes are the CWHL’s hottest team with a five-game winning streak.
  • Michela Cava averaged 0.58 Pts/GP in the CWHL in 2016-17 with the Toronto Furies after her breakout 38-point senior season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. In 61 games in the SDHL over the last two years, Cava has averaged 1.62 Pts/GP. She’s the top scorer for MODO and the SDHL./
  • At the SDHL’s holiday break Emma Nordin of Luleå Hockey/MSSK leads the league in both GWG (5) and PPG (8). Nordin has tied Lara Stalder’s league-leading eight power play goals from the 2017-18 season. It will be interesting to see if she can keep this up; she’s shooting 21.68% and has 15 games left on the season with Luleå.
  • Luleå Hockey/MSSK is undefeated in 10 road games this season. Luleå also has the best goal differential (+42) on home ice in the SDHL.
  • PyeongChang Olympic gold medalist Sidney Morin is averaging 7.45 shots per game for Linköping HC. She leads all SDHL defenders in goals (12) and shots (164). She and Jenni Hiirikoski are in a class of their own in SOG in the SDHL. The SDHL’s third, fourth, fifth, and sixth highest-shooting defenders combined have just 18 more shots than Morin and Hiirikoski do combined./

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