PHF milestones on the horizon

With six seasons of PHF (formerly NWHL) in the books and the seventh about to get underway, there are a lot of milestones to keep an eye out for. We are going to see a lot of history this year, so place your bets on when the following will happen to add some spice to your viewing experience this year.

The 100 Games Played Club

If she stays healthy, Boston Pride captain Jillian Dempsey will become the first play in PHF history to play 100 regular season games in her career just two games into the 2021-22 season. Another player on this list, Elena Orlando, will get to 100 games this season with the Buffalo Beauts — but will she score her first PHF goal before that happens? She is currently the unluckiest player in PHF history in terms of shooting percentage, putting 50 SOG without scoring a goal.

Here is a list of the five players who have signed who can finish the season with 100 GP. Note: if Corinne Buie returns this year, she will also be within striking range of hitting the century spot.

• Jillian Dempsey - 98 GP
• Kaleigh Fratkin - 94 GP
• Shannon Doyle - 89 GP
• Elena Orlando - 89 GP
• Madison Packer - 87 GP/

Dempsey’s 50th

The Pride’s captain is starting the season with 49 regular season goals — 42 of which were scored at even strength. So, it is just a matter of time before she becomes the first player in PHF history to score 50 career goals. According to my tracking with TheirHockeyCounts.com, Dempsey is also 13 EV points shy of being the first PHF player to record 100 points at evens.

When we talk about greatness in post-CWHL pro hockey in North America, Dempsey is the standard for all forwards. She is as consistent and complete as hockey players come. For those who love the center position, it is also worth noting that Dempsey is 36 faceoff wins away from winning 1,000 draws.

Packer on the hunt for 100

Last season, Dempsey became the first player in PHF to record 100 career points. This season, it’s a safe bet that Metropolitan Riveters captain Madison Packer will be joining her.

Packer enters the 2021-22 campaign with 85 points in her career and has averaged 0.98 Pts/GP. She played just three games in Lake Placid and went scoreless, so look for Packer to do some catching up in the scoresheet this year. In the 2019-20 season, the Wisconsin alumna had a career-high 34 points in 24 games.

Lev levels up

Assuming Amanda Leveille re-signs, the goaltender is just four wins away from reaching the milestone of 50 career wins — no other PHF goaltender has more than 28. So, she is really in a league of her own here.

Another amazing milestone that is just around the corner for the Whitecaps all-star is 2,000th career save. Entering the season, Lev has stopped 1,851 of the 2,050 shots she has faced. She also has seven career clean slates and 66 career starts. At this stage, Lev is simply setting and building on records that future goalies will have to chase down.

Interestingly enough, Lev has yet to record an assist in over 3,800 minutes of action. Brittany Ott, the former Boston Pride goaltender, is the only goalie in PHF history with more than one assist (2).

Fratty the first D to 70

Boston Pride veteran defender Kaleigh Fratkin has 69 points in 94 career games, which makes her the highest-scoring defender and highest-scoring Canadian-born skater in league history. Her next point will make her the first defender to score 70 career points but it should be noted that she played several games at forward for the Metropolitan Riveters back in 2016-17.

Amanda Boulier, Fratkin’s new teammate on Boston, is two points away from becoming the second defender in PHF history to score 50 career points. Curiously enough, she also played a few games at forward for those who are sticklers for records and want to add an asterisk or two here.

All data courtesy of EliteProspects.com and TheirHockeyCounts.com. Disclosure: THC is the author’s site. All of its data is free and public.