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Category: Connecticut Whale

  • NWHL News and Notes – June 11th, 2019

    NWHL News and Notes – June 11th, 2019

    Today in the NWHL, we’ve had another signing announced today for the 2019-20 season.

     

    The Connecticut Whale have re-signed defender Jordan Brickner for her fifth season with the team.

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    In 68 career NWHL games, Brickner has scored two goals and 21 assists, and is a 2017 All Star. Brickner’s salary was not disclosed.

     

    All players will partake in the 50 percent cut of revenue from league sponsorship and media deals. Plus they will also receive 15 percent of revenue from apparel sold with their name on it.

    TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings are announced.

    *Graphics courtesy of the NWHL.

  • NWHL News and Notes – June 5th, 2019

    NWHL News and Notes – June 5th, 2019

    This morning was a busy one for the NWHL as they made three free agent signing announcements.

     

    First it was the Connecticut Whale re-signing defender and NWHL veteran Elena Orlando to a one year deal.

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    Orlando will be playing in her fourth season with the Whale, and her fifth in the NWHL. Orlando’s salary was not disclosed.

     

    Next up it would be announced that the Boston Pride has re-signed Mallory Souliotis to a one year contract.

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    This will be Souliotis’ second full season with the Pride and in the NWHL. Souliotis’ salary was also not disclosed.

     

    Then it would be the Minnesota Whitecaps signing the goaltender of free agency when the re-signed Amanda Leveille for the 2019-20 season.

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    Leveille is a two time Isobel Cup Champion (2017 with Buffalo, and 2019 with Minnesota), and with her sigming she became the 15th player to sign for the 2019-20 season. Leveille’s salary was also not disclosed.

     

    All players will partake in the 50 percent cut of revenue from league sponsorship and media deals. Plus they will also receive 15 percent of revenue from apparel sold with their name on it.

    TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings are announced.

    *Graphics courtesy of the NWHL.

  • NWHL News and Notes – June 4th, 2019

    NWHL News and Notes – June 4th, 2019

    In NWHL news today it was announced that the Connecticut Whale has signed forward Kendra Broad, who is returning to North America after spending the last three seasons in Europe.

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    Broad’s salary was not disclosed.

     

    Broad will partake in the 50 percent cut of revenue from league sponsorship and media deals. Plus she will also receive 15 percent of revenue from apparel sold with their name on it.

    TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings are announced.

    *Graphics courtesy of the NWHL.

  • NWHL News and Notes – June 3rd, 2019

    NWHL News and Notes – June 3rd, 2019

    Today in the NWHL we had a couple more signings announced for the 2019-20 season.

     

    First up, the Connecticut Whale have re-signed defender Taylor Marchin to a one year deal.

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    Marchin’s salary for the 2019-20 season was not disclosed.

     

    Then next up the Boston Pride has signed the 12th overall pick of the 2017 NWHL Draft Lexie Laing to a one year deal.

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    Laing’s salary was also not disclosed.

     

    Both players will partake in the 50 percent cut of revenue from league sponsorship and media deals. Plus they will also receive 15 percent of revenue from apparel sold with their name on it.

     

    TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings are announced.

    *Graphics courtesy of the NWHL.

  • NWHL Announces First Signing for the Whale

    NWHL Announces First Signing for the Whale

    Today the NWHL announced that the Connecticut Whale has signed defender Shannon Doyle to a one year contract.

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    Terms of Doyle’s contract were not disclosed in regards to salary.

     

     

    Per the NWHL release they clarified the following:

    “A note on background: regarding pay, our policy since we started announcing signings this offseason is that it is the decision of each player whether or not to reveal it.”

     

    TXHT will continue to provide NWHL coverage as more signings are announced.

    *Graphics courtesy of the NWHL.

  • Whale Bring Back Doyle For Fifth Season

    Whale Bring Back Doyle For Fifth Season

    The Connecticut Whale made a signing today. Bringing back their veteran All Star blue liner Shannon Doyle, for a fifth season!

    Doyle had an amazing season last year, as she played in 13 games, registering 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points. One of her goals came via the power play and she scored a game winning goal against the Riveters. She also accounted for 15 blocked shots, in the newly revamped defensive play that the Whale displayed last season. Also, in the playoff game against the Riveters, she recorded an assist and a blocked shot.

     

    Earlier this week, she posted this:

     

    Here are a couple of highlights that she provided last season:

    https://twitter.com/WSportHilites/status/1064262804595793921

    https://twitter.com/WSportHilites/status/1069355814568243201

    https://twitter.com/WSportHilites/status/1094711430144774145

     

    After she signed, she posted this on Twitter:

     

     

    Tweets from Women’s Sports Highlights were used with their permission, you can follow them on Twitter here: @WSportHilites

  • Women’s Hockey News – 200 Women to Boycott for a Viable Long Term Hockey League

    Women’s Hockey News – 200 Women to Boycott for a Viable Long Term Hockey League

    A little before noon today over 200 professional female hockey players announced that they will be boycotting this upcoming season until the get a “Long-Term Viable” Professional Women’s Hockey League.

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    In the statement above that was released by around 200 professional female hockey players it states that it is time to create a sustainable league for Women’s hockey that will give them the abilities to have health insurance, have the ability to train adequately for games, and most importantly, making a livable wage playing hockey.

     

    A couple hours after the #ForTheGame announcement was made, NWHL put out the following statement:

    Screenshot_20190502-134630_Yahoo Mail

     

    In this statement from the NWHL, the biggest takeaway is that they have all intentions moving forward with the 2019-20 season, and that they will be offering increased salaries, and a 50-50 in revenue from sponsorships and media rights deals after long constructive and positive conversations with the NWHL Player’s Association over the past month.

     

    In regards to the NWHLPA, Director Anya Battaglino had the following statement when reached for comment on the news:

    “In the off season the NWHLPA has been working hard to continue to drive the betterment of our professional athletes every day. This announcement halts our ability to finally have the best players on one stage, and unfortunately sets the Women’s Hockey game backward. With the powerful opportunity we have this year to drive unprecedented growth, this new fragmentation will only slow that growth.”

     

    While examining Mrs. Battaglino’s statement here, we have to agree with her assessment on this situation. While yesterday, May 1st, marked the official end of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) as they closed their doors, the NWHL acted swiftly and added two more teams to their league with the prospects of a third team to make it an 8 team league when the initial announcement was made in an effort to give more women an opportunity to play professionally in the NWHL.

     

    Also, look at the growth of Women’s hockey in these last two years specifically. From the US Olympic Hockey Team winning the gold medal against Team Canada, to setting a US attendance record for a Women’s hockey game at the NWHL All Star Game in Nashville, to having Kendall Coyne Schofield becoming the first woman to participate in the NHL All Star Skills Competition. These women have made great gains only to halt it’s momentum to a near dead halt, and it’s a damn shame.

     

    Do these women deserve to play professionally, and make a living wage doing so? Oh hell yes they do. They deserve it, and most importantly they’ve earned it, but what they are doing does not seem like the way to go about it. While we don’t have the answers here ourselves, we do believe that there has to be a better way to accomplish the ultimate goal, and that is to have the ultimate professional Women’s hockey league that brings great stability and a long term viable option for women to play the game.

     

    We do know that one player has spoken out against the #ForTheGame movement as reported by The Ice Garden, and that is Boston Pride player Kaleigh Fratkin.

     

    We will have more here on TXHT as everything unfolds, but to quote our Connecticut Whale writer Christopher Vasilas ( @shaggy901516 ):

    “We’re definitely at the crossroads, every decision by the league and players is gonna have huge impact on future generations”

  • March 8th, 2019 — News and Notes

    March 8th, 2019 — News and Notes

    Today is Friday, March 8th, 2019, and these are your news and notes.

    There were 11 NHL contests yesterday


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations and their respective owners

    Yesterday’s Results (Home team in CAPS):

    BOSTON 4, Florida 3

    The Boston Bruins would sneak past the Florida Panthers with a 4-3 win last night.  Boston’s Patrice Bergeron would score twice in the contest and Brad Marchand would have a three assist night.  With Boston’s win, they would go on to extend their point streak to 18 contests.

     

    Boston’s goaltender Tuukka Rask would go on to have a 22 save performance in the contest.

     


    *Image is the property of the Boston Bruins, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    PITTSBURGH 3, Columbus 0

    The Pittsburgh Penguins would go on to shutout the Columbus Blue Jackets last night with the 3-0 win.


    *Image is the property of the Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    NY Islanders 4, OTTAWA 2

    The New York Islanders would go on to double up the Ottawa Senators with the 4-2 win and Valtteri Filppula would go on to have two goals in the contest for the Islanders.

    With the win, the Islanders would go on to get the sweep in the home-and-home series against the Senators.

     

     

    DETROIT 3, NY Rangers 2 (SO)

    Detroit’s Andreas Athanasiou would score a goal in the contest and would get what would be the only goal in the shootout frame to seal the win for the Red Wings in the contest. 

     

     

    For the Rangers, Pavel Buchnevich would score what would be the two goals in the contest.

    Minnesota 3, TAMPA BAY 0

    The Minnesota Wild would cool off the white-hot Tampa Bay Lightning with the 3-0 win.  Minnesota’s Jason Zucker would score the only goals in the contest.

     

     

    With the lone goals scored by Zucker, he would be only the second player in franchise history and the 23rd in League history to not only have at least three goals that were the only goals in the contest but the team would also register a shutout as well.

     

     

    CHICAGO 5, Buffalo 4 (SO)

    The Chicago Blackhawks would go on to register the 5-4 shootout win against the Buffalo Sabres.

     

     

    Chicago’s Artem Anisimov would go on to have two goals in the contest, while Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane would both go on to have two assists in the contest.

     

     

    DALLAS 4, Colorado 0

    The Dallas Stars would go on to shutout the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas last night and Alexander Radulov would go on to register a hat trick in the contest, sealing the hat trick in the contest with 2:58 left in the third period with his empty net goal.

     

     

    EDMONTON 3, Vancouver 2

    The Edmonton Oilers would go on to sneak past the Vancouver Canucks with the 3-2 win last night.

    Edmonton’s Alex Chiasson, Zack Kassian, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would go on to score the goals for the Oilers in the contest.

    Vancouver’s Jay Beagle would go on to snap his scoreless streak in the contest with his third goal on the season late in the second period.  Alexander Edler would also go on to register a goal in the third period but that would not be enough to tie up the game.

     

    ARIZONA 2, Calgary 0

     

    The Arizona Coyotes would go on to blank the Calgary Flames last night and with the win, the Coyotes would move to a record of 33-29-5.

     

     

    Calgary Flames infographic from last night’s contest

     


    *Image is the property of the Calgary Flames, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    St. Louis 4, LOS ANGELES 0

     

     

     

    The St. Louis Blues would go on to record their fifth shutout in the past twelve contests and the NHL-best ninth shutout on the season as they would go on to blank the Los Angeles Kings by the score of 4-0.

     

    SAN JOSE 5, Montreal 2

     

    San Jose Sharks defenceman Brent Burns would go on to record his 60th assist on the season, and joins three other players to have at least 60 assists at the age of 33 or older.

     

     

     


    *Image is the property of the San Jose Sharks, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    For the Montreal Canadiens, Andrew Shaw and Artturi Lehkonen would score the only goals, despite out shooting the Sharks in this contest.

     


    *Image in the property of the Montreal Canadiens, NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

     

     

    Tonight’s NHL schedule of contests…


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

     

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    Last night in the 2019 NWHL’s Isobel Cup Playoffs Play-in game, the Metropolitan Riveters would take on the Connecticut Whale and would come out with the 5-2 win.

    The contest would be fast-paced in the first period, with the game being tied a 2-2.  The second period in the contest would be filled with penalties and neither team would take advantage of the extra skater.  The third period would start out slow until Riveters Audra Richards would end up scoring what would be the game winner at the 2:35 mark.  There would not be another goal scored until toward the end of the period when Alexa Grushow would score her second goal in the contest and then with 16 seconds left, Audra Richards would score an empty net goal.

    The Metropolitan Riveters will now take on the Minnesota Whitecaps on Sunday 2:30 p.m., ET/1:30 p.m., CT.

    TXHT’s Christopher Vasilas has your full recap of the contest between the Connecticut Whale and Metropolitan Riveters at the following page.

  • Riveters Punch Ticket To Minnesota

    Riveters Punch Ticket To Minnesota

    The NWHL had their playoff play-in game tonight; as it was the Metropolitan Riveters against the Connecticut Whale in Newark. The two teams had split the season series and were headed for an epic confrontation. At the end of the game, it was the Riveters who came out on top by a final score of 5-2. They now have the honor of flying to Minnesota and taking on the red hot Whitecaps on Sunday at TRIA Rink.

    A quick recap of the game. In the first period, the Riveters were dominating play early. Until a counterattacking rush by the Whale led to a goal coming from the captain Emily Fluke. Four minutes later, the Riveters would get one back, as Courtney Burke came around the net, and her shot hit the post and went in. Two minutes later, Whale rookie sensation Katerina Mrázová showed off some incredible moves and roofed a shot, off her backhand beating Katie Fitzgerald, giving the Whale a 2-1 lead.

    Three minutes later, the Riveters would claw back in the game before the end of the first, Alexa Gruschow would find herself in-between the hash marks and she fired a shot that beat a screened Erin O’Neil. The first period would end tied at 2.

    There was only one penalty called in the first, and it was late in the period. Why do I bring that up? In the second period, there was a grand total of 9 penalties called throughout the period. 5 penalties were dolled out against the Whale and 4 penalties were called on the Riveters. Unfortunately, there was nothing doing on both power plays as the penalty kills were performing phenomenally. At the end of the second period, there was no scoring and heading into the third, the game was still tied at 2.

    In the third, there were no penalties called, as the referee’s decided to swallow their whistles and let the players play. The Riveters got off to a quick start into the third as rookie Audra Richards continued to plague the Whale, sniping a shot over Erin O’Neil. The Whale pressed play hard, and had a few great chances, but Katie Fitzgerald shut the door on them. Late in the period, while the Whale were pressing the attack, Riveters forward Alexa Gruschow was sprung on a breakaway and deked to her back hand beating Erin O’Neil for a goal.

    Audra Richards would add the empty net at the end of the game, sealing the victory for the Riveters. Erin O’Neil made 22 saves off of 26 shots, and Katie Fitzgerald made 24 saves of 26 shots.

    For the Connecticut Whale, it means that their season is over. Unfortunately with an 11 game losing streak to boot. The team consistently plays hard and has proven to be able to skate with the best of them. What an incredible year the Whale have had, and I’m looking forward to the players continued development and taking the league by storm next season.

     

    3 Stars of the Game

    Whale

    Katerina Mrázová: The incredible rookie skated hard and had some incredible dekes to boot. Her hard work got her a goal and an assist on the scoreboard.

    Emily Fluke: The captain got the team going, scoring the first goal of the game. She made some great plays in the offensive zone that led to some significant chances for the Whale.

    Shannon Doyle: She’s the textbook example of what hard work is supposed to be, she was flying all over the ice. Jumping up on the rush in the offensive zone and blocking shots on the back end. She contributed with an assist, which is her 5th against the Riveters this season.

     

    Riveters

    Audra Richards: She really likes playing against the Whale. She had already scored 6 goals against them in the regular season, she added 2 more to that tally. One of them is a game winner.

    Alexa Gruschow: She contributed with two goals on the score sheet. Both goals were huge; as the first one tied the game at 2 and the second one, on the breakaway, gave the Riveters an insurance marker.

    Miye D’Oench: The Riveters forward played her last home game for them, and she had an incredible performance, tallying two assists.

     

    Boxscore

    The boxscore for this epic game can be found here:

    https://www.nwhl.zone/game/show/24666097?subseason=593663&referrer=4170043

  • March 6th, 2019 — News and Notes

    March 6th, 2019 — News and Notes

    Today is Wednesday, March 6th, 2019, and these are your news and notes.

     

    There were 10 contests in NHL action yesterday…


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    BOSTON 4, Carolina 3 (OT)

     

    The Carolina Hurricanes would take on the Boston Bruins last night and the Hurricanes would don the Hartford Whalers throwbacks for the final time this season.

     

     

    The Boston Bruins would go on to defeat the Hurricanes in the contest with the 4-3 win in the overtime frame, thanks to David Krejci’s goal.  That goal would be his 16th on the season.

     

    Columbus 2, NEW JERSEY 1 (SO)

     

    The Columbus Blue Jackets would get a very important win last night against the New Jersey Devils with a 2-1 win, picking it up in the shootout frame.

     

     

    NY ISLANDERS 5, Ottawa 4 (SO)

     

    The New York Islanders would take on the Ottawa Senators and would come away with the 5-4 win in the shootout frame and with the win, Islanders head coach Barry Trotz would notch his 800th win.

     

    PITTSBURGH 3, Florida 2 (OT)

     

    The Pittsburgh Penguins would face off against the Florida Panthers last night in downtown Pittsburgh, and the Penguins would escape with the 3-2 win in overtime.

     


    *Image is the property of the NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins, and their respective owners

     

    Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby would have one goal and two assists to reach the career mark of 1,200 points for his career.

    In this contest, Pittsburgh’s Matt Cullen would become the 20th player in League history to play in at least 1,500 games.

     

    Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby would reach the 1,200 career point mark last night, tying Dino Ciccarelli for 47th place on the NHL’s all-time list in the contest.  He would reach the mark in 927 games, the 12th fastest in NHL history.

     

     

     

    TAMPA BAY 5, Winnipeg 2

    The Tampa Bay Lightning would go on to host the Winnipeg Jets last night and would go on to crush the Jets with the decisive 5-2 win in Tampa last night.

     

    NASHVILLE 5, Minnesota 4 (SO)

    The Nashville Predators would face off against the Minnesota Wild and would get the win tanks to the lone shootout goal in the contest by Nashville’s Ryan Johansen.  There would also be four different goal scorers in this contest for the Predators.

     

    DALLAS 1, NY Rangers 0

    In a penalty-filled contest last night, the Dallas Stars would defeat the NY Rangers last night by the score of 1-0.  The lone goal of the contest came from Stars John Klingberg, early in the second period.

    Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop would go on to have 28 saves in the contest and would earn his fourth shutout on the season.

     

    COLORADO 4, Detroit 3 (OT)

     

    After trailing twice in the third period, the Colorado Avalanche would come back and defeat the Detroit Red Wings with a 4-3 win in the overtime frame.

     

     

    Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen would go on to have one goal and two assists in the contest and Nathan MacKinnon would go on to net the game-winner in the overtime frame to clinch the win for the Avalanche.

     

    Anaheim 3, ARIZONA 1

     

    The Anaheim Ducks would snap the Arizona Coyotes six game win streak with the 3-1 last night in Glendale, Arizona.

     

    In this contest, Ryan Kesler would play in his 1,000th NHL game.

     

    Montreal 3, LOS ANGELES 1

     

    In this contest, the Montreal Canadiens would score the first three goals in the contest, which would help guide the Canadiens to a 3-1 win last night over the Los Angeles Kings in downtown Los Angeles last night.

     

     

     

    Tonight’s NHL schedule of games…

     


    *Image is the property of the NHL, NHL Public Relations, and their respective owners

     

    TXHT’s Steve Gardiner has your preview of the contest between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks at the following page.

     

     

     

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    *Image is the property of the NWHL and their respective owners

     

    With the 2019 NWHL Isobel Cup Playoffs kicking off tomorrow with the play-in game between the Connecticut Whale and the Metropolitan Riveters, TXHT’s Christopher Vasilas has your preview of the contest at the following page.