| 2019–20 NWHL season | |
| League: | National Women's Hockey League |
| Sport: | Ice hockey |
| Season: | Regular season |
| Season Champs: | Boston Pride |
| Mvp: | Jillian Dempsey (Boston) Allie Thunstrom (Minnesota) |
| Top Scorer: | Jillian Dempsey (Boston) |
| Finals: | Isobel Cup |
| Finals Link: | Isobel Cup |
| Finals Champ: | Not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| Nextseason Year: | 2020–21 |
| Prevseason Year: | 2018–19 |
| Seasonslistnames: | NWHL |
The 2019–20 NWHL season was the fifth season of the National Women's Hockey League. All five teams from the previous season returned: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, and the Minnesota Whitecaps.
The NWHL completed the semifinal round of the 2020 Isobel Cup playoffs, but had to postpone the championship game between Boston and Minnesota originally scheduled for March 13, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On May 15, the final was cancelled and the Isobel Cup was not awarded.[1]
Following the 2018–19 season, the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) ceased operations citing the fragmentation of corporate sponsors between the CWHL and NWHL caused their league to be financially infeasible.[2] The NWHL then announced it was pursuing adding two CWHL markets to the league, Montreal and Toronto, if the NWHL found financial backers for the teams.[3]
On May 2, 2019, over 200 players from both the CWHL and NWHL released a joint statement announcing their intent to not participate in any North American professional league for the 2019–20 season citing their dissatisfaction in the operations of both leagues in that neither provided health insurance or a livable salary.[4] The NWHL responded with that they were pursuing many more sponsors than in previous years and hoped to increase player salaries.[5] and agreed to give players a 50 percent split of revenue on league sponsorship and media deals. On May 20, 2019, the players formed a worker's union called the Professional Women's Hockey Player Association (PWHPA) to further push for their stated goals of a league that provides financial and infrastructure resources to players, health insurance, and support to training programs for young female players.[6] [7] With a large number of North American players boycotting the league, more than half of the signed players on opening rosters were new to the league.[8]
On May 8, 2019, Pegula Sports and Entertainment (PSE), the owners of the Buffalo Beauts, relinquished ownership and operations of the team back to the NWHL,[9] [10] but continued to claim rights to the Beauts name as part of the turnover.[11] The Beauts then changed their home venue from the PSE-owned Harborcenter to the Northtown Center in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst.[12]
On May 17, 2019, the New Jersey Devils ended their partnership with the Metropolitan Riveters.[13] [14] The Riveters then changed their home venue from the Devils' practice rink to ProSkate Ice Arena in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey,[12] and returned to their original jersey colors.[15]
With the player strike, loss of support from the NHL teams, and lack of additional investors, the NWHL announced they would not be able to increase to full-time salaries or provide players with health insurance outside of the typical worker's compensation for injuries, but had come to an agreement to a 50 percent revenue split on all league-wide sponsorship and media deals. In addition, the league also stated they would not add Montreal and Toronto for the 2019–20 season.[16] The league announced a longer 2019–20 season for the teams, going from 16 to 24 games.[12]
Also during the offseason, the Connecticut Whale relocated to Danbury, Connecticut,[17] and the Boston Pride were purchased by a group of investors led by Miles Arnone.[18]
| Team | 2018–19 head coach | 2019–20 replacement | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut Whale | Ryan Equale | Colton Orr | Orr was named head coach of the Whale on September 17, 2019.[19] The Whale had relocated to Danbury Ice Arena during the offseason and Orr operates hockey clinics and a junior team out of the arena. | |
| Buffalo Beauts | Cody McCormick | Pete Perram | McCormick, a former player for the Buffalo Sabres, was named the head coach for in December the previous season.[20] After the Beauts' split from the association with the Sabres and were returned to a league-operated team, Pete Perram was hired as the next head coach.[21] | |
| Metropolitan Riveters | Randy Velischek | Ivo Mocek | After the split with the New Jersey Devils, the Riveters hired former Czech junior national team player Ivo Mocek on August 12, 2019.[22] |
Final standings.[23]
| 24 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 120 | 43 | ||
| 24 | 17 | 5 | 2 | 36 | 106 | 52 | ||
| 24 | 10 | 11 | 3 | 23 | 70 | 91 | ||
| 24 | 8 | 15 | 1 | 17 | 71 | 116 | ||
| 24 | 2 | 20 | 2 | 6 | 39 | 100 |
| Regular season schedule | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Visitor | Score | Home | OT | Decision | Notes | |||
| October 5 | Buffalo | 3–1 | Connecticut | ||||||
| October 5 | Boston | 4–2 | Metropolitan | ||||||
| October 12 | Metropolitan | 2–9 | Minnesota | ||||||
| October 12 | Buffalo | 2–4 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| October 13 | Buffalo | 1–8 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| October 13 | Metropolitan | 4–3 | Minnesota | OT | |||||
| October 19 | Connecticut | 4–5 | Buffalo | OT | Mariah Fujimagari | ||||
| October 19 | Minnesota | 1–3 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| October 20 | Connecticut | 4–6 | Buffalo | Mariah Fujimagari | |||||
| October 20 | Minnesota | 2–5 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| October 26 | Minnesota | 7–2 | Connecticut | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| October 26 | Metropolitan | 2–7 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| October 27 | Minnesota | 3–2 | Connecticut | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| October 27 | Metropolitan | 3–5 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| November 16 | Buffalo | 1–6 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| November 17 | Buffalo | 3–1 | Connecticut | ||||||
| November 23 | Connecticut | 0–8 | Boston | ||||||
| November 23 | Minnesota | 5–3 | Buffalo | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| November 24 | Minnesota | 3–4 | Buffalo | Mariah Fujimagari | |||||
| November 30 | Buffalo | 6–2 | Connecticut | Kelsey Neumann | |||||
| November 30 | Metropolitan | 2–5 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| December 1 | Metropolitan | 2–1 | Connecticut | Sam Walther | |||||
| December 7 | Boston | 8–3 | Metropolitan | Victoria Hanson | |||||
| December 8 | Metropolitan | 3–2 | Connecticut | Sam Walther | |||||
| December 14 | Metropolitan | 3–2 | Minnesota | SO | Sam Walther | ||||
| December 15 | Metropolitan | 2–5 | Minnesota | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| December 21 | Minnesota | 3–0 | Connecticut | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| December 21 | Boston | 4–3 | Buffalo | OT | Lovisa Selander | ||||
| December 22 | Boston | 4–2 | Buffalo | Victoria Hanson | |||||
| December 22 | Minnesota | 2–1 | Connecticut | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| December 28 | Boston | 2–1 | Connecticut | SO | Lovisa Selander | ||||
| December 28 | Metropolitan | 7–4 | Buffalo | Sam Walther | Outdoor game at Buffalo RiverWorks.[24] | ||||
| December 29 | Metropolitan | 6–3 | Buffalo | Sam Walther | |||||
| December 29 | Boston | 7–2 | Connecticut | Victoria Hanson | |||||
| January 4 | Minnesota | 2–0 | Metropolitan | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| January 4 | Boston | 5–2 | Buffalo | Victoria Hanson | |||||
| January 5 | Boston | 7–2 | Buffalo | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| January 5 | Minnesota | 1–3 | Metropolitan | Sam Walther | |||||
| January 11 | Connecticut | 4–3 | Metropolitan | OT | |||||
| January 11 | Buffalo | 2–8 | Minnesota | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| January 12 | Buffalo | 1–7 | Minnesota | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| January 12 | Connecticut | 2–4 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| January 18 | Connecticut | 1–6 | Minnesota | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| January 19 | Connecticut | 0–7 | Minnesota | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| January 20 | Metropolitan | 3–5 | Boston | Victoria Hanson | |||||
| January 25 | Connecticut | 2–1 | Metropolitan | SO | Brooke Wolejko | ||||
| January 25 | Boston | 3–4 | Minnesota | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| January 26 | Boston | 4–2 | Minnesota | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| January 26 | Connecticut | 2–4 | Metropolitan | ||||||
| February 15 | Connecticut | 1–4 | Boston | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| February 15 | Buffalo | 6–5 | Metropolitan | SO | |||||
| February 16 | Buffalo | 3–4 | Metropolitan | Dana DeMartino | |||||
| February 22 | Minnesota | 6–1 | Buffalo | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| February 22 | Boston | 3–0 | Connecticut | Lovisa Selander | At Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, as a double-header with the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers[25] | ||||
| February 23 | Minnesota | 9–3 | Buffalo | ||||||
| February 23 | Boston | 5–0 | Metropolitan | Lovisa Selander | |||||
| February 29 | Buffalo | 2–5 | Metropolitan | Sam Walther | |||||
| February 29 | Connecticut | 3–6 | Minnesota | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| March 1 | Connecticut | 1–3 | Minnesota | Amanda Leveille | |||||
| March 1 | Buffalo | 3–1 | Metropolitan | ||||||
The 2020 NWHL All-Star Game and its weekend festivities took place on February 8–9, 2020, at Warrior Ice Arena, the Boston Pride's home arena.[26] The teams were captained by Jillian Dempsey of the Boston Pride and Madison Packer of the Metropolitan Riveters, who drafted their rosters from the selected all-star players in a draft.[27]
The skills challenge took place on February 8. Team Packer won the fastest skater (Grace Kleinbach of Connecticut) and hardest shot (Kaleigh Fratkin of Boston), while Team Dempsey won fastest goalie (Mariah Fujimagari of Buffalo), shooting accuracy (Jillian Dempsey), and the team relay. Team Packer ultimately won the skills competition via the team shootout competition.[28] On February 11, the league awarded fastest skater to Team Dempsey's Allie Thunstrom of the Minnesota Whitecaps following a review and a timing error.[29]
The All-Star Game took place the following day on February 9. The game was a four-on-four format with Team Dempsey winning 5–2. The game was sold out in the 800-seat arena and had about 10,000 viewers watching the game live on Twitch.[30]