Montréal’s Abby Roque Suspended One Game

NEW YORK AND TORONTO – The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) today announced that, after an automatic review by the PWHL Player Safety Committee, Montréal Victoire forward Abby Roque has been suspended for one game. The incident reviewed was a match penalty for an illegal check to the head at 4:06 of the third period during Sunday’s game against the Vancouver Goldeneyes.

In their review, the PWHL Player Safety Committee determined that Roque took a poor angle of approach to deliver a hit on an unsuspecting player, making her opponent’s head the main point of contact on a play where such contact to the head was avoidable.

Roque has been neither fined, nor suspended previously in her 64-game PWHL career.

The PWHL Player Safety Committee monitors all games and is responsible for providing independent review and recommendations on supplementary discipline. Chaired by Jayna Hefford, PWHL Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, the committee also includes Vice Chair Chris Burkett, PWHL Vice President of Labour Relations and Player Safety; Cassie Campbell-Pascall, PWHL Special Advisor; Meghan Duggan, Special Consultant to PWHL Hockey Operations; Mike Murphy, a long-time NHL executive and former VP of Hockey Operations; Matt McMahon, a member of the NHL’s Player Safety department.

ATTENDANCE UP 18 PERCENT THROUGH 44 GAMES OF SEASON

Ottawa’s Brianne Jenner Named PWHL Player of the Week

NEW YORK AND TORONTO – The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is off to its strongest attendance month in league history, welcoming more than 104,000 fans across its first 11 games in January. The momentum will continue with this week’s six-game schedule, featuring the third annual Battle on Bay Street in Toronto and the start of the second half of the PWHL Takeover Tour™ on Sunday in Washington, D.C.

PWHL ATTENDANCE UP 18 PERCENT THROUGH 44 GAMES

The PWHL has already welcomed 104,235 fans to 11 games in January, representing an average attendance of 9,476, the highest monthly average in league history. Sunday’s three games in Halifax, Minnesota and Québec City combined for an attendance of 34,863, the second highest single day total in league history. Through 44 games of the 2025-26 PWHL season, total attendance is 377,456, with a per game average of 8,579, representing an 18 percent increase in attendance over the first 44 games of the 2024-25 season.

BATTLE ON BAY STREET RETURNS SATURDAY

The third annual Battle on Bay Street presented by Scotiabank returns on Saturday to Scotiabank Arena, home of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, where the Sceptres will host the Vancouver Goldeneyes at 3 p.m. ET. By the time the league schedule reaches Saturday, Toronto and Vancouver will be the only teams without a head-to-head meeting yet this season. The Sceptres have played at Scotiabank Arena twice with wins before sold-out crowds of more than 19,000 fans that rank second and third among PWHL all-time attendance records. The first game was against Montréal on Feb. 16, 2024, a 3-0 win, followed by a 4-2 win over New York on Jan. 25, 2025.

PWHL TAKEOVER TOUR DEBUTS IN THE DISTRICT

As Capital One Arena hosts the Montréal Victoire and New York Sirens to launch the second half of the 2025-26 PWHL Takeover Tour on Sunday, the game, presented by BJ’s Wholesale Club, will be part of a series of special activations between the Washington Capitals and the PWHL. Featuring open practices and girls’ youth hockey clinics at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, the weekend will serve as a celebration of continued efforts to champion and grow women’s hockey. Both the Victoire and Sirens practices on Saturday will be open to the public, featuring face painters, sign making, photos and more. There will also be autograph sessions at both practices, with the first 50 fans receiving wristbands to gain access. The Capitals will host two youth hockey clinics for girls ages 6-17 years old at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Saturday, led by ALL CAPS ALL HER (ACAH) program instructors and ambassadors, with special appearances from PWHL players. Ahead of the Capitals taking on the Florida Panthers at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, PWHL players will participate in a ceremonial puck drop. See the full Takeover Tour schedule and all public events here.

FIRST HALF OF TAKEOVER TOUR WRAPS UP IN HALIFAX AND QUÉBEC CITY

The expanded 2025-26 PWHL Takeover Tour has reached its midway point, with the first eight of 16 games complete and every single matchup decided by one goal. Sunday was no exception, with the Ottawa Charge defeating the Boston Fleet 2-1 in a shootout in the DoorDash PWHL Takeover Tour presented by Atlantic Lottery at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, and Montréal beating Vancouver 1-0 at the Videotron Centre in Québec City. Halifax is one of five cities with two Takeover Tour games this season and was the first to host both with a sold-out crowd of 10,452 bringing the two-game total attendance to 20,890. It was a homecoming for Fleet forward Jill Saulnier who performed the ceremonial puck drop at Saturday’s Halifax Mooseheads game. On Sunday, Canadian icon and international singer, Anne Murray, attended the game with her two grand-nieces, read the Charge’s starting lineup and was interviewed in the broadcast booth. Québec City is one of four returning Takeover Tour markets and saw the Victoire win for the second straight season. The team’s open practice on Saturday had hundreds of fans in attendance and was followed by a clinic with local girls’ hockey teams. On Sunday, the mothers of three local Victoire players, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Catherine Dubois and Marie-Philip Poulin, read the starting lineup, and the crowd of 14,624 ranks as the second highest of this season’s Takeover Tour.

JENNER NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR SECOND TIME THIS SEASON

Charge captain Brianne Jenner scored two goals in two games, both Ottawa wins, and was named PWHL Player of the Week presented by SharkNinja for the second time this season. The 34-year-old from Oakville, ON, scored the game-winner in Friday’s 4-2 victory over the Goldeneyes, then tallied her seventh goal of the season on Sunday against the Fleet to extend her goal streak to three games. She also scored once in two shootout attempts and finished the week with six shots on goal. The Charge are an incredible 18-1 all-time in the regular season when Jenner scores, and her 12 points this season are just three away from matching last season’s mark.

RECORD WIN STREAKS FOR OTTAWA AND NEW YORK

Ottawa (3-4-0-5) has set a new team record with six straight wins, the longest winning streak in the PWHL this season, and have climbed into fourth place with 17 points. New York (6-0-0-5) has won four straight games for the first time in team history, all in regulation, and are in third place with 18 points. Boston (7-0-2-2) and Minnesota (5-1-2-3) remain atop the standings with 23 and 19 points, respectively. Montréal (4-2-0-4) has won two straight games and sits in fifth place with 16 points, followed by Toronto (4-0-3-4) with 15 points despite three straight losses. Seattle (3-1-1-5) and Vancouver (3-1-1-7) have both lost their last two games and are tied in seventh place with 12 points. All PWHL teams have played no fewer than 10 games, representing one third of their schedule. See full PWHL standings here.

HIGHEST AND LOWEST SCORES OF THE SEASON ON SUNDAY

Minnesota became the first team in the PWHL this season to score six goals on Sunday in a 6-2 win over Seattle, with the eight combined goals representing the most in a game so far this campaign. The Frost lead the PWHL with 34 goals (3.09 per game) and have scored five or more on four different occasions. Montréal’s 1-0 win over Vancouver was the lowest scoring game of the season and just the fourth time in league history a regular season game has ended with that result. The Victoire have allowed the fewest goals in the PWHL with 16 (1.60 per game) with two or fewer goals against in nine of their 10 games. Follow all PWHL results here.

STREAKS TO WATCH

Poulin has points in six straight games (4G, 5A), the league’s longest active point streak and one game shy of tying the league record of seven set by Alex Carpenter in 2024-25. The Victoire captain has also assisted in five straight games, one shy of the record of six set last week by Frost rookie Kendall Cooper. Fleet forward Susanna Tapani is also riding a career-high five-game point streak (2G, 3A) and has impressively scored in three straight Takeover Tour games. Jenner and Sirens first overall pick Kristýna Kaltounková have goals in three straight games, one game shy of matching Sceptres forward Daryl Watts for the longest streak of the season. In goal, Ottawa’s Gwyneth Philips has won five straight games, tied with fellow U.S. Olympic team goaltender Aerin Frankel of Boston for the longest streaks between the pipes this season.

TOP SCORERS

Minnesota’s Britta Curl-Salemme leads the league with 13 points in 11 games, including a league-high nine assists. Frost captain Kendall Coyne Schofield leads the way with eight goals and is tied for second with 12 points alongside Jenner (7G, 5A) and Poulin (5G, 7A). Fleet captain Megan Keller (4G, 5A) leads all defenders with nine points in 11 games, followed by Goldeneyes alternate captain Claire Thompson (3G, 5A) with eight points. There is a four-way tie for the rookie scoring lead between New York’s Kaltounková (7G) and Casey O’Brien (3G, 4A) along with defenders Rory Guilday (1G, 6A) of Ottawa, and Minnesota’s Cooper (7A). See this season’s PWHL leaders here.

SHUTOUTS FOR DESBIENS AND OSBORNE, MILESTONES FOR FRANKEL

On Sunday, Frankel became the first goaltender in PWHL history to start 50 regular-season games, all in a Boston uniform. She is also the first, and only goaltender in PWHL history to record a win against seven different opponents, completing the feat on Wednesday against Seattle. There have been 10 shutouts in 44 games so far in 2025-26, with the last two courtesy of Montréal’s Desbiens with her second of the season on Sunday, and New York’s Kayle Osborne with her third of the season last Tuesday. Desbiens leads the league with a 1.25 goals-against-average, the lowest figure among netminders with multiple games, and has not allowed more than two goals in any of her eight starts this season. Osborne is the first goaltender in PWHL history to start 11 consecutive games and is tied with Frankel and Philips with six wins. See this season’s PWHL goaltending leaders here.

FIRST CAREER GOALS FOR KARVINEN AND GOSLING

Vancouver first-round pick Michelle Karvinen scored her first career PWHL goal on Friday in Ottawa, playing in her 11th game of the season. The milestone came just days after the 35-year-old was named to her fifth Olympics representing Finland. On Sunday, Montréal first-round pick Nicole Gosling scored her first career goal in her 10th game, which held as the game-winner over the Goldeneyes in Québec City. The defender is currently riding a three-game point streak. There have been 90 different goal scorers this PWHL season including 19 rookies. See this season’s PWHL rookie leaders here.

FIRST CAREER WIN FOR AHOLA

Charge rookie Sanni Ahola earned her first PWHL win in just her second career start on Sunday, stopping 31 shots and three of five shootout attempts against the Fleet in Halifax. The Finnish goaltender, soon to represent her country in her first Olympics, was selected by Ottawa from St. Cloud State in the fifth-round of the 2025 PWHL Draft. She is the third goaltender in PWHL history to pick up her first career win in a shootout decision, following Carly Jackson with Toronto in 2024-25 and Abbey Levy with New York during the inaugural season.

IIHF U18 WOMEN’S WORLDS UNDERWAY

The 2026 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship is underway in Cape Breton, NS, with eight countries competing in preliminary round action ahead of Sunday’s medal games. This event has helped with the development of 115 current PWHL players, representing more than 55 percent of the league. Coyne Schofield won gold in 2008 with the U.S. in the first tournament played and remains the all-time leading scorer with 33 points recorded in 15 games over three years (2008-10). The last tournament to feature current PWHL talent was 2020 where 10 rookies won gold with Team USA, including Boston’s Mia Biotti, Ella Huber, Amanda Thiele and Haley Winn, Ottawa’s Guilday and Peyton Hemp, Seattle’s Lyndie Lobdell and Toronto’s Emma Gentry, Clara Van Wieren and Kiara Zanon. Click here to follow the event.

EA SPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR

EA Sports has named its Team of the Year honorees, celebrating hockey’s best-of-the-best. Poulin, Torrent captain Hilary Knight and Sarah Fillier of the Sirens were recognized at forward, Renata Fast of the Sceptres and Sophie Jaques of the Goldeneyes on defense and Desbiens earned the nod in goal. PWHL players and teams are prominently featured in EA SPORTS™ NHL® 26, the second season of a multi-year partnership. Click here for more.

THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE

PWHL action continues on Tuesday when Montréal takes on Ottawa for the first time this season at Place Bell at 7 p.m. ET. On Wednesday, Boston hosts Toronto for the Fleet’s Mental Health Awareness game at the Tsongas Center at 7 p.m. ET. Then on Friday, New York faces Minnesota for the first time with the Sirens hosting a Hispanic Heritage Celebration at Prudential Center at 7 p.m. ET. Saturday it’s the Battle on Bay Street at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena between the Sceptres and Vancouver, then two games on Sunday feature the Victoire and Sirens in the Takeover Tour at Washington’s Capital One Arena at 2 p.m. ET, followed by the Torrent and Fleet for Seattle’s Black History Celebration at Climate Pledge Arena at 10 p.m. ET. Full broadcast details are below and available online here.

Tuesday, January 13 – 7 PM ET
Ottawa Charge at Montréal Victoire (Place Bell)

•           Canada: Prime Video

Wednesday, January 14 – 7 PM ET
Toronto Sceptres at Boston Fleet (Tsongas Center)

•           Canada: TSN

•           U.S. (In-Market): NESN

•           U.S. (Out of Market): Great Lakes Sports & Entertainment Network, FanDuel Sports Network (Detroit Extra, Florida, Midwest Extra, North, Ohio Extra, South, Southwest, West, Wisconsin), KCRG-TV 9/Ottumwa–Kirksville CW (Iowa), North Star Sports & Entertainment Network, Palmetto Sports & Entertainment Network, Rock Sports Entertainment Network, SNP (Pittsburgh), Tennessee Valley Sports Network

Friday, January 16 – 7 PM ET
Minnesota Frost at New York Sirens (Prudential Center)

•           Canada: Sportsnet (East, Pacific)

•           U.S. (In-Market): MSG, FanDuel Sports Network North

•           U.S. (Out of Market): FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin, Matrix Midwest (St. Louis)

Saturday, January 17 – 3 PM ET – Battle on Bay Street
Vancouver Goldeneyes at Toronto Sceptres (Scotiabank Arena)

•           Canada: Sportsnet ONE

Sunday, January 18 – 2 PM ET – PWHL Takeover Tour
Montréal Victoire vs. New York Sirens (Capital One Arena – Washington, D.C.)

•           Canada: CBC and CBC Gem, Radio-Canada

•           U.S. (In-Market): FOX 5+ Washington DC, Monumental Sports Network, MSG, My9

•           U.S. (Out of Market): FanDuel Sports Network (Detroit, Florida, Midwest Extra, North, Ohio, South, Southwest, West, Wisconsin), FOX 10 Xtra Phoenix, NESN (Boston), SNP (Pittsburgh)

Sunday, January 18 – 10 PM ET
Boston Fleet at Seattle Torrent (Climate Pledge Arena)

•           Canada: Sportsnet ONE

•           U.S. (In-Market): KONG, NESN

•           U.S. (Out of Market): FOX 11+ Los Angeles, SNP+ (Pittsburgh)