NWHL 2015/16

	National Women's Hockey League
		2015/16 season	next ►
Master:	Boston Pride
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The 2015/16 season was the first season of the newly formed National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), the top division in US women's ice hockey . The season began on October 11, 2015 with the first game of the regular season and ended on March 12, 2016 with the second final game for the Isobel Cup . This was secured by the Boston Pride in the final series against the Buffalo Beauts . A total of four teams took part in the game.

Mode and participants

The four teams - namely the Boston Pride , Buffalo Beauts , Connecticut Whale and New York Riveters - first played a six-fold round in the regular season , so that each team played 18 games. A total of 36 games were played during the season.

The ranking of the regular season resulted in the seeding list for the subsequent play-offs , in which the first placed met the fourth placed in the table. The next series contested the second and third place. In the play-offs, the teams wore their series in the "best-of-three" mode.

NWHL Draft

The first NWHL Entry Draft took place on June 22, 2015 in Boston . The order of the draft was determined on June 8th in a lottery. The New York Riveters won the lottery and chose the American Alex Carpenter from Boston College in the first overall place . A total of 20 players were drafted in five rounds.

Top 5 picks

#	Player	nationality	Item	NWHL team	College team
1.	Alex Carpenter	United States	F.	New York Riveters	Boston College ( Hockey East )
2.	Hannah Brandt	United States	F.	Connecticut Whale	University of Minnesota Duluth ( WCHA )
3.	Kendall Coyne	United States	F.	Boston Pride	Northeastern University (Hockey East)
4th	Courtney Burke	United States	D.	Buffalo Beauts	University of Wisconsin – Madison (WCHA)
5.	Haley Skarupa	United States	F.	New York Riveters	Boston College (Hockey East)

Regular season

In the regular season, which was played between October 11, 2015 and February 28, 2016, the Boston Pride secured first place with three points ahead of the Connecticut Whale . The Buffalo Beauts and New York Riveters followed at a greater distance in the other places.

Pl.		Sp	S.	N	OTN	Gates	Points
1.	Boston Pride	18th	14th	3	1	75:39	29
2.	Connecticut Whale	18th	13	5	0	64:51	26th
3.	Buffalo Beauts	18th	5	9	4th	57:69	14th
4th	New York Riveters	18th	4th	12	2	41:78	10

Kelli Stack from the Connecticut Whale was third best scorer of the regular season

Abbreviations: Sp = games, S = victories, N = defeats, OTN = defeat after overtime or shootout
Explanations:  = division winner

Best scorers

Abbreviations: Sp = games, T = goals, V = assists , pts = points, SM = penalty minutes; Bold: Season best

Player	team	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
Hilary Knight	Boston Pride	17th	15th	18th	33	8th
Brianna Decker	Boston Pride	17th	14th	15th	29	20th
Kelli Stack	Connecticut Whale	17th	8th	14th	22nd	24
Kelly Babstock	Connecticut Whale	18th	9	13	22nd	24
Kelley Steadman	Buffalo Beauts	13	13	7th	20th	16

Isobel Cup Playoffs

The playoffs for the Isobel Cup , which was played for the first time , began on March 4, 2016 with the two semi-final series. This was followed by the finals series starting on March 11th, which ended a day later with the Boston Pride winning the Isobel Cup .

	Semifinals					final
	1	Boston Pride	2
	4th	New York Riveters	0
						1	Boston Pride	2
						3	Buffalo Beauts	0
	2	Connecticut Whale	1
	3	Buffalo Beauts	2

Semifinals

Boston Pride - New York Riveters

March 4, 2016 7:30 p.m. (local time)

Boston Pride B. Decker (13:57) Z. Hickel (17:37) A. Pelkey (27:00) B. Decker (28:32) H. Knight (32:59) J. Dempsey (58:38)

6: 0 (2: 0, 3: 0, 1: 0) Match report score: 1: 0

New York Riveters

Raymond Bourque Arena, Beverly Spectators: k. A.

March 5, 2016 7:30 p.m.

Boston Pride G. Marvin (7:38) H. Knight (11:51) J. Dempsey (19:50) B. Bolden (20:51) H. Knight (25:58) B. Decker (31:36) H. Knight (58:44)

7: 4 (3: 1, 3: 2, 1: 1) Match report as of: 2: 0

New York Riveters M. Packer (14:56) K. Dosdall (31:23) L. Belyakova (31:47) C. Brown (54:41)

Raymond Bourque Arena, Beverly Spectators: k. A.

Connecticut Whale - Buffalo Beauts

March 4, 2016 7:00 p.m. (local time)

Connecticut Whale K. Stack (29:12) S. Faber (34:50) K. Babstock (58:04)

3: 0 (0: 0, 2: 0, 1: 0) Match report as of: 1: 0

Buffalo Beauts

Chelsea Piers Connecticut, Stamford Spectators: k. A.

March 5, 2016 7:00 p.m.

Connecticut Whale K. Babstock (25:50)

1: 4 (0: 2, 1: 1, 0: 1) Match report as of: 1: 1

Buffalo Beauts K. Steadman (10:15) D. Skeats (19:28) M. Bozek (20:30) H. Browne (58:02)

Chelsea Piers Connecticut, Stamford Spectators: k. A.

March 6, 2016 7:30 p.m.

Connecticut Whale K. Stack (13:29) K. Babstock (45:51) K. Babstock (59:17)

3: 4 (1: 1, 0: 1, 2: 2) Match report as of: 1: 2

Buffalo Beauts M. Bozek (11:27) H. Browne (39:58) D. Skeats (54:33) M. Bozek (58:46)

Chelsea Piers Connecticut, Stamford Spectators: k. A.

final

March 11, 2016 7:00 p.m. (local time)

Boston Pride B. Bolden (21:11) G. Marvin (31:48) H. Knight (55:19) H. Knight (62:24)

4: 3 n.V. (0: 0, 2: 1, 1: 2, 1: 0) Match report as of 1: 0

Buffalo Beauts S. Bram (36:56) E. Pfalzer (46:18) K. Steadman (52:33)

Barnabas Health Hockey House , Newark Spectators: k. A.

March 12, 2016 7:00 p.m.

Buffalo Beauts E. Zach (59:23)

1: 3 (0: 1, 0: 0, 1: 2) Match report as of: 0: 2

Boston Pride B. Decker (11:52) B. Decker (49:17) H. Knight (51:44)

Barnabas Health Hockey House, Newark Spectators: k. A.

Best scorers

Abbreviations: Sp = games, T = goals, V = assists , pts = points, SM = penalty minutes; Fat: best playoff value

Master photo of Boston Pride with the Isobel Cup

Player	team	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
Hilary Knight	Boston Pride	4th	7th	2	9	0
Brianna Decker	Boston Pride	4th	5	4th	9	6th
Gigi Marvin	Boston Pride	4th	2	3	5	2
Jillian Dempsey	Boston Pride	4th	2	3	5	4th
Kelly Babstock	Connecticut Whale	3	4th	0	4th	2

Isobel Cup winner

Isobel Cup Winner: Boston Pride

Goalkeepers: Brittany Ott , Lauren Slebodnick Defenders: Kacey Bellamy , Blake Bolden , Alyssa Gagliardi , Marissa Gedman , Meagan Mangene , Gigi Marvin Attackers: Corinne Buie , Kelly Cooke , Brianna Decker , Jillian Dempsey , Emily Field , Zoe Hickel , Hilary Knight , Denna Laing , Rachel Llanes , Amanda Pelkey , Casey Pickett , Jordan Smelker Head Coach: Bobby Jay

NWHL All Star Game

Exterior view of the HarborCenter

The first All-Star Game of the NWHL took place January 24, 2016 in the HarborCenter , the home ground of the Buffalo Beauts , in Buffalo . The match was played over two halves of 20 minutes each with four field players plus a goalkeeper. There was also a skills competition .

The teams were put together based on a fantasy draft by the players Hilary Knight and Emily Pfalzer .

The following players were selected for the respective teams in this order:

• Team Knight : Kacey Bellamy , Kelli Stack , Kaleigh Fratkin , Janine Weber , Jaimie Leonoff , Alyssa Gagliardi , Jordan Smelker , Brianne McLaughlin , Shelby Bram , Amanda Pelkey , Jordan Brickner
• Team Pfalzer : Brianna Decker , Meghan Duggan , Kelley Steadman , Nana Fujimoto , Megan Bozek , Gigi Marvin , Blake Bolden , Brittany Ott , Shiann Darkangelo , Emily Field , Zoe Hickel

There were also Madison Packer , Morgan Fritz-Ward , Hayley Williams and Devon Skeats , who received an invitation through the vote of the fans. While Packer and Williams played in Team Knight , Fritz-Ward and Skeats were assigned to Team Pfalzer . Including the captains, each team consisted of 14 players.

The team Pfalzer defeated the team Knight after 40 minutes of play with 9: 1. As most valuable player was Kelley Steadman excellent.

Awards

Gigi Marvin was named the best defensive player

Award	Player	team
Most valuable player	Brianna Decker	Boston Pride
Perseverance Award	Denna Laing	Boston Pride
Foundation Award	Denna Laing	Boston Pride
Defensive Player of the Year	Gigi Marvin	Boston Pride
Goaltender of the Year	Brittany Ott	Boston Pride
Leading Scorer Award	Hilary Knight	Boston Pride
Most valuable player in the playoffs	Brianna Decker	Boston Pride

Web links

• Official website