Poulin, Spooner setting pace in new league
It’s been a while since Marie-Philip Poulin and Natalie Spooner have played this much hockey.
The two have been starring for Canada for well over a decade, winning a couple Olympic gold medals (usually thanks to a game-winning Poulin goal) and multiple world championships together. And while neither has been playing full league seasons regularly since the folding of the CWHL in 2019, neither has missed a beat in jumping right back into a full PWHL slate.
Spooner, 33, and Poulin, 32, have been dominant, each entering Wednesday in the top three in PWHL. Poulin has 12 points in 13 games for leagueleading Montreal (which hosts fourth-place Boston Saturday at 4 p.m.), while Spooner has 11 in 13 for a Toronto team that has won six straight.
It’s no surprise for Poulin, a woman some call the greatest to ever play the game, to be maintaining her dominance. She’s kept her habit of scoring clutch goals while remaining ever the distributor, with her points split evenly with six goals and six assists.
It’s been 16 years since Poulin was the runner-up for the CWHL MVP as a 16-yearold in 2008, and she shows no signs of slowing down, even with the increased workload.
“I think a player like [Poulin] has put in so much work, away from the rink and at the rink, over the past few years, that she didn’t lose a beat now being asked to play this many games,” said Montreal coach Kori Cheverie. “I’m not surprised at all. She continues to dominate our league, but also just does all the little things really well. She is probably the best player in the game.”
It might be more of a surprise to see Spooner’s production; the former Ohio State star has a league-leading 10 goals.
Spooner is one of the most decorated Canadian hockey players ever and has little left to prove, but her fast start may have been unexpected.
But the 33-year-old has been surprising people for years. She gave birth to her her first child in December 2022 and was competing at the world championships in April, tallying 6 points in seven games. She then took several months off, playing only a handful of games in the year-plus before this season.
“With childbirth and healing from that, it’s taken maybe a bit longer than I thought it would take to be feeling back to fully normal, but I’ve been able to slowly increase the volume,” Spooner said.
Davis leaving nest
PWHL Boston has lost forward Sammy Davis before she could play a game for her hometown team.
Davis on Wednesday was signed by Ottawa for the remainder of the season, according to a league source.
The 26-year-old from Pembroke was on Boston’s reserve list. The former Boston University captain fills a need for Ottawa following forward Kristin Della Rovere’s recent injury, which is believed to be seasonending. Della Rovere is a former Harvard captain.
Davis, the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NWHL draft, played three seasons for the Boston Pride.
Playoff plans in place
The PWHL announced its playoff format and draft-order process.
The playoffs will begin two or three days after the regular season, with the top four teams playing best-of-five semifinal series. The No. 1 seed selects its opponent. The winners will play a best-of-five championship series.
In an effort to prevent tanking, the league will assign the top pick in June’s draft to the non-playoff team that accrues the most points after its elimination from playoff contention.