This season, the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) increased its salary cap to $750,000 and expanded to seven franchises. Next year, the PHF will see another massive salary cap increase, this time doubling the cap to $1.5 million.
With increased salaries, the league has seen and will continue to see an influx of on-ice talent. This year, the PHF’s newcomers include the league’s top scorer and top goaltender at the quarter mark of the season.
Fans in Pittsburgh will get to benefit from this on-ice product. The Connecticut Whale will face the Montreal Force on Jan. 14, 2023, after the Whale and PHF teamed up with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday. The game at the Penguins’ practice facility will give fans the chance to see two of the top first-year PHF players on the Montreal squad, while the Whale will wear retro-inspired jerseys to honor the Pittsburgh Pennies, the city’s professional women’s hockey club founded in 1972.
Here is a look at the top 10 newcomers to the PHF during the 2022-2023 campaign:
1. Corrine Schroeder, G, Boston Pride
Schroeder has been nearly unbeatable for the Boston Pride and was named the league’s player of the month for November. The 5-foot-11 Manitoba product is a perfect 7-0 this season recording a league-best goals-against average of 1.91 and save percentage of .944, along with four shutouts.
“Corinne has been absolutely incredible for us so far this season,” said Boston Pride coach Paul Mara. “Coming into the start of the season, we had no doubt in her ability to play at this level. Her focus, intensity, and consistency have been a big reason for our success through these first few weeks of the season. Her skill and capability have been on full display, and we look forward to seeing all the great things she will accomplish this season.”
Schroeder played in the NCAA last season with Quinnipiac after four years at Boston University. She posted a .951 save percentage last year, setting her up for a smooth transition to the PHF.
2. Brittany Howard, F, Toronto Six
Howard leads the PHF in goals and points in her first season in the league. She spent the past four seasons in the PWHPA and CWHL after an NCAA career at Robert Morris where she was a Patty Kazmaier Award finalist. Howard, 27, has 11 goals and 13 points through eight games emerging as one of the league’s most dangerous offensive threats.
3. Loren Gabel, F, Boston Pride
Last season, Gabel had 12 points in nine games on the PWHPA’s Secret Dream Gap Tour. The Kitchener, Ont. product won the 2019 Patty Kazmaier Award as the NCAA’s top player scoring 40 goals and 69 points in 38 games with Clarkson. That year, she also scored a point per game for Canada at the World Championships. This season, Gabel sits third in PHF scoring with 11 points through her first six names in the league.
4. Ann-Sophie Bettez, F, Montreal Force
A longtime professional veteran and McGill University graduate, Bettez is the first captain in Montreal Force franchise history. Bettez spent seven seasons in the now-defunct CWHL where she was the 2013 rookie of the year and 2014 league MVP and scoring champion. Bettez then played three seasons with the PWHPA and won a World Championship bronze medal with Canada in 2019. She has six points in six games this season.
5. Sarah Bujold, F, Metropolitan Riveters
Bujold is a former U Sports player of the year with St. Francis Xavier University, joining the Riveters this season after playing the past three seasons with HV71 and Djurgarden in the SDHL. Bujold currently has ten points in nine games, sitting fourth in league scoring.
6. Sidney Morin, D, Minnesota Whitecaps
Morin won Olympic gold with Team USA in 2018. She’s a former NCAA defensive player of the year with Minnesota-Duluth and 2020 SDHL defender of the year. She twice had the most points by a defender in the SDHL and last year led the Swiss league in scoring.
Needless to say, those are impressive credentials to add to the Whitecaps blueline this season, where Morin has seven points in eight games. An impact player everywhere she’s gone, Morin looks like a candidate for the PHF’s defender of the year. If her on-ice prowess isn’t enough, Morin is a trusted analyst of the game as a scout for the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.
7. Sydney Brodt, F, Minnesota Whitecaps
She has a World Championship and U-18 gold medal to her resumé representing Team USA, and she was named captain of the Minnesota Whitecaps this season. After captaining Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA for three seasons, Brodt spent a campaign with the PWHPA before playing with Linkoping in Sweden last year. Brodt has six points in eight PHF games this season.
8. Leah Lum, F, Toronto Six
Lum represented China last year, leading the team in scoring at both the Olympic Games and World Championship Division-1B tournament, earning China a promotion. After spending four seasons overseas with the Vanke Rays, Lum is in her first season with the Toronto Six and has seven points in eight games.
9. Anna Kilponen, D, Metropolitan Riveters
Kilponen has represented Finland at five World Championships and an Olympic Games. Kilponen finished last season with the Vanke Rays after beginning the year as captain of Ilves in Finland’s Naisten Liiga. The new Metropolitan Riveters blueliner has six assists in nine games.
10. Jade Downie-Landry, F, Montreal Force
Downie-Landry is the top-scoring player to enter the PHF this season directly from university hockey. Last season, Downie-Landry finished her U Sports career at McGill University scoring 27 points in 15 games. Her scoring prowess has continued to the professional level this season notching nine points in six games with the expansion Montreal Force.
Other Newcomers To Watch – Aneta Tejralova (Boston Pride), Elizabeth Giguere (Boston Pride), Liz Schepers (Minnesota Whitecaps), Fanni Garat-Gasparics (Metropolitan Riveters), Eveliina Makinen (Metropolitan Riveters), Natalie Snodgrass (Minnesota Whitecaps), Dominika Laskova (Toronto Six)