The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and has since grown to a mixture of seven league-owned and independently owned teams: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, Minnesota Whitecaps, Montreal Force and Toronto Six.
The Metropolitan Riveters are a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink.
The Boston Pride are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League. The Pride play at Warrior Ice Arena, which is also the practice facility for the Boston Bruins of the NHL. They won the inaugural Isobel Cup in 2016 and became the first professional women's ice hockey team to win three championship titles when they claimed consecutive victories in 2021 and 2022.
The Connecticut Whale are a professional ice hockey team based in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). They play in Simsbury, Connecticut at the International Skating Center of Connecticut. The team was established in 2015 as one of the four charter franchises of the National Women's Hockey League. Their name and colors pay homage to the Hartford Whalers, a former NHL and WHA franchise based in Connecticut.
The Buffalo Beauts are a professional ice hockey team based in Amherst, New York, United States. The team was established in 2015 as one of the four founding franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), originally named the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). They play at Northtown Center in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst. The team played at Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo for their first four seasons. The team has advanced to the Isobel Cup Finals in the NWHL's first four seasons, winning in 2016–17.
Kelly Babstock is a Canadian-American ice hockey player who currently plays with the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She has Ojibwe roots and is originally from Little Current on Manitoulin Island, part of the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory. Babstock played collegiate ice hockey with the Quinnipiac Bobcats and, as of September 2021, remains the top point scorer in the program’s history. In the National Women's Hockey League, she played with the Connecticut Whale from 2015–2018 and with the Buffalo Beauts during the 2018–19 season. In the Whale's inaugural game on October 15, 2015, she became the first Canadian-born play to score a goal in a NWHL regular season game.
Blake Alexis Bolden is an American ice hockey player and scout for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). On October 11, 2015, she became the first African-American player to compete in the National Women's Hockey League. She won the 2015 Clarkson Cup with the Boston Blades of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). In 2016, she won the Isobel Cup with the Boston Pride of the NWHL.
Shiann Darkangelo is an American ice hockey player who currently plays with the Toronto Six of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She has played at the international level with Team USA and won gold at the 2016 IIHF Women's World Championship with the team. At the NCAA Division I level, she accumulated 42 points with the Syracuse Orange women's ice hockey program during the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons and registered 60 points with the Quinnipiac Bobcats women's ice hockey program during the 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons.
Kaleigh Fratkin is a Canadian women's ice hockey player with the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). The third-longest tenured player and leading scorer among defenders in PHF history, she was the first Canadian player to sign a contract in the league, is a four-time PHF all-star, and is a two-time PHF Defender of the Year in 2020 and 2021. She was also a member of the Boston Pride roster that captured the 2021 and 2022 Isobel Cup. Previous to the joining the NWHL, she won the Clarkson Cup in 2015 and was the first girl to play boys' midget AAA hockey in British Columbia.
Denisa Křížová is a Czech ice hockey player and member of the Czech national team, currently playing in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) with the Minnesota Whitecaps.
Kaitlin "Katie" Burt is an American-born women's ice hockey goaltender for the PWHPA and the Boston Pride in the Premier Hockey Federation, and who was selected first overall by the Boston Pride in the 2017 NWHL Draft.
Melissa Samoskevich is an American ice hockey player and an assistant coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions women's ice hockey program. She plays for the Connecticut Whale of the National Women's Hockey League.
Alexandria "Lexie" Laing is an American ice hockey forward, currently playing for the Minnesota Whitecaps of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).
Emma Woods is a Canadian ice hockey forward, currently playing in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) with the Toronto Six.
The 2020 NWHL Draft took place on April 28–29, 2020. The Boston Pride selected Sammy Davis with the 1st overall pick, having made a trade with the yet unnamed Toronto expansion team. Davis becomes the third Terriers hockey player to go first overall in a professional hockey draft, following Kayla Tutino in the 2016 CWHL Draft, and Rick DiPietro in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.
Samantha "Sammy" Davis is an American ice hockey forward, currently playing with the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She was drafted 1st overall in the 2020 NWHL Draft by the Boston Pride following a two-year captaincy of the Boston University Terriers women's ice hockey.
The Toronto Six is a professional women's ice hockey team based in Toronto playing out of Canlan Ice Sports – York. They are one of two Canadian teams in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) along with the Montreal Force, and the first expansion team to join the league since the collapse of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) in 2019. The team was founded in 2020 with their inaugural regular season held in Lake Placid, New York, followed by the Isobel Cup playoffs in Brighton, Massachusetts.
The 2020–21 NWHL season was the sixth season of the National Women's Hockey League in North America. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the season was held in a bubble in Lake Placid, New York, from January to February 2021, with all five teams returning from the previous season, along with the Toronto Six expansion team as the first Canada-based team to play in the league. The season was suspended again due to positive cases of COVID-19 within the bubble. On March 8, 2021, the league announced that the Isobel Cup playoffs would re-commence on March 26 and 27 at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, Massachusetts.
The 2021–22 PHF season was the seventh season of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), which was known as the National Women's Hockey League during the previous six seasons, in North America. After mostly playing in a bubble environment the previous season due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, the PHF commenced the 2021–22 season with a normal travel-based schedule.
Nathaniel "Nate" Oliver is an American ice hockey executive, currently serving as General Manager of the Buffalo Beauts in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). Prior to his role as General Manager, Oliver served as the Beauts’ Community Relations Manager for one season. Oliver is also an associate director with Campus Living at the University at Buffalo. Before joining the Buffalo Beauts in 2019, Oliver was a sports journalist, having covered the game for the The Hockey Writers.
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