Metropolitan Riveters

Metropolitan Riveters
City	East Rutherford, New Jersey
League	Premier Hockey Federation
Founded	2015
Folded	2023
Home arena	The Rink at American Dream
Colors	Blue, red, white
Owner(s)	BTM Partners (John Boynton, chairman)
General manager	Tori Charron
Head coach	Venla Hovi
Captain	Madison Packer
Website	Official website
Franchise history
2015–2017	New York Riveters
2017–2023	Metropolitan Riveters
Championships
Regular season titles	1 (2017–18)
Playoff championships	1 (2017–18)

The Metropolitan Riveters (originally the New York Riveters) were a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink.

They were one of the four charter franchises of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), later known as the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). Its team name and logo were based upon Rosie the Riveter, the subject of the World War II-era motivational poster "We Can Do It!". The Riveters played one season in Brooklyn before moving to the New Jersey Devils practice rink in Newark, New Jersey, in 2016. The team then formed a promotional affiliation with the Devils and were renamed the Metropolitan Riveters; the partnership ended in 2019. The team folded in 2023, when the PHF's assets were purchased and the league dissolved.

History

The first player signed to a contract was Janine Weber, who also became the first player in the history of the NWHL to be signed to a contract. ^[1] With the first pick overall in the 2015 NWHL Draft, the Riveters selected Alexandra Carpenter, a medalist from the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. The team made its debut in 2015 playing at Aviator Sports & Events Center in Brooklyn, New York. The first player to ever score a goal for the Riveters was Brooke Ammerman. The New York Riveters won their first game against the Boston Pride on November 15, 2015. Nana Fujimoto became the first New York Riveters goaltender to earn a win in the NWHL and the first Japanese born goaltender to win a NWHL game. Meghan Fardelmann became the first Riveter to record a hat trick.

On May 1, 2016, the Riveters signed free agent Amanda Kessel to a one-year deal worth $26,000, making her the highest paid player in the league. At the 2016 NWHL Draft, held in Brooklyn, the Riveters held the first overall pick for the second consecutive year and selected Kelsey Koelzer from the Princeton Tigers women's ice hockey program. ^[2]

On August 1, 2016, it was announced that the Riveters would move from Brooklyn to Barnabas Health Hockey House at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. ^[3]

Prior to their second season in New Jersey, the Riveters announced they had partnered with the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), becoming the first NWHL team to officially partner with an NHL team. Upon the announcement, the Riveters changed their name to the Metropolitan Riveters to reflect the broader geographic region. The Riveters also adopted the colors of the Devils and changed their jerseys. As part of the new affiliation, the Riveters and Devils held a doubleheader for the Riveters' 2017–18 season opener against the Boston Pride followed by the Devils' game against the Arizona Coyotes at the Prudential Center. ^[4] In the 2017–18 season, the Riveters won both the regular season and the Isobel Cup against the previous champions, the Buffalo Beauts.

At the end of their 2017–18 championship season, original head coach Chad Wiseman resigned, taking a job closer to home as an assistant with the Guelph Storm, and was replaced by Randy Velischek. ^[5]

In March 2019, it was announced that the professional level Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) would discontinue operations. ^[6] In response to the folding of the CWHL, players from both leagues were dissatisfied in the operation of both the NWHL and CWHL in that neither league provided health insurance or a livable salary. Due to these conditions, over 200 players released a joint statement announcing their intent to not participate in any North American professional league for the 2019–20 season. ^[7] In response, the NWHL committed to pursuing many more sponsors than in previous years in hopes of increasing player salaries. ^[8]

On May 17, 2019, it was reported that the New Jersey Devils were ending their partnership with the Riveters. ^{[9] [10]} Following the dissolution of the partnership, the Riveters no longer had a lease to operate out of Barnabas Health Hockey House at the Prudential Center in Newark, which they had used rent-free as part of their partnership. The team then changed home venues to ProSkate Ice Arena in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, ^[11] and returned to their original blue, red, and white colors. ^[12] The team was eliminated in the semifinal game by the Minnesota Whitecaps prior to the championship being cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following season was then delayed amidst the capacity and travel restrictions during the pandemic. The 2020–21 season eventually started on January 23, 2021, with the entire season to be played at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, without fans in attendance and teams kept in isolation. However, after playing three games, the Riveters were forced to withdraw from the two-week season on January 28 after several members of the organization tested positive for COVID-19. ^[13]

On May 26, 2021, the league announced the Riveters had been sold to BTM Partners, owners of the Boston Pride and Toronto Six, with John Boynton named the team's chairman. ^[14]

On September 14, 2022, the Riveters announced that they would play their home games at The Rink at the American Dream Meadowlands retail and entertainment complex for the next three years. ^[15]

On June 29, 2023, it was announced that the PHF and its assets had been purchased as part of a bid to create a new, unified professional women's league. ^[16] This led to the PHF and its teams folding, and the founding of the Professional Women's Hockey League in August, 2023. ^[17]

Season-by-season records

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	SOL	Pts [lower-alpha 1]	GF	GA	Playoffs
2015–16	18	4	12	0	2	0	10	47	78	Lost Preliminary Round to Boston Pride
2016–17	18	8	7	0	1	2	19	55	58	Lost Preliminary Round to Buffalo Beauts
2017–18	16	13	3	—	0	—	26	64	30	Won Isobel Cup Championship over Buffalo Beauts
2018–19	16	4	12	—	0	0	8	32	65	Lost Semifinal game to Minnesota Whitecaps
2019–20	24	10	11	—	3	—	23	70	91	Lost Semifinal game to Minnesota Whitecaps
2020–21	3	2	1	—	0	—	4	7	4	Forced to withdraw from season due to positive cases of COVID-19
2021–22	20	7	12	—	1	0	21	54	65	Lost Preliminary Round to Minnesota Whitecaps
2022–23	24	11	13	—	0	0	30	64	79	Did not qualify
PHF Totals	139	59	71	0	7	2	141	393	470

1. Starting with the 2021–22 season, 3 points are awarded for a regulation win, 2 points are awarded for an overtime/shootout win, 1 point is awarded for an overtime/shootout loss, 0 points are awarded for a regulation loss ^[18]

Team

2022–23 roster

As of December 9, 2022 ^{[19] [20] [21]}

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
9		Kaycie Anderson  ( A )	F	L	32	2022	Maple Plain, Minnesota
8		Kelly Babstock	F	L	31	2020	Mississauga, Ontario
12		Ebba Berglund	D	L	25	2022	Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
16		Sarah Bujold	F	L	28	2022	Riverview, New Brunswick
–		Katie Burt	G	L	27	2022	Lynn, Massachusetts
10		Kendall Cornine	F	R	27	2019	Livingston, New Jersey
97		Catherine Crawley	F	L	27	2022	Washingtonville, New York
13		Réka Dabasi	F	L	27	2022	Budapest, Hungary
3		Sarah Forster	D	L	30	2022	Berneck, Switzerland
77		Kennedy Ganser	F	R	26	2022	Provost, Alberta
94		Fanni Garát-Gasparics	F	R	29	2022	Budapest, Hungary
22		Emilie Harley	D	L	24	2022	Syracuse, New York
5		Anna Kilponen	D	L	28	2022	Orivesi, Finland
1		Eveliina Mäkinen	G	L	29	2022	Kuikainen, Finland
44		Taylor Marchin	D	R	30	2022	Algonac, Michigan
28		Leah Marino	F	L	23	2022	South Lake Tahoe, California
33		Rachel McQuigge	G	L	25	2022	Bowmanville, Ontario
14		Madison Packer  ( C )	F	R	32	2015	Detroit, Michigan
21		Amanda Pelkey  ( A )	F	R	30	2022	Montpelier, Vermont
18		Reagan Rust	D	R	27	2022	Southaven, Mississippi
15		Minttu Tuominen  ( A )	D	R	33	2022	Helsinki, Finland

Coaching staff and team personnel

• General Manager: Tori Charron
• Head coach: Venla Hovi
• Associate head coach: Ivo Mocek
• Goaltending coach: Mitch Harris
• Equipment manager: Regina Bataille

Team captains

• Ashley Johnston, 2015–2018
• Michelle Picard, 2018–19
• Madison Packer, 2019–2023

Head coaches

• Chad Wiseman, 2015–2018
• Randy Velischek, 2018–19
• Ivo Mocek, 2019–2022
• Venla Hovi, 2022–2023

General managers

• Dani Rylan, 2015–16
• Kate Whitman Annis, 2019–2021
• Anya Packer, 2021–22 ^{[22] [23]}
• Tori Charron, 2022–2023

NWHL draft

A draft lottery was held for the 2015 NWHL Draft, taking place on June 20, 2015. and the New York Riveters earned the first pick overall. ^[24] With the first pick in the 2015 NWHL Draft, the New York Riveters selected Alexandra Carpenter.

2015 NWHL Draft

Main article: 2015 NWHL Draft

The following were the Riveters selections in the 2015 NWHL Draft on June 20, 2015. ^[25]

#	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	Alexandra Carpenter	Forward	United States	Boston College
5	Haley Skarupa	Forward	United States	Boston College
9	Erin Ambrose	Defense	Canada	Clarkson University
13	Dana Trivigno	Forward	United States	Boston College
17	Kimberly Newell	Goalie	Canada	Princeton

Awards and honors

• Ashley Johnston, New York Riveters, 2017 NWHL Denna Laing Perseverance Award
• Katie Fitzgerald, New York Riveters, 2017 NWHL Goaltender of the Year

Franchise milestones

Milestone	Player	Date
First goal	Brooke Ammerman	October 11, 2015
First game-winning goal	Bray Ketchum	November 15, 2015
First hat trick	Meghan Fardelmann	December 27, 2015 [26]
First multi-point game	To Be Determined	To Be Determined
First win	Nana Fujimoto	November 15, 2015
First African-American player	Cherie Stewart	November 15, 2015
First shutout [27]	Katie Fitzgerald	November 20, 2016

References

• New Jersey portal

1. "NWHL Announces Historic First Player Signing". NWHL. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
2. "Kelsey Koelzer Taken First Overall". Princeton Tigers (Press release). June 18, 2016. Archived from the original on January 24, 2023. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
3. Cimini, Kaitlin (August 1, 2016). "From The Ice New York Riveters leave Brooklyn for Newark". Today's Slapshot. Archived from the original on August 2, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
4. "New Jersey Devils Enter First of Its Kind Agreement and Form Multi-Year Strategic Partnership with the NWHL's Riveters". NWHL (Press release). October 5, 2017. Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved October 6, 2017.
5. "Randy Velischek Named Riveters Head Coach". NWHL.zone. September 20, 2018.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
6. "The Canadian Women's Hockey League to Discontinue Operations". Canadian Women's Hockey League (Press release). March 31, 2019. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
7. McKenzie, Bob (May 2, 2019). "More than 200 players call for overhaul of women's pro hockey". The Sports Network . Archived from the original on November 16, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
8. "A Statement to the Players, Fans and Supporters of the NWHL and Women's Hockey". NWHL.zone (Press release). May 2, 2019. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
9. Murphy, Mike (May 17, 2019). "New Jersey Devils dissolving partnership with Metropolitan Riveters". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on May 29, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
10. Mastracco, Abbey (May 17, 2019). "NJ Devils dissolve partnership with Metropolitan Riveters ahead of schedule". North Jersey Media Group . Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
11. "NWHL Reveals Expanded Schedule for the 2019-20 Season". NWHL (Press release). July 29, 2019. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
12. "Riveters Unveil New Sweater Design for Season 5". NWHL (Press release). September 27, 2019. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
13. "Metropolitan Riveters Withdrawn from NWHL Season". NWHL (Press release). January 28, 2021. Archived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
14. "NWHL Announces Sale of the Metropolitan Riveters". NWHL (Press release). May 26, 2021. Archived from the original on May 26, 2021. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
15. "Metropolitan Riveters to play home games in New Jersey megamall American Dream". ESPN. September 14, 2022. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
16. Wyshynski, Greg (June 29, 2023). "Sources: Premier Hockey Federation sale could unite women's hockey". ESPN . Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
17. Kennedy, Ian (October 22, 2023). "The Disappearance Of The Buffalo Beauts and Metropolitan Riveters". The Hockey News . Archived from the original on January 6, 2024. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
18. Krotz, Paul (November 6, 2021). "PHF Announces Changes to Playing Regulations". PremierHockeyFederation.com. Premier Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
19. "Metropolitan Riveters, 2022-23 PHF – Roster". Premier Hockey Federation . Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
20. "Metropolitan Riveters, 2022-2023 Roster". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
21. Kass, Matthew (December 8, 2022). "Metropolitan Riveters Sign Isobel Cup Winning Goaltender Katie Burt". Metropolitan Riveters (Press release). Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
22. Murphy, Mike (April 8, 2021). "Kate Whitman Annis named Director of W Hockey Partners, Anya Packer named GM of the Riveters". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
23. Rodriguez, Angelica (April 13, 2022). "Anya Packer declines to renew contract as Riveters general manager". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on January 24, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
24. "NWHL Draft Lottery: New York Riveters get top pick!". watchthishockey.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
25. "2015 NWHL Complete Draft, June 20, Boston". NWHL. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
26. "New York Riveters vs. Buffalo Beauts, December 27 Game Sheet". NWHL.co. December 27, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2016.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
27. "Riveters shutout Whale 4–0, move into second place". NWHL Zone. November 20, 2016. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.

External links

• Official website