2020–21 NWHL season
| 2020–21 NWHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | National Women's Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Regular season | |
| Isobel Cup | |
The 2020–21 NWHL season will be the sixth season of the National Women's Hockey League in North America. All five teams returned from the previous, along with a new expansion team based in Toronto, Ontario, the first Canadian team to play in the league.
League Business
Player registration for the season opened on the 27th of March 2020.[1] Players must have finished their university careers to be eligible for free agency. Metropolitan Riveters forward Kendall Cornine was the first player to announce a contract for the 2020-21 season.[2]
At the end of April 2020, the NWHL announced the expansion of league with the addition of a new team in Toronto. The team would later reveal its name as the Toronto Six. Despite the expansion, the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, formed after the 2019 collapse of the CWHL, announced that its members would continue to boycott all North American hockey leagues.[3]
Front office changes
| Off–season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 2019–20 GM | 2020–21 GM | Story / Accomplishments |
| Buffalo Beauts | Mandy Cronin | Nate Oliver | After one year as Buffalo general manager, Cronin left to join the expansion Toronto Six. She was replaced by Nate Oliver.[4] |
| Toronto Six | None | Mandy Cronin | After one year as Buffalo general manager, Cronin left to join the expansion Toronto Six. She was replaced by Nate Oliver.[5] |
(*) Indicates interim.
Regular Season
The regular season will run from November 2020 to mid-March 2021, when the Isobel Cup playoffs will begin. There will be 60 games, the same as the previous season, meaning that each team will play a total of 20 games (down from 24).[6] All games will be streamed live on Twitch.
The six teams will be:
References
- ^ "Player Registration is Now Open for the 2020-21 NWHL Season". www.nwhl.zone.
- ^ "Riveters Re-Sign Star Rookie Kendall Cornine". thehockeywriters.com. March 26, 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ News, Matt Larkin, The Hockey. "Is the NWHL Expansion Enough in Quest for Unified Women's League?". Sports Illustrated.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Oliver Named GM of the Buffalo Beauts". thehockeywriters.com. May 14, 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ "Mandy Cronin named General Manager of Toronto NWHL team". www.msn.com.
- ^ Jay, Michelle (April 22, 2020). "New NWHL team brings a new schedule for 2020-2021 season". The Ice Garden.