Thursday LNN: Minnesota Wins the Walter Cup, a New Team in Ottawa, and the Coaching Carousel
A massive week for women's sports!
- The PWHL’s Walter Cup playoffs were wildly entertaining and ended with a bit of drama. In game 4 of the best-of-five series, Minnesota appeared to have won the championship off a double overtime goal by Sophie Jaques. Then, the goal was called back for goaltender interference, and Boston ended up winning to force a game 5. That could have ended up being an '04 Flames kind of moment, but in the end Minnesota pulled through, winning game 5 by a score of 3-0 to win the championship after all.
- The PWHL has confirmed that they will announce team names and logos in August, with the next season set to begin in November. No word yet on how long the season will be. It’s a good reminder that this league is still a work in progress, and that there are lots of exciting new things to look forward to next season.
- The Sens are apparently considering Mike Yeo for an assistant coaching position.
- More professional women’s sports are coming to Ottawa. The Northern Super League is a professional women’s soccer league that just announced that it will begin play in 2025. There will be teams in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver and Calgary. It feels like women’s sports are really taking off right now, and it’s amazing.
- The NHL is gradually announcing a few award winners. On Tuesday, they announced that Anders Lee of the Islanders has won the King Clancy Memorial trophy for leadership.
- The coaching carousel continues. Dan Bylsma, most recently of Buffalo Sabres fame, has been hired to coach the Kraken. Apparently Jessica Campbell is being considered as an assistant coach.
- A hilarious moment occurred in Tuesday's game between the Panthers and Rangers:
Chris Kreider throwing Tkachuk's mouth guard into some nachos in the lower bowl is the greatest moment of the playoffs pic.twitter.com/QmcFFeDK3z
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 29, 2024
And Tkachuk had an excellent response:
Tkachuk said he was able to get his mouthguard back after Kreider tried to toss it last night (it didn’t clear the glass).
— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) May 29, 2024
“I told him it was the best play he made all game,” Tkachuk quipped. pic.twitter.com/Ycn7iaWcfZ
