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This is the 2018-19 Canadian Women's Hockey League season. This is the league's 12th season.

The 2018–19 CWHL season is the 12th season of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.

Offseason[]

  • July 16: The CWHL contracted the Vanke Rays' membership after one season to focus solely on the Kunlun Red Star team in China.[1]
  • July 19: Jayna Hefford was appointed to the position of interim commissioner of the CWHL, replacing inaugural commissioner Brenda Andress, who tendered her resignation.[2]
  • August 3: The Kunlun Red Star franchise was rebranded as the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays as part of integrating the CWHL's two teams in China. Rob Morgan, who served as the head coach of the Vanke Rays during the previous season, was also named as the general manager for the consolidated Chinese team.[3]
  • August 20, 2018: The Boston Blades relocated to Worcester, Massachusetts and rebranded as the Worcester Blades. Home games are scheduled for the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center.[4]

One league movement[]

Starting in March 2018, and throughout the offseason, current and former players took to social media to promote the concept of one unified professional women’s hockey league. Players had utilized the hashtag #OneLeague to indicated their support.[5]

Head coaching and front office personnel changes[]

Head coaches[]

Team 2017–18 head coach 2018–19 replacement Notes
Calgary Inferno Tomas Pacina Shannon Miller Miller was signed by the Calgary Inferno as their head coach on June 23, 2018.[6]
Toronto Furies Jeff Flanagan Courtney Birchard The Toronto Furies signed Birchard as their new head coach on July 31, 2018. In addition, Ken Dufton was named as an advisor to the team.[7]

Front office[]

Team 2017–18 GM 2018–19 replacement Notes
Worcester Blades Jessica Martino Derek Alfama Alfama was named the new general manager of the Boston Blades on August 2, 2018.[8]
Toronto Furies Nicole Latreille Sami Jo Small On June 11, 2018, Small was named general manager of the Toronto Furies.[9]

CWHL draft[]

Main article: 2018 CWHL Draft
Heading into the draft, the league reported that general managers were authorized to "pre-sign" their first and second round selections prior to the draft. The window for pre-signing expired on August 17.[10]

Transactions[]

Signings[]

Player Team Date
Hanna Bunton[10] Kunlun Red Star June 15, 2018
Cayley Mercer[10] Kunlun Red Star June 15, 2018
Emma Woods[10] Kunlun Red Star June 15, 2018
Zoe Hickel [11] Calgary Inferno June 28, 2018
Kacey Bellamy Calgary Inferno July 24, 2018[12]
Brianna Decker Calgary Inferno July 24, 2018
Elaine Chuli[13] Toronto Furies August 1, 2018
Shiann Darkangelo [14] Toronto Furies August 2, 2018

Member Teams[]

Team City Primary Arena
Calgary Inferno Calgary, Alberta Olympic Oval
Kunlun Red Star WIH Shenzhen, China Shenzhen Dayun Arena
Les Canadiennes de Montreal Montreal, Quebec Arena Michel-Normandin
Markham Thunder Markham, Ontario Thornhill Community Centre
Toronto Furies Toronto, Ontario MasterCard Centre
Worcester Blades Worcester, Massachusetts Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center

Standings[]

Pos. Team GP W L OL SL GF GA Pts
1 Calgary Inferno 28 23 4 0 1 111 54 47
2 Canadiennes de Montreal 28 21 6 0 1 118 45 43
3 Markham Thunder 28 13 11 3 1 85 80 30
4 Toronto Furies 28 14 14 0 0 64 77 28
5 Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays 28 13 13 2 0 79 68 28
6 Worcester Blades 28 0 28 0 0 22 155 0



Clarkson Cup Playoffs[]

The league playoffs consist of the top four teams qualifying for the playoffs with the one seed playing the four seed and two playing three in the best-of-three semifinals. The semifinal winners meet in the single game Clarkson Cup Final.

Clarkson Cup semifinals
Best-of-three
Clarkson Cup Championship
      
1 Calgary Inferno 2
4 Toronto Furies 1
4 Calgary Inferno 5
2 Les Canadiennes Montreal 2
2 Les Canadiennes Montreal 2
3 Markham Thunder 1
2019 CWHL champions Calgary Inferno

2019 CWHL Clarkson Cup champions Calgary Inferno

References[]

  1. CWHL TO FEATURE SIX TEAMS IN 2018-19. CWHL (July 16, 2018).
  2. Canadian Press (July 18, 2018). CWHL Commissioner Brenda Andress to Step Down. CWHL. Retrieved on 3 August 2018.
  3. Maura Sun (3 August 2018). Kunlun Red Stars Announce Team Name Change. Canadian Women's Hockey League.
  4. Jessica Rochwerg (20 August 2018). CWHL ANNOUNCES BLADES RELOCATION TO WORCESTER. CWHL.
  5. Stephen Whyno and John Wawrow, The Associated Press (15 March 2018). One women's pro hockey league is the goal, but there's no clear path to get there. The National Post. Retrieved on 3 August 2018.
  6. Tammy Schwass (23 June 2018). The Calgary Inferno Professional Women’s Hockey Team Welcome World-Renowned Coach, Shannon Miller to the Bench. Calgary Inferno.
  7. Kessel New Head Coach, Dufton New Advisor. Toronto Furies (31 July 2018).
  8. Derek Alfama Named General Manger of Boston Blades. CWHL (2 August 2018).
  9. Donna Spencer (11 June 2018). Sami Jo Small named GM of CWHL’s Toronto Furies. Toronto Star.
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Mike Murphy (15 June 2018). Kunlun signs Newell, Carpenter and four others re-sign with China’s CWHL clubs. SB Nation: Ice Garden. Retrieved on 3 August 2018.
  11. Tammy Schwass (28 June 2018). Calgary Inferno sign star free agent forward Zoe Hickel. Calgary Inferno. Retrieved on 3 August 2018.
  12. Marisa Ingemi (24 July 2018). USWNT standouts Brianna Decker and Kacey Bellamy sign with CWHL's Calgary Inferno. ESPN. Retrieved on 3 August 2018.
  13. Press Release (1 August 2018). Toronto Adds Free Agent Goaltender Elaine Chuli. Toronto Furies. Retrieved on 3 August 2018.
  14. Press Release (2 August 2018). Furies Sign Free Agent Shiann Darkangelo. Toronto Furies. Retrieved on 3 August 2018.
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