2017–18 CWHL Season
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The 2017–18 CWHL season is the 11th season of the
Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; ) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's Senior ice hockey, senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league expanded into Alberta (2011) and ...
. This is also the first season in which the teams pay their players a salary. It would also prove to be the final full season in which
Brenda Andress Brenda Andress was the first Commissioner for the Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; ) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's Senior ice hockey, senior league in the Gre ...
served as commissioner of the league, tendering her resignation on July 18, 2019.


Offseason

On June 5, 2017, the league revealed at the
Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...
that it would expand into China with the Kunlun Red Star WIH, a women's team associated with the
Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...
's Kunlun Red Star men's team. The recent expansions into China is aimed for developing their ice hockey teams for when Beijing hosts the
2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...
. Prior to the official announcement of the team joining the CWHL,
Noora Räty Noora Helena Räty (born 29 May 1989) is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and the goaltending coach of Shenzhen KRS in the Chinese Women's Ice Hockey League. She was a founding board member of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association ...
and American forward
Kelli Stack Kelli Allison Stack (born January 13, 1988) is an American former ice hockey forward, who played for Kunlun Red Star in the Canadian Women's Hockey League. She is a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team. Stack competed ...
were at the announcement at the Hockey Hall of Fame wearing Red Star jerseys. The league soon added a second Chinese team in the Vanke Rays. On July 11, 2017, it was announced that the Brampton Thunder, a founding franchise of the CWHL and the league's first champions, would be moving east to the Markham community of Thornhill, Ontatio. The move was announced with a press conference at their new arena with commissioner Brenda Andress, Mayor Frank Scarpitti, CWHL Director and esteemed Thunder alumni Vicky Sunohara, interim General Manager Chelsea Purcell (later named GM in August), and many Thunder players present. On September 1, the league announced that it would begin having salaries for their players for the first time. Each player is set to make a minimum of $2,000 per season and a maximum of $10,000 with a team salary cap of $100,000. At the time of the announcement, it made the league the second fully professional women's hockey league in North America after the launch of the rival
National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...
in the United States in 2015.


Head coaching and front office personnel changes


Head coaches


Front office


CWHL Draft

The 2017 CWHL Draft marked the first time that the Draft involved the Kunlun Red Star WIH and Vanke Rays.
Courtney Turner Courtney Turner (born June 17, 1994) is a women's ice hockey player. She played college ice hockey at Union Garnet Chargers women's ice hockey, Union College and amassed 28 career points while with the program. She was selected first overall in ...
was selected with the first overall pick in the draft, claimed by the Boston Blades, becoming the first American-born player to be selected with the top pick.


News and notes

*December 13, 2017: Erin Ambrose was traded from the Toronto Furies to les Canadiennes de Montreal. Ambrose did not play any games with the Furies this season as she had been centralized with the Canadian National Women's Team. In return, Toronto received Montreal's 2018 first and third round picks, a 2019 first round pick, and a 2020 third round pick. *January 10, 2018: Megan Bozek signed as a free agent with the Markham Thunder. *January 15, 2018: Alex Carpenter joined the Kunlun Red Star. KRS drafted her, but she had not played up until this date because she was centralized with the USNWT. *March 8, 2018: Hilary Knight signed as a free agent with Les Canadiennes de Montreal, joining the team for the 2018 Clarkson Cup playoffs. *March 20, 2018: Prior to the 2018 Clarkson Cup finals, Cassie Campbell-Pascall resigned from her role as a CWHL Governor.


Regular season


Standings


Clarkson Cup playoffs

Laura Stacey would score against Noora Raty of the Kunlun Red Star with 2:11 left in the 4-on-4 overtime, as Markham prevailed by a 2–1 score for its first Clarkson Cup win.


Awards and honors


Regular season

*Chairman's Trophy: Les Canadiennes de Montreal


Postseason awards

* 2018 Clarkson Cup Playoff MVP:
Erica Howe Erica Howe (born July 17, 1992) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. As a member of the gold medal winning squad at the 2010 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, a hockey card of her was featured in the Upper Deck 2010 World o ...
*First Star of the Game: Laura Stacey *Second Star of the Game: Nicole Brown *Third Star of the Game: Kelli Stack


CWHL Awards


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 CWHL season Canadian Women's Hockey League seasons 1