The Connecticut Whale are a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

team based in the

Premier Hockey Federation The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and h ...

(PHF). They play in

Simsbury, Connecticut Simsbury is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 24,517 at the 2020 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's 21st town in May 1670. History Early history At the beginning of the 17th century, th ...

at the International Skating Center of Connecticut. The team was established in 2015 as one of the four charter franchises of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL; renamed PHF in 2021). Their name and colors pay homage to the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 until 1978–79 WHA season, 1979, and in the ...

, a former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

and WHA franchise based in Connecticut.

History

For their first season, the Whale played home games in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2 ...

at Chelsea Piers. Chris Ardito was hired as the first general manager in franchise history, while Jake Mastel and Lisa Giovanelli coached the team. The team is the second professional hockey team to bear the Connecticut Whale name, following the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

team previously and currently known as the

Hartford Wolf Pack The Hartford Wolf Pack are a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the American Hockey League (AHL), they play their home games at the XL Center. The team was established in 1926 as the Providence Reds. After a ...

. Among their off-season acquisitions, the Whale signed

Kaleigh Fratkin Kaleigh Fratkin (born March 24, 1992) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player with the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). The third-longest tenured player and leading scorer among defenders in PHF history, she was the first Cana ...

to a contract on July 1, 2015. She was the first Canadian player to sign a contract in the NWHL. The team made its debut in the 2015–16 season.

Jessica Koizumi Jessica "Jess" Koizumi (Ka-Zoo-Me) (born April 15, 1985) is an American ice hockey coach and player, currently serving as the associate head coach of the Vermont Catamounts women's ice hockey program. She won a gold medal as a member of the Un ...

was named first team captain in franchise history. The first game in NWHL history was a sell out on October 11, 2015 between the New York Riveters and Connecticut Whale. The Whale prevailed by a 4–1 tally as

scored the first goal in both franchise and NWHL history. In the same game, Kelli Stack had one goal and two assists, becoming the first player to record a multi-point performance. Whale goaltender Jaimie Leonoff was credited the win, capturing the game's First Star. Stack was recognized as the Second Star, and

Kelly Babstock Kelly Babstock (born August 4, 1992) is a Canadian-American ice hockey player who currently plays with the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She has Ojibwe roots and is originally from Little Current on Manitoulin Is ...

, who became the first Canadian-born player to score a goal in an NWHL regular season game, was acknowledged as the Third Star. The Whale won their first three games in franchise history with three different goalies. In the first game, the Whale prevailed with Jaimie Leonoff, while former Quinnipiac goaltender Chelsea Laden captured the second win, and Nicole Stock played her first game in over five years to capture the third win on the road against the New York Riveters. Prior to the team's second season, the Whale moved to the

Northford Ice Pavilion Northford Ice Pavilion is an American ice skating complex, located in the Northford area of North Branford, Connecticut. It hosts a number of high school ice hockey teams. The arena formerly hosted the Connecticut Whale of the Premier Hockey Fed ...

in Northford, Connecticut. This lasted one season as the Whale moved to the Terry Conners Ice Rink at Cove Island Park in

, for the 2017–18 season. On August 20, 2018, the Whale named active player Cydney Roesler an assistant coach for the 2018–19 season making her the first player-coach in franchise history. After two seasons at Terry Conners Ice Rink, the Whale moved again to the larger Danbury Ice Arena in Danbury, Connecticut. Former NHL enforcer

Colton Orr Colton "Bobby" Douglas Orr (born March 3, 1982) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Having played nearly 500 games in the NHL, Orr was known as an enforcer for his physical style of play and for regularly fighting. In 2019, he ...

was named as head coach for the 2019–20 season. The team was eliminated in the semifinal game by the

Boston Pride The Boston Pride are a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL; 2015–2021). ...

, the eventual league titlist, prior to the championship being cancelled by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. 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 Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,303. The village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba, southwest of Plattsbur ...

, without fans in attendance and teams kept in isolation. However, the Metropolitan Riveters were forced to withdraw from the two-week season on January 28 after several members of the organization tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

. The schedule was then adjusted to have the top three teams at the time play a

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Me ...

to determine playoff seeding with the Whale as the second seed. Connecticut then lost to the expansion

Toronto Six The Toronto Six is a professional women's ice hockey team based in Toronto playing out of Canlan Ice Sports – York. They are one of two Canadian teams in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) (formerly known as the National Women's Hockey Leag ...

0–6 on January 31. The next day, the team forfeited their final game to the

Minnesota Whitecaps The Minnesota Whitecaps are a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF; formerly known as the National Women's Hockey League). They play in Richfield, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, at ...

and withdrew from the playoffs citing concerns with increased positive cases within the bubble and protecting their players from the virus. Two days later, the league suspended the season before the playoffs could commence due to several more positive tests throughout the league. The league then re-scheduled the playoffs to be held at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, Massachusetts, with the Whale re-entered as the third seed to face the Minnesota Whitecaps, who they would have faced regardless of the outcome of the game the Whale withdrew from in Lake Placid, in a semifinal game. The Whale then lost to the Whitecaps 7–0 in the semifinal game. On May 10, 2021, the league announced it had sold the Whale to a new independent ownership group called Shared Hockey Enterprises (SHE), LLC, led by Tobin Kelly, reducing the league operated teams to three.

Season-by-season records

Team

Current roster

Coaching staff and team personnel * Head coach:

* Assistant coach: Jeff Devenney * Assistant coach:

Sue Merz Suzanne Rose Merz (born April 10, 1972) is an American ice hockey player. She won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games a ...

* Consulting coach: Jack Han * Athletic trainer: Hailey Rock

Team captains

, 2015–16 *

Molly Engstrom Molly Marie Engstrom (born March 1, 1983) is an American retired ice hockey player and the cuurent head coach of the Maine Black Bears women's ice hockey program in the Hockey East (HEA) conference of the NCAA Division I. During her playing ca ...

, 2016 * Kelli Stack, 2017 * Sam Faber, 2017–18 *

Emily Fluke Emily Fluke is an American ice hockey forward, currently playing for the Connecticut Whale of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). A two-time PHF All-Star, she formerly served as captain of the Connecticut Whale and is currently the 9th leading ...

, 2018–19 * Shannon Turner, 2019–present

Alternate captains

, 2015–16 * Kelli Stack, 2016 *

, 2016–17 * Juana Baribeau, 2017–2019 * Shannon Turner, 2017–2019 * Jordan Brickner, 2019–20 *

Elena Orlando Elena Orlando (born June 15, 1992) is an American ice hockey defenseman. She most recently played in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) with the Buffalo Beauts during the 2021–22 season. Having played in the PHF since its inaugural 2015–1 ...

, 2019–2021 * Emma Vlasic, 2020–present * Janine Weber, 2020–present * Kaycie Anderson, 2021–22 * Alyssa Wohlfeiler, 2021–present * Kennedy Marchment, 2022–present

Head coaches

* Jake Mastel, 2015 * Heather Linstad, 2015–2017 * Ryan Equale, 2018–2019 * Colton Orr, 2019–present

General managers

* Chris Ardito, 2015–2016 * Lisa Giovanelli, 2016–2017 *

Bray Ketchum Bray Ketchum (born March 18, 1989) is an American former ice hockey player and executive. She played for the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) and the Boston Blades of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), winning ...

, 2019–2020 * Amy Scheer, 2020–21 * Alexis Moed, 2021–present

Draft history

Hannah Brandt from the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey program became the first player in franchise history to be selected in the inaugural 2015 NWHL Draft. Michelle Picard was the first defenseman selected in NWHL Draft history.

2015 NWHL Draft

The following were the Whale's selections in the 2015 NWHL Draft on June 20, 2015.

2016 NWHL Draft

The following were the Whale's selections in the

2016 NWHL Draft Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film di ...

on June 18, 2016.

2017 NWHL Draft

The following were the Whale's selections in the 2017 NWHL Draft on August 17, 2017.

2018 NWHL Draft

The following were the Whale's selections in the

2018 NWHL Draft The 2018 NWHL Draft took place on the 19th and 20 December 2018, the first and only draft in NWHL history to happen while the season was underway. The expansion Minnesota Whitecaps would take part in the draft for the first time. A total of 30 p ...

on December 19 and 20, 2018.

2020 NWHL Draft

The following were the Whale's selections in the

2020 NWHL Draft The 2020 NWHL Draft took place on April 28–29, 2020. The Boston Pride selected Sammy Davis with the 1st overall pick, having made a trade with the yet unnamed Toronto expansion team. Davis becomes the third Terriers hockey player to go first o ...

on April 28 and 29, 2020. Connecticut held the Metropolitan Riveters fifth round pick (27th overall), as the future considerations from the trade of Maria Sorokina to the Riveters in 2019.

2021 NWHL Draft

The following were the Whale's selections in the

2021 NWHL Draft The 2021 NWHL Draft took place on June 29, 2021. With the first pick in the draft, the Connecticut Whale selected Taylor Girard from the Quinnipiac Bobcats. Player selections A total of 30 players were drafted, of which 20 were American, seven we ...

on June 29, 2021.

Franchise milestones and statistics leaders

As of the 2016-17 season:

Awards and honors

Grace Kleinbach Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

, 2021 Foundation Award

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Connecticut Whale Connecticut Whale (PHF) Ice hockey teams in Connecticut Ice hockey clubs established in 2015 Women's ice hockey teams in the United States Premier Hockey Federation teams 2015 establishments in Connecticut