PWHL Awards Led by Spooner, Showcase League Talent – Hockey Writers – PWHL

“What did you guys do with that thing?” Tessa Bonhomme asked PWHL Minnesota members about the Walter Cup during her opening remarks at the PWHL Awards on Tuesday afternoon, June 11, the day after the PWHL draft. He went on to say that the cup had marks that he knew weren't there and it might not come off, but that's okay. There was laughter before they started handing out the awards with Bonhomme as the host.

PWHL Minnesota may have won the Walter Cup, but PWHL Toronto took home a lot of hardware with leading scorer, Natalie Spooner, walking around the event with matching red sticks. We will look at each of the major award winners, and of course, that should start with Spooner as he won the most.

Spooner Take Home 3 Awards

Spooner finished the season with the most goals (20) and points (27) in 24 games, just ahead of teammate Sarah Nurse. He dominated the scene and found ways to score goals left and right. He looked like he did last season until his season was cut short due to injury.

Those stats and his all-around play earned him the Billie Jean King MVP Award, the Player of the Year Award, and eventually a First Team All-Star. Although he has done some good things this season, it will be interesting to see what he can do in the future when he is healthy again.

“I didn't have much time to hang out; It's been quite a whirlwind season but I think when I think back like last year, I would never have thought that I would be in this position, standing here and playing a professional season, winning medals, leading the league in goals and points you know not to mention that I would come back and play after giving birth, how my body would react to that, it was a lot unknown on my journey….” Spooner said about his award win and what it means after the first season.

PWHL Toronto coach Ryan Uyawina

Keeping with the PWHL Toronto theme, behind Spooner, the team's head coach, Troy Ryan, was named Coach of the Year. He led the team all season through a rough start and found it on pace to win many people believed the trophy was theirs if PWHL Minnesota didn't get in the way.

After starting the season 1-4, he found a style that worked for them, and they finished the season 13-7 with four overtime wins. It was a truly remarkable turnaround, earning him Coach of the Year honors.

“I mean, obviously it's an honor and a privilege to be honored, but it's one of those awards that you know is a team award, you know our coaching staff, our support staff have done a great job to put our organization in a good place. position to receive such an award and obviously if your players do well you get some respect for it. It's just exciting to have the opportunity to coach this team,” said coach Ryan about receiving the award.

Montreal's PWHL's Ambrose Welcomed

PWHL Montréal's Erin Ambrose has made it difficult for all opposition teams to score as she is the strongest defender in the league and her Defender of the Year win shows just how talented she is. However, it wasn't just him defensively, he was able to contribute offensively which made him even more valuable.

He scored four goals and assisted 14 others for 18 points in 24 games played. He was also dangerous in power plays as his six assists were when his team was still a player. PWHL Executive Director Brian Burke who is a friend of Ambrose was able to present him with the award.

“I actually sent a message to my cousin at night and to my sister; I've known Brian for many years and I've gotten to know Brian through many different You Can Play activities and Pride parades and what Brian does for our league, what Brian does for us as players and what Brian does. for people in the LGBTQ+ community, I think that means more to me than any award, anything like this for Brian to say and when he said it meant a lot to him I was a little bit happy that maybe he was going to go. to say my name so it was an honor…” Ambrose said of Burke presenting the award.

PWHL Toronto Wins Again

While Spooner took most of the attention, Kristen “Soupy,” Campbell won the Goal of the Year Award in a very tight race. He had 16 wins with three shutouts and just six losses with a .927 save percentage and in 22 games played he allowed just 43 goals against.

He stuck through the tough parts of the season and held his head high. This includes the postseason where he made impressive stops in the first round and continued to push until the end.

“I mean it's an honor to win this award, there are a lot of good goalkeepers in this league and I think that was shown throughout the year in all the low-scoring games and all the goalkeeper battles there were. “I'm very grateful and I'm grateful to all my colleagues in Toronto who also made this happen,” said Campbell about what it means to win this prestigious award.

PWHL Minnesota Hits Rookie

Grace Zumwinkle has been slowly making a name for herself throughout the season and it started when she scored the first hat trick in the PWHL which was also the first home game for PWHL Minnesota this season. He continued to score goals and hit big shots throughout the season which earned him the attention of being nominated and winning Rookie of the Year.

He scored a team-leading 19 points, including 11 goals and eight assists, in 24 games played. He also worked to contribute defensively, including blocking as many shots as possible.

“You look back at the season as a whole, and you go into it, you're like what you would expect, I mean, you hear all these good things, and it's like I'm going to play in it. when the real thing happened, and as a team, we started on a strong note and then came back after the international break and hit a tough seven-game stretch and I think going into the play-offs made us a lot stronger. and we bonded as a team and that helped us in the end,” said Zumwinkle when commenting on last season.

PWHL's Murphy of Montreal Recognized

The final award on this list involves community involvement and is titled the Hockey For All Award presented by Scotiabank and awarded to Maureen Murphy of PWHL Montreal who seems to be doing it all despite having little time outside of her current country. He is in law school, volunteers and has played a full season of professional hockey which includes training and practice.

According to the PWHL in their introductory speech for Murphy, he studied nearly 600 hours this semester for his law degree and committed 200 hours to volunteer work. Her volunteer work was spent with her dog, Bean, going to Geriatric hospitals and visiting long-term patients there, something that touched the hearts of many, including me. He is a true selfless person, and the hockey world could use more players like him.

Related: 2024 PWHL Montreal Draft Results and Long Anticipated Signings

In fact, it's not really bad; we have a good schedule in Montreal we practice from 8-1 or 2, then I come home, grab Bean, we'll go to the hospital anywhere from an hour, and a half to two hours, depending on how long bingo is that day and then I have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays sometimes depending per semester on Tuesday or Thursday but those classes are from 5:30-8:30, and the program is designed for full-time professionals so that everyone. the rest of my schedule is 9-5, so I think they're pretty tough, they work 9-5 and come to Zoom at 5:30 to go to 3 hours of class and a lot of them have families. with young children so I don't really know how they are doing,” said Murphy about his busy schedule.

The PWHL is Full of Great Players

If you look at these awards, you will see that every player nominated deserves to say a lot about the talent of this league. Of course, Spooner is on everyone's mind, but seeing all the other names, it's nice to see the talent spread across the teams and teams competing. Each player spoke highly of their team, helping them win the award over their individual efforts. This is the first season. It will be interesting to see where this league goes and who will win these awards next season.