PWHL New York Sirens' trajectory points up with addition of rookie star Sarah Fillier and new home

 

[November 27, 2024]  By JOHN WAWROW

Soon after the final refrains of Frank Sinatra’s iconic “New York, New York” finished playing over the loudspeakers to signify New York's preseason 5-2 victory over Toronto, Sarah Fillier took a seat at the podium to go over her three-goal outing.

Perhaps this was a glimpse of what’s to come from the rookie No. 1 draft pick for her nomadic, win-starved Sirens team that opens its second PWHL season at the defending champion Minnesota Frost on Sunday.

“I’m pretty happy with how the game went,” Fillier said last week, following a game in which the 24-year-old capped a hockey cycle of sorts by scoring a shorthanded, power-play and even-strength goal. “Every game I’m trying to be dangerous in the offensive zone, so it’s nice for our line to get a few.”

That’s the expectation going forward for a player dubbed a generational talent and a three-time Patty Kazmaier college player of the year finalist at Princeton. She scored eight goals in her Olympic debut as part of Canada’s gold medal-winning team in 2022, and is a three-time world champion.

“It’s a lot more fun to be on the same line than against her,” U.S. national team veteran and Sirens star Alex Carpenter said of her new linemate. “I think from the first day we had camp, we were firing on all cylinders. And I think that’s something that we wanted last year.”

Those little town blues and vagabond shoes — New York split its home games at three venues across three states — might be a lament of the past for the Sirens following a nearly forgettable first season. After a 4-0 win over Toronto in the PWHL's inaugural game, New York won only four more in regulation, allowed a league-worst 67 goals and scored a league-low 31 even-strength goals in 24 outings.

Fillier is up for the challenge and stepping into the spotlight of a crowded Big Apple sports landscape.

“They might have finished last, but I thought I kind of won the lottery,” Fillier said. “I think they have a really great foundation. And I think there’s a lot of motivation from where they finished last. And I’m excited to slide right into that.”

Fillier represents but one piece of what stands as a fresh start in New York. The team has a new coach, with Colgate’s Greg Fargo replacing Howie Draper. And aside from having a nickname as all PWHL teams now do, the Sirens finally have a permanent home at the NHL Devils’ Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, after also playing in Bridgeport, Connecticut and at the NHL Islanders’ UBS Arena.

The Sirens draft class also brought in Swedish blue-liner Maja Nylen Persson and Finnish forward Noora Tulus, who made the jump from Sweden’s pro women’s league, and are fixtures on their respective national teams.

Switzerland's Stefanie Wetli (18) and Canada's Sarah Fillier (10) battle for the puck during a women's semifinal hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

“Lots of changes and I think for the better,” defenseman Ella Shelton said. “And now all those things that were at the forefront of our brains last year maybe take a backseat, and we can just kind of focus on hockey at this point and come together as a team.”

Shelton led PWHL defensemen with seven goals and ranked fifth overall with 21 points. Carpenter led the league with 15 assists, and finished tied for second with 23 points. The drop-off in production was dramatic, with Jessie Eldridge (seven goals, seven assists) New York's only other player to crack the top 20 in points.

In goal, Corinne Schroeder finished second in the league with .930 save-percentage, but eighth with 2.40 goals-against average in facing a league-high 34 shots per outing.

The PWHL did New York few favors in the fast-paced six-month ramp up to start its inaugural season.

With most players living near the team’s practice facility in Stamford, Connecticut, many home games represented road trips with players driving 50 or more miles to get to UBS or Prudential. The lack of a home base affected attendance, with New York drawing a league-low 29,952 fans over 12 home games.

The team also relocated its practice facility to New Jersey, eight miles from Prudential.

The proximity of both locations has the Sirens reaching out to the region’s youth hockey programs to begin developing grassroots support. The moves also eased travel headaches including getting to the airport for road trips as the Sirens discovered in traveling to Toronto for a three-day camp last week.

“We just got to the airport to get here and it took everybody like 25 minutes on their own,” general manager Pascal Daoust said, before adding, “and up we go.”

He laughed when asked if he might also be referring to the Sirens’ trajectory.

“Why not?” Daoust said. “We can only go higher now.”

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