The Selections
The NWHL announced their full All-Star game rosters this past week. Six Riveters are slated to attend the All-Star Weekend. This list includes starting goalie Sam Walther and captain Madison Packer.
Beginning with a fan-voted trio, top defender Rebecca Morse and former Riveter Audra Richards were announced. The third player voted in by fans was Boston Pride’s, Lexi Bender.
From there, team captains Madison Packer and Jillian Dempsey were tasked with drafting their team from a league-crafted list of players. Each team was allowed two goalies and as a shock to no one, Dempsey went first and took her own team’s undefeated goaltender, Lovisa Selander.
Packer went with Amanda Leveille from the Whitecaps before adding Riveters’ starting goalie Sam Walther. Dempsey also selected Beauts goaltender Mariah Fujimagari. Then they moved on to forwards.
Packer wasted no time recruiting Kendall Cornine and Kate Leary who have a combined 38 points this season. The remaining two Riveters were taken by Dempsey and are the only two defenders taken from the Riveters. These being Rebecca Morse and Kiira Dosdall, who have kept the Riveters blue-line afloat until the late-season arrival of Ashley Johnston.
While I think Cailey Hutchison would be one more Riveter worthy of making a roster, there are only 32 spots. In total, eight players were chosen from the Pride, seven from the Whitecaps, six from both the Beauts and the Riveters, and five from the Whale. This followed the current standings accurately with Boston being in first, and the Whale in last.
Structure and How To Watch
The All-Star game and NWHL Skills Competition will be held on the weekend of February 8th at Warrior Ice Arena in Boston. Both events will be streamed on the NWHL Twitch channel.
The game will consist of two 25-minutes halves. And the NWHL is offering a chance to watch the game from the penalty box. It is unclear what events will be part of the Skill Competition portion, as it has changed over the years. The previous competitions have included ‘Best Trick Shot,’ and ‘Goalie Speed Skating,’ among other events like passing and accuracy challenges.
It has also been reported that players will receive a bonus for attending the event.
Current Events
In the meantime, the Riveters will face the Whale and the Pride twice each before the All-Star break. The NWHL also announced a new feature to their Twitch streaming deal, in “NWHL Open Ice.” This is described as a weekly streamed interactive talk show hosted by GamerDoc, exclusively for the league. Madison Packer will be among the first round of guests.