2018–19 CWHL season

2018–19 CWHL season
League Canadian Women's Hockey League
Sport Ice hockey
Regular season
Clarkson Cup

The 2018–19 CWHL season is the 12th season of the Canadian Women's Hockey League.

Offseason

  • July 16: The CWHL contracted the Vanke Rays' membership after one season to focus solely on the Kunlun Red Star team in China.[1]
  • July 19: Jayna Hefford was appointed to the position of interim commissioner of the CWHL, replacing inaugural commissioner Brenda Andress, who tendered her resignation.[2]
  • August 3: The Kunlun Red Star franchise was rebranded as the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays as part of integrating the CWHL's two teams in China. Rob Morgan, who served as the head coach of the Vanke Rays during the previous season, was also named as the general manager for the consolidated Chinese team.[3]
  • August 20, 2018: The Boston Blades relocated to Worcester, Massachusetts and rebranded as the Worcester Blades. Home games are scheduled for the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center.[4]

One league movement

Starting in March 2018, and throughout the offseason, current and former players took to social media to promote the concept of one unified professional women's hockey league. Players had utilized the hashtag #OneLeague to indicated their support.[5]

Head coaching and front office personnel changes

Head coaches

Team 2017–18 head coach 2018–19 replacement Notes
Calgary Inferno Tomas Pacina Shannon Miller Miller was signed by the Inferno as their head coach on June 23, 2018.[6]
Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays Digit Murphy Bob Deraney Murphy left the team in May 2018 after leading Kunlun Red Star to the 2018 Clarkson Cup championship game. Deraney was signed by KRS as head coach on June 12, 2018, after several year as head coach of the Providence Friars women's ice hockey team.[7]
Toronto Furies Jeff Flanagan Courtney Birchard The Furies signed Birchard as their new head coach on July 31, 2018. In addition, Ken Dufton was named as an advisor to the team.[8]

Front office

Team 2017–18 GM 2018–19 replacement Notes
Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays Rob Morgan Morgan coached the previous season with the Vanke Rays and was named general manager of the consolidated and rebranded China-based team.[3]
Toronto Furies Nicole Latreille Sami Jo Small On June 11, 2018, Small was named general manager of the Toronto Furies.[9]
Worcester Blades Jessica Martino Derek Alfama Alfama was named the new general manager of the Boston Blades on August 2, 2018.[10]

CWHL draft

Heading into the draft, the league reported that general managers were authorized to "pre-sign" their first and second round selections prior to the draft. The window for pre-signing expired on August 17.[11]

Transactions

Signings

Player Team Date
Hanna Bunton[11]Kunlun Red StarJune 15, 2018
Cayley Mercer[11]Kunlun Red StarJune 15, 2018
Emma Woods[11]Kunlun Red StarJune 15, 2018
Zoe Hickel[12]Calgary InfernoJune 28, 2018
Kacey BellamyCalgary InfernoJuly 24, 2018[13]
Brianna DeckerCalgary InfernoJuly 24, 2018
Elaine Chuli[14]Toronto FuriesAugust 1, 2018
Shiann Darkangelo[15]Toronto FuriesAugust 2, 2018

References

  1. ↑ "CWHL TO FEATURE SIX TEAMS IN 2018-19". CWHL. July 16, 2018.
  2. ↑ Canadian Press (July 18, 2018). "CWHL Commissioner Brenda Andress to Step Down". CWHL. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  3. 1 2 Maura Sun (3 August 2018). "Kunlun Red Stars Announce Team Name Change". Canadian Women's Hockey League. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  4. ↑ Jessica Rochwerg (20 August 2018). "CWHL ANNOUNCES BLADES RELOCATION TO WORCESTER". CWHL. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Stephen Whyno and John Wawrow, The Associated Press (15 March 2018). "One women's pro hockey league is the goal, but there's no clear path to get there". The National Post. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  6. ↑ Tammy Schwass (23 June 2018). "The Calgary Inferno Professional Women's Hockey Team Welcome World-Renowned Coach, Shannon Miller to the Bench". Calgary Inferno. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "Bob Deraney named head coach of Kunlun Red Stars". TheIceGarden.com. 12 June 2018.
  8. ↑ "Kessel New Head Coach, Dufton New Advisor". Toronto Furies. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  9. ↑ Donna Spencer (11 June 2018). "Sami Jo Small named GM of CWHL's Toronto Furies". Toronto Star. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  10. ↑ "Derek Alfama Named General Manger of Boston Blades". CWHL. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Mike Murphy (15 June 2018). "Kunlun signs Newell, Carpenter and four others re-sign with China's CWHL clubs". SB Nation: Ice Garden. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  12. ↑ Tammy Schwass (28 June 2018). "Calgary Inferno sign star free agent forward Zoe Hickel". Calgary Inferno. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  13. ↑ Marisa Ingemi (24 July 2018). "USWNT standouts Brianna Decker and Kacey Bellamy sign with CWHL's Calgary Inferno". ESPN. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  14. ↑ Press Release (1 August 2018). "Toronto Adds Free Agent Goaltender Elaine Chuli". Toronto Furies. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  15. ↑ Press Release (2 August 2018). "Furies Sign Free Agent Shiann Darkangelo". Toronto Furies. Retrieved 3 August 2018.


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