3 takeaways from this week in the PWHL: Rookie of the Year questions arise
Just like that, we’re into the final stretch of the 2025-26 PWHL season, as several teams take the next week to enter the last third of the schedule.
The latest week brought two disappointments for the Toronto Sceptres: their hopes of advancing to the Walter Cup Playoffs continue to dwindle, and some intriguing attendance boosts are still benefiting from the post-Olympic fever.
Here are Daily Faceoff’s latest takeaways from the most recent week in the PWHL.
PWHL attendance boost highlighted by Sirens
The New York Sirens finally have some momentum. Maybe it’s Kayle Osborne’s goaltending, maybe it’s just better overall results, or maybe it’s the post-Olympic boost after the United States came away with gold. Regardless, the team that is the most important market for PWHL growth, and it is finally showing some… well, growth.
8,246 fans packed into the Prudential Center lower bowl on Sunday as the Sirens defeated the Ottawa Charge 6-2, smashing the record for the highest attendance at a Sirens game since their inaugural Prudential Center contest in April 2024, which drew 5,132.
As other New York-named teams playing in New Jersey have struggled with in the past — notably Major League Soccer’s Red Bull New York and the National Women’s Soccer League’s NY/NJ Gotham – the draw of Newark can be tough. Yet, things are starting to pick up for the Sirens, as they did with Gotham following some competitive success.
The Sirens will break their personal home attendance record on April 4 against the Seattle Torrent, when over 18,000 attend the first PWHL game at Madison Square Garden. While that won’t be a direct comparison, it could draw more people across the Hudson River to the Prudential Center.
How much slack do the Sceptres have?
If anyone ever tells you that points early in the season don’t matter, look at the Toronto Sceptres. If only they had claimed a few more points earlier in the campaign, this week’s overtime loss, which followed Renata Fast’s OT penalty for a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Frost, might not sting as badly.
Picking up a point against a superior Frost team isn’t a terrible result for the Sceptres, but it does not help them much, either. At the same time, it effectively wastes another top-tier goaltending performance by Raygan Kirk, who turned aside 32 of 35 shots, bringing her season save percentage to .919%.
And then there’s Toronto’s special teams — how bad can they get? The loss to Minnesota saw them concede twice on three penalties, dropping the penalty kill to 80%. At the same time, their power play continues to dribble along at 9.3%, despite not getting an opportunity to improve this week.
It all leads to the question, just how much time do the Sceptres have? With 10 games remaining, they sit sixth with 25 points, one more than the Charge in fifth (26 points) and Sirens (27 points), who hold the final playoff spot. Can’t forget about the Vancouver Goldeneyes either, who are six points behind but have three games in hand.
Is Casey O’Brien the Rookie of the Year Favorite?
Through the 2025 portion of the season, it seemed as though the 2025-26 PWHL Rookie of the Year Award was destined for first overall pick, Kristýna Kaltounková. Yet, the Czech forward has slowed down of late, and her penalty total has risen rapidly, reopening the competition in the final third of the season.
Kaltounková served six penalty minutes this week, bringing her total to 39, the most among PWHL players. At the same time, she has gone three games without a point and still has just one assist along with her 12 goals.
Her teammate, Casey O’Brien, should now be seen as the favorite. The former University of Wisconsin captain has enjoyed a well-rounded season and, after posting two assists in a win over Ottawa, has five goals and nine assists through 19 games. Other contenders likely include the Boston Fleet’s Hayley Winn and Ottawa’s Sarah Wozniewicz, but O’Brien looks a step above the rest at this point.