PWHL Players of the Week: Fillier, Pannek and Schroeder stand out as season winds down
We’re just weeks away from the end of the 2025-26 PWHL regular season, and with teams still finding for one of the four coveted Walter Cup Playoff spots, we’re seeing some elite individual performances.
Here are this week’s Daily Faceoff players of the week.
Sarah Fillier, F (New York Sirens)
Since the PWHL returned from the Olympic break, Sarah Fillier has been arguably one of hockey’s best players. The New York Sirens’ forward has eight goals in her last seven games, including a hat trick last week in a 4-3 overtime win over the Minnesota Frost.
OT-WINNING HAT TRICK GOAL FROM SARAH FILLIER 🚨🚨🚨
Fillier followed up that performance with a late game-tying goal against the Seattle Torrent in their game at Madison Square Garden over the weekend, tearing the roof off a capacity crowd of more than 18,000 people.
The Sirens went on to win the game 2-1 in a shootout, with Fillier also scoring in the shootout. She is now tied for fourth in the PWHL in points with 20, her second consecutive 20-point campaign. It will be difficult to match her 29-point total from 2024-25, but regardless of how many points she ends up with, there’s no doubt the 25-year-old forward will become an even bigger star down the road.
Kelly Pannek, F (Minnesota Frost)
With only a handful of games left, there are five skaters in the PWHL who have hit the 20-point mark: four of them play for the Frost. Yes, the two-time defending Walter Cup champions are producing offense at an extraordinary rate, leading the league with 78 goals and averaging more than three per game (the Montreal Victoire are second with 65).
Leading the way is Kelly Pannek, who scored two goals and added two assists in a 6-5 win over the Vancouver Goldeneyes over the weekend. With the game at 4-4 going into the third period, Pannek scored both her goals in the final frame, helping the Frost avoid disaster against the Goldeneyes.
Don't panic 😏
KELLY PANNEK WITH HER SECOND OF THE DAY!!!!!!!! AND ON THE POWER PLAY!!! MIN: 6 VAN: 4
With her four-point effort, Pannek leads the league with 14 goals and 28 points. She also recorded her seventh power-play goal, tying the PWHL record for a single season.
The 2025-26 season has been a breakout year for the 30-year-old forward, whose point totals in her first two seasons were 16 and 11, respectively. Now she’s among the league’s most productive players and will be a major force for Minnesota in the Walter Cup Playoffs as the team attempts to win their third-straight championship.
Corinne Schroeder, G (Seattle Torrent)
It’s been a difficult inaugural season for the Torrent, who have lost 17 of 24 games and go into next week with a 6-1-3-14 record. The team has given up a league-leading 69 goals through 24 games, an average of nearly 2.9 goals against per game.
However, one of the team’s bright spots has been Corinne Schroeder, whose performance on Saturday against the Sirens at Madison Square Garden was a microcosm for the Torrent’s 2025-26 campaign: a hard-fought effort, stopping 37 of 38 shots and dragging the group to extra time, only to lose in a shootout.
Schroeder was named the third star of the game and now possesses a 4-7-3 record with a .915 save percentage (SV%) and 2.46 goals against average (GAA) in 14 games. While it’s difficult to expect immediate success from an expansion franchise, it must be especially frustrating for Schroeder to go through another losing season, as the Boston University alumnus is coming off back-to-back last-place finishes with the Sirens — despite posting a 930 SV% and .919 SV% in her two respective campaigns.
What the future holds for the Elm Creek, Man., native is anyone’s guess, but in a league full of world-class netminders, sometimes the best ones are stuck in the worst situations.