What’s at stake on the final day of the PWHL season?
Just one day of action remains in the 2025-26 PWHL regular season. While spots in the Walter Cup Playoffs are locked up, there’s still a lot to be played for, as all eight teams are in action on Saturday.
While teams have had five months to grind through the league’s third campaign, there are still some things to be decided, as every game has meaning.
Let’s look at the storylines heading into Saturday’s action.
Battle of Ontario…Battle for Fourth
For the third year in a row, the Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres will face off on the final day of the regular season. Every single time, the game has had meaning, mostly for the Ottawa Charge. In 2024, Ottawa needed a regulation win to advance to the playoffs – they failed. Last year, the Charge simply needed to win in any fashion to earn a postseason berth – they succeeded.
This season? Both teams are playing for their playoff lives. This time, it’s the Sceptres who need to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
It’s certainly an unfamiliar position for Toronto, as the team finished in the top two in the PWHL standings in each of its first two seasons. However, the Sceptres saw significant changeover last offseason, losing players like Sarah Nurse, Kristen Campbell and Julia Gosling. While Daryl Watts, Renata Fast and captain Blayre Turnbull remained, the team struggled to score, leading to Toronto chasing a playoff spot for much of the year.
Few believed the Charge would be back in postseason contention. Even though they made it to the final last year, the team was dismantled during the offseason, losing big names like Emerance Maschmeyer, Tereza Vanisova and Jincy Roese. Yet, Gwyneth Philips played at a Goaltender of the Year level, with captain Brianne Jenner finding a rhythm, and former Sceptre Rebecca Leslie having a coming-out party. Ottawa has also been dealing with adversity all season long, as head coach Carla MacLeod has missed time this year while receiving breast cancer treatment.
After beating the Boston Fleet in overtime on Wednesday, the Charge expanded its cushion from the Sceptres for the fourth and final playoff spot. Ottawa will head into Saturday with a three-point lead on its provincial rival. With Toronto already having 10 regulation wins to the Charge’s nine, another win in 60 minutes for the Sceptres means they nab fourth place and a third consecutive trip to the playoffs.
The Sceptres are 2-1-1 against the Charge, though Ottawa scored a win over Toronto less than two weeks ago.
Who finishes in first?
The regular season championship will be determined on the final day. Ever since the league returned from the Olympic break, the two best teams in the league have been the Montreal Victoire and Boston Fleet.
While there was a lot of changeover with both teams following the expansion process this past summer, the Victoire and Fleet managed to prove that they can be the standard in the PWHL. Boston, which narrowly missed out on the playoffs last year, bounced back in a huge way with an incredible season. Led by MVP candidate goaltender Aerin Frankel, along with captain Megan Keller and star rookie Haley Winn, the team has hung near the top of the standings for just about the entire season, becoming the fastest team in league history to clinch a postseason position, ensuring their best finish in the regular season in its young history.
The Victoire have been the best team in the PWHL, tying the Fleet for the earliest playoff berth earlier this month. The team set a new record for consecutive games with a point, surpassing the Sceptres’ record of 11 games set during the league’s first campaign, picking up points in 16 straight games before losing to the Vancouver Goldeneyes in regulation on Tuesday.
What makes Montreal’s impressive run so surprising is that the team has done it mostly without captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who has been on long-term injured reserve since mid-March, having played just three games since the league-wide pause in February.
The perks of finishing first place in the PWHL not only give the team home-ice advantage throughout the postseason, but also the ability to choose who they want to play in the semifinals. Montreal won that right last year, but, just like the Sceptres in the inaugural season, the plan backfired. The Victoire chose to play the Charge, but lost the opening round in four games. Toronto fell to the eventual champion Minnesota Frost in five games in 2024.
Heading into Saturday, the Victoire sits one point ahead of the Fleet. Montreal secures first place with a win of any kind against the Seattle Torrent, while Boston must beat the New York Sirens in regulation if the Victoire loses in extra time. If Montreal loses in regulation, the Fleet can clinch first with a win of any kind.
Who’s picking No. 1?
There are three teams that have been eliminated from playoff contention – Seattle, Vancouver, and New York – and have been placed into the Gold Plan, with the trio fighting for the best positions in the upcoming PWHL Draft. The Torrent and Goldeneyes each have had at least one game to garner draft-order points, with Seattle playing two since being eliminated.
The Goldeneyes put them in a great position to nab the first-overall pick, coming away with a surprising regulation win over the Victoire on Tuesday. However, the Torrent picked up a regulation win of their own against the Minnesota Frost on Wednesday, giving Seattle four draft-order points. That means a Seattle win over Montreal in any fashion secures the first-overall pick. If they lose in extra time, Vancouver has to beat Minnesota in regulation. The Goldeneyes could “win” the Gold Plan with an overtime or shootout victory if the Torrent loses in regulation.
The Sirens won’t be able to win the No. 1 pick for the third year in a row, as they will be settling for the No. 3 pick.
Schedule
New York Sirens at Boston Fleet – 12 p.m. ET
Toronto Sceptres at Ottawa Charge – 2 p.m. ET
Minnesota Frost at Vancouver Goldeneyes – 7 p.m. ET
Montreal Victoire at Seattle Torrent – 10 p.m. ET