Sirens Stirring Up A Winning Formula This Season

In any team sport, the stars will shine, the warriors will battle in the trenches and the unsung heroes will come out of seemingly nowhere to rise up and conquer the moment.

It's the fundamental groundwork of a team effort, where over the course of a season all the ingredients for success are mixed together to create something very special.

Although only five games into the second season of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), it has become very clear that the New York Sirens are stirring up just that type of winning formula and generating plenty of positivity among both the athletes and their fans.

Just how positive is their collective showing? Take a look at the early season PWHL League Leaders.

Points? Top linemates Alex Carpenter (4 goals/3 assists) and Sarah Fillier (2 goals/5 assists) headline that category with seven apiece. Goals? Carpenter leads the way with four. Assists? Fillier is tied for second with five. Goalie wins? Corinne Schroeder is tied for first with three. Save percentage? Schroeder is second with a 0.919. Goals against average? Schroeder is among the top five with a 2.51.

Speaking of Schroeder, the Quinnipiac University alum started the first four games for the Sirens. Then, in the fifth game, Abigail Levy and Kayle Osborne shared the goaltending responsibilities.

Carpenter's role cannot be overstated as she has recorded a point in all five games and is one of three players in the PWHL to carry a season-opening point streak.
During the inaugural PWHL season, she was one of five players who recorded a six-game point streak along with Ottawa’s Emily Clark and Kateřina Mrázová, and Toronto’s Natalie Spooner and Blayre Turnbull.

The PWHL leaderboard shows an incredibly strong Sirens' presence that exemplifies this team's abilities and skill level with just one-sixth of the regular season in the books.

Winning At The Dots

But what about a deeper dive into the Sirens' productive work ethic? That's even more remarkable.

Six Sirens' players -- Carpenter (61), Abby Roque (45), Gabby Rosenthal (27), Noora Tulus (13), Jade Downie-Landry (11) and Fillier (10) -- have accounted for a solid 167 faceoff wins already this season.

A key component to maintaining possession is taking control when the ref drops the puck inside the circles, and the Sirens have been successful in a majority of those showdowns.

Then there's the all-important shots on goal. Scores cannot happen if the puck is not heading toward the net.

Again, the Sirens' balance is very noteable with eight players -- Allyson Simpson (19), Carpenter and Fillier (14), Elizabeth Giguere and Roque (12), Jessie Eldridge (11) and Micah Zandee-Hart (10) producing double-digit efforts in that statistic.

Regardless of the score at the end of a particular period, the Sirens retake the ice with laser focus and a keen determination to win puck battles, excel on the forecheck, pass with precision, be aggressive in all three zones and disrupt opponents with good stickwork, poke checking, grit and physicality.

They're Checking In

In terms of that physicality, the Sirens force their opponents to keep their heads on a swivel.

Powering the charge for New York with solid and timely hits are Simpson (9) and Roque (7). However, it hardly stops there as the solid checking includes five hits apiece from Jaime Bourbonnais, Emmy Fecteau, Brooke Hobson, Paetyn Levis and Jade Downie-Landry.

On the ice the most when the lamp is lit? That would be Carpenter and Rosenthal (plus 4), Fillier (plus 3), Giguere (plus 2) and Elle Hartje (plus 1).through the five games.

Not a stat that impresses some but it's one more indication of the overall workhorse mentality of this Sirens squad. Side note: Hartje logged her first two points (both assists) in a solid performance on Sunday.

The last-place PWHL New York team of the 2023-24 inaugural season already seems like a distant memory. Those at The Prudential Center in Newark for the first two home games against Toronto and Minnesota have witnessed a 2024-25 edition that never gives up and is a picture of perseverance.

When New York's new name and logo were introduced several months ago, few could have imagined the degree to which the Sirens would absolutely relate to that identity with loud volume, onrushing, power-through-the-traffic hockey.

Toughness? Check. Tenacity? Check. Eye of the tiger? Check and checkmate.

Last year a disjointed system on the ice and a resultant friction off the ice led to disappointment on the scoreboard and in the standings. This year, there is structure, purpose and a definite buy-in to a game plan centered around giving 100 percent at all times and performing at their best on every shift.

Head Of The Class

From last season's returnees to this season's draft class (Fillier, Maja Nylen Persson, Tulus, Simpson, Rosenthal, Hartje, Kayle Osborne and Fecteau) to every other player on this talent-laden roster, Head Coach Greg Fargo is leading a squad that plays with high intensity and an in-your-face peskiness that gives opponents fits.

Let's not forget that all this is being accomplished without star defender Ella Shelton, who is currently not able to compete due to an injury. Shelton played an integral role last season for PWHL New York and was off to a good start this season, but to the team's credit everyone has gone the extra mile to fill her void.

The Sirens' draftees earlier this week received a grade of 'A' in a The Hockey News Women's article analyzing every team's selections in this past summer's PWHL Draft and how they are currently performing.

Summing it all up, the New York mission is obvious from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer.

As Minnesota goalie Nicole Hensley stated after the game this past Sunday: "That New York team is really really good this year. They're a lot of fun to play but they're also a very scary team to play."

Scary in terms of potent scoring potential, constant pursuit of loose pucks, unyielding pressure along the boards, unrelenting drive on special teams and not being afraid to legally use the body to break up opposition rushes.

Welcome to New York Sirens hockey in 2024-25. It promises to be quite a ride through the winter and spring.