2015–16 Connecticut Whale (NWHL) season

The 2015–16 Connecticut Whale season was the first in franchise history and the Premier Hockey Federation's inaugural season.

2015–16 Connecticut Whale (PHF)
League	2nd NWHL
2015–16 record	13–5–0
Home record	6–3–0
Road record	7–2–0
Goals for	61
Goals against	51
Team information
General manager	George Speirs (Interim)
Coach	Jake Mastel (Until January 29, 2016) Heather Linstad (from January 29, 2016)
Assistant coach	Lisa Giovanelli (January 29, 2016–Current)
Captain	Jessica Koizumi
Alternate captains	Kaleigh Fratkin
Arena	Chelsea Piers CT
Team leaders
Goals	Shiann Darkangelo (10)
Assists	Kelli Stack (14)
Points	Kelli Stack (22) Kelly Babstock
Penalty minutes	Kaleigh Fratkin (40)
Wins	Jaimie Leonoff (7)
Goals against average	Shenae Lundberg (1.97)
2016–17 →

Offseason

• On July 1, the Whale signed former BU Terriers blueliner and 2015 Clarkson Cup champion Kaleigh Fratkin to a contract, making her the first Canadian to sign an NWHL contract.

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	GP	W	L	OTL	W%	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	y – Boston Pride	18	14	3	1	0.806	75	39	+36	29
2	Connecticut Whale	18	13	5	0	0.722	61	51	+10	26
3	Buffalo Beauts	18	5	9	4	0.389	56	66	−10	14
4	New York Riveters	18	4	12	2	0.278	40	76	−36	10

Source: PHF
y – Clinched division

Game log

2015–16 Schedule[1] Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Location Record Points Gamesheet 1 October 11 New York Riveters 4–1 Leonoff Chelsea Piers CT 1–0–0 2 [Game 1] 2 October 18 @ Buffalo Beauts 5–2 Laden HarborCenter 2–0–0 4 [Game 2] 3 October 25 @ New York Riveters 3–1 Stock Aviator Sports and Events Center 3–0–0 6 [Game 3] 4 November 15 @ Buffalo Beauts 3–2 Leonoff HarborCenter 4–0–0 8 [Game 4] 5 November 22 @ Buffalo Beauts 7–6 SO Stock HarborCenter 5–0–0 10 [Game 5] 6 November 29 @ Boston Pride 4–3 Leonoff Bright Hockey Center 6–0–0 12 [Game 6] 7 December 6 Buffalo Beauts 3–2 SO Leonoff Chelsea Piers CT 7–0–0 14 [Game 7] 8 December 13 @ New York Riveters 4–3 SO Leonoff Aviator Sports and Events Center 8–0–0 16 [Game 8] 9 December 27 Boston Pride 1–2 Stock Chelsea Piers CT 8–1–0 16 [Game 9] 10 January 3 @ New York Riveters 6–1 Stock Aviator Sports and Events Center 9–1–0 18 [Game 10] 11 January 9 New York Riveters 4–3 Leonoff Ingalls Rink 10–1–0 20 [Game 11] 12 January 10 Buffalo Beauts 5–3 Stock Chelsea Piers CT 11–1–0 22 [Game 12] 13 January 17 @ Boston Pride 1–4 Leonoff Bright Hockey Center 11–2–0 22 [Game 13] 14 January 31 Boston Pride 2–5 Leonoff Chelsea Piers CT 11–3–0 22 [Game 14] 15 February 7 Buffalo Beauts 3–2 OT Lundberg Chelsea Piers CT 12–3–0 24 [Game 15] 16 February 14 @ Boston Pride 2–4 Stock Bright Hockey Center 12–4–0 24 [Game 16] 17 February 21 Boston Pride 3–5 Leonoff Chelsea Piers CT 12–5–0 24 [Game 17] 18 February 28 New York Riveters 4–2 Lundberg Chelsea Piers CT 13–5–0 26 [Game 18]

Win (2 points)   Overtime/Shootout loss (1 point)   Loss (0 points)

Playoffs

Game log

2016 Isobel Cup Playoffs
Semifinals vs. Buffalo Beauts; Buffalo Beauts won series 2–1 Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Location Record Gamesheet 1 March 4 Buffalo Beauts 3–0 Chelsea Piers CT 1–0 (No gamesheet available) 2 March 5 Buffalo Beauts 1–4 Chelsea Piers CT 1–1 (No gamesheet available) 3 March 6 Buffalo Beauts 3–4 Stock Chelsea Piers CT 1–2 [Game 19]
Win   Loss

Statistics

Final

Skaters

Regular Season[2] Player GP G A Pts PIM Kelli Stack 17 8 14 22 24 Kelly Babstock 18 9 13 22 24 Kaleigh Fratkin 18 5 12 17 40 Shiann Darkangelo 13 10 3 13 0 Jordan Brickner 18 0 12 12 2 Danielle Ward 18 5 5 10 24 Micaela Long 17 3 7 10 27 Yekaterina Smolentseva 14 3 5 8 2 Alyssa Wohlfeiler 18 3 4 7 20 Jessica Koizumi 15 2 5 7 8 Sam Faber 13 3 3 6 14 Brittany Dougherty 17 1 4 5 14 Kate Buesser 12 3 2 5 2 Molly Engstrom 15 3 2 5 21 Shannon Doyle 18 2 3 5 12 Lindsay Berman 4 0 1 1 0 Tara Tomimoto 13 1 0 1 6 Anya Battaglino 8 0 0 0 6 Katia Pashkevitch 1 0 0 0 0

Playoffs[2] Player GP G A Pts PIM Kelly Babstock 3 4 0 4 2 Kate Buesser 3 0 2 2 2 Kelli Stack 3 2 0 2 2 Micaela Long 3 0 2 2 2 Sam Faber 3 1 1 2 2 Shiann Darkangelo 3 0 2 2 0 Danielle Ward 3 0 1 1 4 Jessica Koizumi 3 0 1 1 0 Molly Engstrom 3 0 1 1 2 Shannon Doyle 3 0 1 1 2 Alyssa Wohlfeiler 1 0 0 0 2 Anya Battaglino 1 0 0 0 2 Brittany Dougherty 3 0 0 0 0 Jordan Brickner 3 0 0 0 0 Kaleigh Fratkin 3 0 0 0 6 Tara Tomimoto 1 0 0 0 0 Yekaterina Smolentseva 3 0 0 0 0

Goaltenders

Regular Season^[2]

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	PIM
Jaimie Leonoff	10	567:15	7	3	0	28	2.96	438	0.936	0	0
Nicole Stock	6	343:07	4	2	0	15	2.62	211	0.923	0	0
Chelsea Laden‡	1	60:00	1	0	0	2	2.00	32	0.938	0	0
Shenae Lundberg†	2	122:08	1	0	0	0	1.97	50	0.920	0	0

Playoffs^[2]

Player	GP	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	PIM
Jaimie Leonoff	2	118:56	1	1	0	3	1.51	57	0.947	1	0
Nicole Stock	1	60:00	0	1	0	4	4.00	28	0.846	0	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Whale. Stats reflect time with the Whale only.
^‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Whale only.

Roster

Updated February 20, 2016^[3][4]

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
8		Kelly Babstock	F	L	23	2015	Mississauga, Ontario
10		Lindsay Berman	D	L	27	2015	Odenton, Maryland
26		Jordan Brickner	D	L	25	2015	Lake Forest, Illinois
27		Shiann Darkangelo	F	L	22	2015	Brighton, Michigan
19		Brittany Dougherty	F	L	25	2015	Chesterfield, Michigan
6		Shannon Doyle	D	R	24	2015	Baldwin, Ontario
9		Molly Engstrom	D	R	33	2015	Siren, Wisconsin
28		Sam Faber	F	R	28	2015	Mount Sinai, New York
13		Kaleigh Fratkin (A)	D	R	23	2015	Burnaby, British Columbia
56		Jessica Koizumi (C)	F	L	30	2015	Honolulu, Hawaii
32		Jaimie Leonoff	G	L	23	2015	Montreal, Quebec
16		Micaela Long	F	L		2015	South Boston, Massachusetts
1		Shanae Lundberg	G	L	23	2016	Peterborough, New Hampshire
17		Yekaterina Smolentseva	F	L	34	2015	Yekaterinburg, Russia
61		Kelli Stack	F	R	28	2015	Brooklyn Heights, Ohio
24		Nicole Stock	G	R		2015	Buffalo Grove, Illinois
22		Danielle Ward	F	R	26	2015	Lansing, Michigan
88		Alyssa Wohlfeiler	F	R	26	2015	Saugus, California

Awards and honors

NWHL Player of the Week

• Kelli Stack – October 11, 2015
• Shiann Darkangelo – December 15, 2015
• Danielle Ward - January 10, 2016
• Molly Engstrom - February 7, 2016
• Shenae Lundberg - February 28, 2016

NWHL 1st All-Star Game selection

• Jordan Brickner (Team Knight)
• Shiann Darkangelo (Team Pfalzer)
• Kaleigh Fratkin (Team Knight)
• Jaimie Leonoff (Team Knight)
• Kelli Stack (Team Knight)

Transactions

Trades

January 27, 2016 (2016-01-27)[5]

To New York Riveters Chelsea Laden

To Connecticut Whale Shenae Lundberg

Signings

Player	Date	Contract terms
Shiann Darkangelo[6]	June 25, 2015	$17,000
Sam Faber[6]	June 25, 2015	$13,500
Chelsea Laden[6]	June 25, 2015	$14,000
Kaleigh Fratkin[7]	July 1, 2015	$20,000
Jessica Koizumi[8]	July 9, 2015	$20,500
Danielle Ward[8]	July 9, 2015	$10,000
Micaela Long[9]	July 17, 2015	$10,000
Nicole Stock[9]	July 17, 2015	$10,000
Jaimie Leonoff[10]	July 26, 2015	$10,000
Kelly Babstock[11]	August 4, 2015	$18,000
Brittney Dougherty[12]	August 13, 2015	$10,000
Shannon Doyle[12]	August 13, 2015	$15,000
Yekaterina Smolentseva[13]	August 15, 2015	$22,000
Molly Engstrom[14]	August 18, 2015	$12,000
Lindsay Berman[15]	September 24, 2015	$15,000
Jordan Brickner[15]	September 24, 2015	$10,000
Alyssa Wohlfeiler[15]	September 24, 2015	$10,000
Kelli Stack[16]	September 24, 2015	$25,000

Other

Name	Date	Details
Harry Rosenholtz[17]	December 24, 2015	Resigned as General Manager
George Speirs[17]	December 24, 2015	Named as interim General Manager
Jake Mastel[18]	January 29, 2016	Resigned as Head Coach
Heather Linstad[18]	January 29, 2016	Named as Head Coach
Lisa Giovanelli[18]	January 29, 2016	Named as Assistant Coach

Draft

Main article: 2015 NWHL Draft

The following were the Whale's selections in the 2015 NWHL Draft on June 20, 2015.^[19]

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	2	Hannah Brandt	F	United States	University of Minnesota (WCHA)
2	6	Michelle Picard	D	United States	Harvard University (ECAC)
3	10	Milica McMillen	D	United States	University of Minnesota (WCHA)
4	14	Maryanne Menefee	F	United States	University of Minnesota (WCHA)
5	18	Cassandra Poudrier	D	Canada	Cornell University (ECAC)