The Vancouver Goldeneyes earned the 1st-overall pick while the Seattle Torrent will select second in the off-season Women’s Professional Hockey League amateur draft.
“Tank” isn’t in the WPHL vocabulary. The women’s league utilizes a unique method to determine draft order among the non-playoff teams. Once you’re bounced from playoff contention, you need to win games to earn points towards the “Gold Plan”. The Torrent were eliminated first, giving them more opportunities to win games — they had three remaining at the time — than the teams that fell short after them.
Although the Goldeneyes stayed in contention longer, once they were eliminated from playoff contention, they made the most of their opportunity to win games and earn draft points. Vancouver beat Montreal in regulation on April 21st to earn three points and then beat the two-time defending champion Minnesota Frost in OT four nights later to earn two more points.
They earned five points in two games, while Seattle took three games to earn five. The Goldeneyes also held the head-to-head season series advantage.
The two late season wins also hopped Vancouver past the New York Sirens and into sixth place in the final standings. The Torrent finished eighth in the eight-team league.
The Torrent closed out their season with a 2-1 overtime loss at home to the Montreal Victoire in front of a Climate Pledge Arena sell out of 17,151. It was part of a record breaking day in the PWHL that saw 42,887 total fans watching games across four cities.
As for the playoffs, the top-seeded Victoire get to choose their first round opponent from a short list that includes the 3rd place Minnesota Frost or 4th place Ottawa Charge. It’s another little PWHL ripple that rewards teams for finishing on top. The 2nd place Boston Fleet will take on the club Montreal doesn’t select.
The playoffs begin May 2nd.
Earlier Torrent/Goldeneyes:
— Goldeneyes-Torrent 6-5 Game A True Spectacle
Earlier Kraken:
— 3 Kraken Prospects Who Backed Up Their Words
