Back in June, the National Women's Hockey League announced that the league would be playing a game in Cranberry next season.
On Tuesday, the NWHL announced that Olympic gold-medalist Amanda Kessel's Metropolitan Riveters and the Connecticut Whale will be the teams taking part in the event. The game will be held Sunday, December 2, at 3:30 p.m. at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
“Pittsburgh is a special place for my family, so I’m really looking forward to being with the Riveters in front of the city’s great hockey fans on December 2,” Amanda Kessel said. “Playing in the 2017 NWHL All-Star Game in Pittsburgh was a lot of fun, and the support from the fans was incredible. The Penguins organization has been an amazing partner for the NWHL and tremendous for the development of our sport across all levels.”
This will be the third consecutive season that the NWHL will play in Cranberry. The Lemieux Complex was previously host to the sold-out 2017 All-Star Game, featuring such stars as Kessel, Hilary Knight, Gigi Marvin, and Harrison Browne:
The league returned in January 2018 for a regular season game between the Whale and the Buffalo Beauts in front of another packed house:
“We look forward to hosting Amanda and the NWHL for another great event in December,” said Rich Hixon, president of the Lemieux Complex. “We enjoy working together with the NWHL to promote women’s hockey and hockey at all levels, and will have several related events that weekend.”
The Metropolitan Riveters are the current defending Isobel Cup champions, after going 13-3-0 in the regular season and shutting out the Whale and Beauts in both playoff games. No Olympian played in the league last season, as they all spent the year training with their respective national teams.
Kessel last played in the league in 2016-17, during which she recorded four goals and 14 assists in eight games.
The NWHL has played games in neutral locations in years past, but returning to Pittsburgh for a third consecutive season is a sure sign that the league is eyeing Pittsburgh as a potential expansion location. The league currently consists of five teams after absorbing the independent Minnesota Whitecaps in June.