PWHL opens 2nd season looking to build on 1st-year success with new faces, logos and expansion plans

Sport

PWHL opens 2nd season looking to build on 1st-year success with new faces, logos and expansion plans

2024-11-29 19:00 Last Updated At：19:10

TORONTO (AP) — Nothing will replace the special moments and many firsts — first game, first road trip, first win — Hilary Knight enjoyed during the PWHL’s inaugural season.

At 35, one of USA Hockey’s most accomplished female players remains awed by the leap the league made in being established in late June 2023, launching six months later and catching the wave of women’s sports growth in North America.

“I think it’s just the perfect timing to be able to be a woman in pro sports and be a part of the piece that continues to move the sport forward,” Knight said. “We’re part of the conversation now.”

Even being on the ice with her Boston teammates following a decisive Game 5 loss in the finals in May and watching Minnesota players raise the Walter Cup didn't blemish Knight’s experience.

“Celebrating the first year for every team is critical because it was the inaugural season,” she said. “And now it really does feel like, ‘OK, let’s go.’”

Welcome to PWHL Season 2, which opens Saturday and features all six teams in action this weekend. There will be more games — 30 per team, up from 24 last year. There will be more talent, with an influx of both college graduates and European veterans.

Each team has a logo and nickname after going without last year. And there's already talk of expansion, with the privately financed and centrally controlled PWHL looking to add up to two franchises by next year.

“It’s hard to put into words, to be honest. Obviously, the first season exceeded all of our expectations,” vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said. “We always believed. We had a vision for it. But to see it happen as quickly as it did was something that was pretty special.”

It's Game On again for a league that has Toronto moving into a larger home, New York finally settling on a home after splitting games at three sites, and the PWHL expanding its reach with nine neutral-site games ranging from North Carolina to the Pacific Northwest.

In Minnesota, the Frost are coming off the highs of winning the title while attempting to get past a tumultuous offseason. General manager Natalie Darwitz was dismissed following a league-launched internal and external review that, in part, revealed an irreconcilable rift between her and coach Ken Klee.

“For me it’s just about getting our group back together,” Klee said. “We’re focusing on the future. Pro hockey, things happen, some unfortunate things and some things out of our control, and we’re just really looking forward and excited to get the season going.”

The Frost seek to draw on how they persevered by sneaking into the playoffs after losing their final five regular-season games. Minnesota then overcame a 2-0 deficit in its best-of-five semifinal series against Toronto.

It’s a collapse that still stings in Toronto, where the regular-season champion Sceptres failed to overcome losing league MVP Natalie Spooner to a knee injury that will keep her sidelined for the start of this year.

“She was a huge part of our success last season, but I think the biggest thing for us as we approach this season without her in the lineup is that everyone is aware that they’re not going to replace Natalie Spooner,” captain Blayre Turnbull said. “Everyone has an opportunity to step up and be the best player that they can be. And I think it’ll be a good test for our team.”

The Victoire are motivated after being beset by injuries that contributed to Montreal being swept by Boston in a semifinal series that had all three games decided in overtime, including a 2-1, three-OT loss in Game 2.

General manager Danièle Sauvageau placed an emphasis on adding speed and offense to a lineup led by Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin.

Among the newcomers are playmaking U.S. national team defenseman Cayla Barnes. Meantime, late-round 2023 draft pick Lina Ljungblom made the jump to North America after the 23-year-old finished third with 46 points (23 goals) in Sweden’s pro women’s league last season.

There’s increased expectations among the two non-playoff teams, Ottawa and New York.

New York had what's considered the best draft class in June, starting with the No. 1 selection of Canadian star and Princeton grad Sarah Fillier. The Sirens also drafted Swedish defenseman Maja Persson and Finnish forward Noora Tulus in the second and third rounds, and Canadian university player Emmy Fecteau in the sixth.

The newcomers join a last-place team featuring a new coach in Colgate’s Greg Fargo, who is highly regarded for his up-tempo approach.

“It’s just been a completely different vibe and environment,” forward Abby Roque said. “As bad as last year was for us as a team, I think there’s a lot of stuff we can build on.”

The same goes in Ottawa, where the Charge were eliminated on the final day of a season in which they went 1-6 in games ending past regulation. The PWHL awards three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime/shootout victory, and one to OT/shootout losers.

The Charge added size by drafting Canadian national team forward Danielle Serdachny and Finnish defenseman Ronja Savolainen. Ottawa also drafted Northeastern goalie Gwyneth Philips to back up starter Emerance Maschmeyer, who appeared in all but one game last season.

“I think we learned sort of the hard way just how tight this league is,” captain Brianne Jenner said. “At the end of the day, earning a couple of extra of those points would have served us well. So we’ll make sure we’re well-prepared this year for it.”

AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell in St. Paul, Minnesota, contributed.

AP Women’s Hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

Negotiators get closer to agreeing on a plastic pollution treaty

2024-11-29 18:55 Last Updated At：19:00

BUSAN, South Korea (AP) — Negotiators working on a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution inched closer to an agreement Friday, with more countries saying they want to address the total plastic on Earth.

The most contentious issue of the talks is whether there will be a limit on the amount of plastic that companies are allowed to produce. Panama proposed text for the treaty to address plastic production on Thursday.

Juan Carlos Monterrey, head of Panama's delegation, said it's a compromise proposal to build consensus because it does not include a numerical target or production cap. Instead, it says countries would adopt a global target at a later conference of the parties meeting.

Support for Panama's proposal quickly grew to over 100 countries. Some plastic-producing and oil and gas countries, including Saudi Arabia, vigorously oppose including plastic production in the treaty, calling it a red line. Russia’s delegation has said if the world is serious about this treaty, negotiators must concentrate on provisions acceptable for all delegations.

Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the committee chair from Ecuador, issued a paper on Friday with draft treaty text, condensing the views expressed by negotiators during the week. The treaty article on production has Panama's proposal. The other option is to strike that article.

“This is great! This is great,” Monterrey said as he read the document on his cellphone. “It is a big show of force, of muscle, for those countries that are ambitious. And also this shows that consensus is still possible,” he said in an interview.

Global plastics production is set to reach 736 million tons by 2040, up 70% from 2020, without policy changes, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Environmental organizations demonstrated with signs outside the convention center Friday morning, demanding that negotiators show courage.

Many of those organizations want a treaty that addresses both the volume of production and chemicals of concern used in plastic products. The draft treaty text does not contain global, legally-binding controls on any of those chemicals. Countries that oppose such a provision, and plastics industry leaders, have said the treaty is not the proper venue to regulate chemicals.

Fiji's delegation said it would not support a treaty without a provision on chemicals of concern.

“The world is watching. The world sees the divide in the room for what it is,” Sivendra Michael, Fiji's permanent secretary for environment and climate change, said at a press conference about the importance of production in the plastics treaty. “The divide is between those, all of us here, looking to protect the people and the planet and those looking to protect the profits in the interests of the past and present industries.”

Anthony Agotha, with the European Union delegation, said the “time for freedom to pollute should be over.”

Graham Forbes, head of the Greenpeace delegation, said the new paper is a “weak attempt to force us to reach a conclusion and get a treaty for treaty’s sake,” with the only silver lining being the inclusion of a process for achieving a global target to reduce plastic production.

Negotiators began meeting Monday in Busan. They split into groups to consider text for treaty articles. By the midpoint of the negotiations, none had agreed to anything. They were having long discussions over topics where there’s more agreement, such as the need to manage plastic waste better. And they hadn't settled on some of the basics of the treaty, such as the scope and definitions.

Valdivieso told them Wednesday night their progress was too slow and they had to speed up significantly.

The delegations will now discuss Valdivieso's paper and decide whether to agree to the articles. The meeting ends late Sunday or early Monday.

U.N. Environment Program Executive Director Inger Andersen said there's still enough time to land an agreement, “if we work hard.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.