Buffalo Beauts

Buffalo Beauts
CityAmherst, New York
LeaguePremier Hockey Federation
Founded2015 (2015)
Folded2023 (2023)
Home arenaNorthtown Center
ColorsBlue, black, silver, white
       
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata
Championships
Playoff championships2016–17

The Buffalo Beauts were a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). They played in Amherst, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, at the Northtown Center.

The Beauts were established in 2015 as one of the four founding franchises of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), rebranded as the PHF in 2021. The team played at Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo during their first four seasons.[1] The team advanced to the Isobel Cup Finals in the PHF's first four seasons, winning the championship title in 2016–17. The team folded in 2023 after the PHF and its assets were purchased and dissolved as part of the process of creating a new, unified professional league, the Professional Women's Hockey League.

History

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Brianne McLaughlin celebrating after winning the 2017 Isobel Cup

The Beauts held their first summer free agent camp on May 23 and May 24, 2015.[2] In July 2015, the Beauts signed free agent and 2-time Team USA Olympic goaltender Brianne McLaughlin, making her the first player to sign a contract with the franchise.[3]

The team made its debut at home on October 11, 2015 in a 4–1 loss versus the Boston Pride. During a 5–3 home loss against the Boston Pride on October 25, 2015, Brianne McLaughlin allowed three goals by Brianna Decker, resulting in the first hat trick in NWHL history.

The Beauts finished the regular season third out of four teams. In the semifinals of the inaugural Isobel Cup championships, the Beauts faced the Connecticut Whale. The Whale had a perfect record against the Beauts in the regular season, but the Beauts upset the Whale by winning the last two games in the best-of-three series. They advanced to the championship series, but dropped two games in succession and were swept by the Boston Pride.

On October 7, 2016, Beauts forward Harrison Browne came out as a transgender man and thus became the first openly transgender athlete in professional American team sports.[4] That same year the Beauts won the 2016–17 Isobel Cup Championship in an upset win over the defending champion Boston Pride. This was Buffalo's first professional hockey championship since the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League won the 1970 Calder Cup.

The Beauts signed three superstars from the CWHL's Brampton Thunder on August 31, 2017, adding Jess Jones, Sarah Edney, and Rebecca Vint for the 2017–18 season.[5]

On December 21, 2017, Pegula Sports and Entertainment (PSE), owners of the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and Harborcenter, announced it had purchased the Beauts. This made the Beauts the first team in the NWHL not owned by the league and the first professional women's hockey team in North America to be owned by the same organization of its market's NHL team.[6]

On June 27, 2018, the Beauts signed Team Canada goaltender Shannon Szabados. Szabados had previously only played professional hockey on men's leagues such as the Southern Professional Hockey League and is the first woman to record a shutout in men's league.[7]

On December 7, 2018, the Beauts suddenly relieved Ric Seiling as head coach, replacing him with former Buffalo Sabre and Harborcenter Academy of Hockey coach Cody McCormick on an interim basis.

On May 8, 2019, following the announcement of a professional women's hockey player strike, Pegula Sports and Entertainment (PSE) relinquished ownership of the team back to the NWHL.[8] Under Pegula, the Beauts were considered a well-run operation, with the team sharing resources and training facilities with the Sabres and Rochester Americans. Szabados cited the amenities provided to the Beauts' players through the partnership as one of the goals of the strike for the rest of professional women's hockey.[9]

While the Beauts played at the Harborcenter, in the NWHL's largest arena by capacity, they consistently led the NWHL in attendance for the first few seasons until they were surpassed by the Minnesota Whitecaps in 2018–19.[10][11] The league indicated that it wanted to keep the team playing at the Harborcenter,[12] which is owned by PSE, but the severance also required the team to negotiate an arena lease.[13]

On June 25, 2019, PSE sent a cease and desist letter to the NWHL for using the Beauts' name and brand. As part of the original agreement, PSE obtained the trademarks associated with the team and formed a separate entity called Buffalo Beauts Hockey to operate the team. While PSE verbally agreed to relinquished ownership and operations of the team, the NWHL apparently did not sign the transfer paperwork before the deadline, leading to PSE's cease and desist letter. As PSE still owned the Beauts' branding as of July 2 while the NWHL continued to use the Beauts' name,[14] but the team eventually retained the name. The league then moved the Beauts' home games to the Northtown Center in nearby Amherst prior to the 2019–20 season.[15][16]

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020–21 NWHL season was scheduled as a single-site bubble tournament to be played over two weeks at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York, from January 23 to February 5, 2021.[17] However, the bubble season came to a premature end following several positive cases of COVID-19. After the Metropolitan Riveters were forced to withdraw on January 28, Buffalo was in last place. The final games of the regular season were rescheduled with the top three teams playing a round-robin for seeding in the Isobel Cup playoffs, while the Beauts would face the Boston Pride in a three-game play-in series for the fourth seed. Prior to the third game on February 1, Connecticut also withdrew from Lake Placid over health and safety concerns, causing the Beauts/Pride series to be for the third and fourth seeds with the Beauts losing the game 1–7. By February 3, the league completely postponed the Isobel Cup playoffs and ended the Lake Placid event.[18] On March 8, the league announced the new schedule for the playoffs to take place on March 26 and 27 at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, Massachusetts. Due to the postponement, Connecticut was given the third seed and the Beauts were eliminated from participation in the postseason.[19]

On June 28, 2021, the league announced the sale of the Beauts and Minnesota Whitecaps to a joint partnership of NLTT Ventures, LLC, led by Andy Scurto, and Top Tier Sports, led by Neil Leibman. Scurto was named the team's governor.[20]

In the summer of 2023, it was announced that the PHF and its assets had been purchased, and that the league and its teams would be dissolved as part of the foundation of a unified women's league, the Professional Women's Hockey League.[21] Buffalo was not included among the cities that would host the PWHL teams, leaving the city without professional women's hockey.[22] All of the Beauts' contracts were voided as part of the transition.[23]

Season-by-season records

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Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime losses, SOL = Shootout losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season GP W L OTL SOL Pts[a] GF GA Playoffs
2015–16 18 5 9 4 0 14 57 66 Lost Isobel Cup Championship to Boston Pride
2016–17 17 6 10 1 0 13 44 68 Won Isobel Cup Championship over Boston Pride
2017–18 16 12 4 0 — 24 51 41 Lost Isobel Cup Championship to Metropolitan Riveters
2018–19 16 11 4 0 1 23 57 25 Lost Isobel Cup Championship to Minnesota Whitecaps
2019–20 24 8 15 1 — 17 71 116 Lost play-in game to Connecticut Whale
2020–21 6 1 4 0 1 3 7 24 did not qualify
2021–22 20 6 14 0 — 15 44 73 Lost Qualifying Round to Minnesota Whitecaps
2022–23 24 5 16 3 — 18 50 95 did not qualify
PHF Totals 141 54 76 9 2 127 381 508
  1. ^ Starting with the 2021–22 season, 3 points are awarded for a regulation win, 2 points are awarded for an overtime/shootout win, 1 point is awarded for an overtime/shootout loss, 0 points are awarded for a regulation loss[24]

Team

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2022–23 roster

[edit]
As of November 5, 2022[25][26][27][28]
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
- Denmark Amalie Andersen D L 25 2023 Herning, Denmark
14 United States Allison Attea D L 25 2021 Buffalo, New York
88 Sweden Lovisa Berndtsson G L 36 2021 Stockholm, Sweden
61 United States Michaela Boyle F – 25 2022 Reading, Massachusetts
24 United States Anjelica Diffendal F R 26 2021 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
67 Canada Summer-Rae Dobson F R 25 2022 Huntsville, Ontario
77 Canada Whitney Dove D R 26 2020 Port Moody, British Columbia
2 Canada Samantha Fieseler D L 28 2021 Kelowna, British Columbia
59 Canada Mikyla Grant-Mentis F L 26 2022 Brampton, Ontario
47 Canada Jessica Healey D L 28 2022 Edmonton, Alberta
31 Canada Tera Hofmann (PTO) G L 26 2022 Toronto, Ontario
34 United States Claudia Kepler (A) F R 29 2021 Verona, Wisconsin
94 United States Grace Klienbach F R 30 2021 Eustis, Florida
13 United States Dominique Kremer (C) D R 27 2020 Hudson, Iowa
9 Canada Autumn MacDougall F L 26–27 2020 Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
17 Canada Cassidy MacPherson (A) F L 27 2019 Oakville, Ontario
23 Austria Antonia Matzka D L 25 2022 Mödling, Austria
42 Canada Courtney Maud F L 25 2022 Georgetown, Ontario
11 United States Madi Nichols F L 24 2022 Trinity, Florida
16 Finland Emma Nuutinen F L 28 2022 Vantaa, Finland
32 Canada Kassidy Sauvé G L 28 2022 Whitby, Ontario
44 Finland Jenna Suokko F L 29 2021 Tampere, Finland
10 United States Madison Truax D R 26 2022 Gardner, Massachusetts

Coaching staff and team personnel

  • Head coach: Rhea Coad
  • Assistant coach: Julia DiTondo
  • Assistant coach: Mark Zarbo
  • Goaltending coach: Shane Madolora
  • Video & analytics: Chris Baudo

Team captains

[edit]

Head coaches

[edit]

General managers

[edit]

Draft history

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Courtney Burke from the Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey program became the first player in franchise history to be selected in the inaugural 2015 NWHL Draft.[33] Raised in the state capital of Albany, New York, Burke was also the first defensewoman selected in NWHL Draft history.

2015

[edit]
Main article: 2015 NWHL Draft

The following are the Beauts' selections from the 2015 NWHL Draft of college players in their junior year held on June 20, 2015. Note: The team has not announced any contract signings from this list to date. A player who is drafted but does not sign with the organization that selected her, may enter free-agency after completing her senior year.

# Player Position Nationality College
4 Courtney Burke Defense  United States University of Wisconsin
8 Sarah Lefort Forward  Canada Boston University
12 Amanda Leveille Goaltender  Canada University of Minnesota
16 Emily Janiga Forward  United States Mercyhurst
20 Jenna Dingeldein Forward  Canada Mercyhurst

[33]

Media

[edit]

In local Media the Buffalo Beauts were covered by The Buffalo News. Home games were broadcast live by 716 Sports Podcast via Steve Bermel (Play by Play) and Justen Ehrig (color commentary) and games were live-streamed to twitch.tv/nwhl.[citation needed]

Franchise milestones

[edit]
See also: List of Buffalo Beauts records
Milestone Player Date
First goal Kelley Steadman October 11, 2015
First win Brianne McLaughlin November 29, 2015
First Isobel Cup goal Shelby Bram March 11, 2016
First championship MVP Brianne McLaughlin March 19, 2017
First shutout Amanda Leveille January 27, 2018

Awards and honors

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ Was named captain prior to 2020–21 NWHL season, but could not participate in the bubble season due to her regular job in Ontario.[29][30]
  1. ^ Fink, James (April 16, 2015). "Buffalo Beauts to play at HarborCenter". Buffalo Business First. Archived from the original on June 19, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  2. ^ Fink, James (May 22, 2015). "Buffalo Beauts hold first summer training camp". Buffalo Business First. Archived from the original on June 19, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  3. ^ "Buffalo Beauts sign goaltender Brianne McLaughlin – Sports". The Buffalo News. July 3, 2015. Archived from the original on July 8, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
  4. ^ Steele, Michele (October 7, 2016). "NWHL player Harrison Browne comes out as a transgender man". ESPN. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
  5. ^ "SCORING MACHINE JESS JONES IS A BEAUT". www.nwhl.zone. August 31, 2017. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  6. ^ Moritz, Amy (December 21, 2017). "Pegulas add the Buffalo Beauts to their hockey holdings". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on December 21, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  7. ^ Jay, Michelle (June 27, 2018). "Shannon Szabados signs with Buffalo Beauts". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on June 28, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  8. ^ Anstey, Evan (May 8, 2019). "Report: Pegula Sports & Entertainment severs relationship with Buffalo Beauts". WIVB-TV. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  9. ^ "Pegulas relinquish control of Buffalo Beauts". The Sports Network. May 8, 2019. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  10. ^ "How the Minnesota Whitecaps are finding success in the NWHL". espnW. January 28, 2019. Archived from the original on February 5, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  11. ^ "2018-19 Season Sets New Highs for Attendance, Viewership, Merchandising and Engagement". NWHL.zone. March 28, 2019. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  12. ^ "NWHL Regains Operational Control of the Buffalo Beauts". NWHL. May 8, 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  13. ^ "AP Source: Pegula relinquishes control of NWHL Buffalo team". WKBW. May 8, 2019. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
  14. ^ "Women's hockey league seeks court ruling over Beauts name, logo". The Buffalo News. July 2, 2019. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  15. ^ "NWHL's Beauts Find New Home". The Victory Press. July 29, 2019. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  16. ^ "NWHL Reveals Expanded Schedule for the 2019-20 Season". NWHL. July 29, 2019. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  17. ^ "REGULAR SEASON AND ISOBEL CUP PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED FOR 2021 NWHL SEASON IN LAKE PLACID". NWHL. January 14, 2021. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  18. ^ "NWHL suspends season on eve of playoffs due to COVID-19". Sportsnet.ca. February 3, 2021. Archived from the original on March 5, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  19. ^ "NWHL TO AWARD ISOBEL CUP IN MARCH 2021". NWHL. March 8, 2021. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  20. ^ "NWHL Announces Sale of Buffalo Beauts and Minnesota Whitecaps". OurSports Central. June 28, 2021. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  21. ^ Wyshynski, Greg (June 29, 2023). "Sources: Premier Hockey Federation sale could unite women's hockey". ESPN. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
  22. ^ Kennedy, Ian (October 22, 2023). "The Disappearance Of The Buffalo Beauts and Metropolitan Riveters". The Hockey News. Archived from the original on January 6, 2024. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  23. ^ "Buffalo Beauts finding a 'new beginning' after PHF buyout". WKBW 7 News Buffalo. July 7, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  24. ^ Krotz, Paul (November 6, 2021). "PHF Announces Changes to Playing Regulations". PremierHockeyFederation.com. Premier Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  25. ^ "Buffalo Beauts, 2022-23 PHF – Roster". Premier Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on September 23, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  26. ^ "Buffalo Beauts, 2022-2023 Roster". Elite Prospects. Archived from the original on September 23, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  27. ^ a b "Kremer Named Captain as Beauts Head Into Training Camp". Premier Hockey Federation (Press release). September 22, 2022. Archived from the original on September 23, 2022. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  28. ^ "Beauts Sign Goalie Hofmann to PTO for Opening Weekend". Premier Hockey Federation. November 4, 2022. Archived from the original on November 5, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  29. ^ "2021 SEASON PREVIEW: NWHL POISED TO DROP PUCK ON SIXTH SEASON". Buffalo Beauts. January 23, 2021. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  30. ^ Tokarski, Anne (January 14, 2021). "Beauts' Taylor Accursi to sit out NWHL season six". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  31. ^ Randy Schultz (March 16, 2021). "Rhea Coad Named Head Coach of The Buffalo Beauts". NY Hockey Online. Archived from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
  32. ^ Rodriguez, Angelica (March 22, 2023). "Buffalo Beauts Head Coach Rhea Coad Steps Down". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on June 22, 2023. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
  33. ^ a b "Draft Live | NWHL". Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  34. ^ a b c d "Beauts' Szabados, Bolden, Elia and Scamurra Win NWHL Awards". NWHL.zone. March 25, 2019. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  35. ^ Paul Krotz (April 28, 2021). "NWHL ANNOUNCES 2021 AWARD RECIPIENTS". NWHL. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
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