Connecticut Whale to make Simsbury their new home rink

The Connecticut Whale are coming to Simsbury. The women’s professional hockey league franchise will play nine of 12 home games at the International Skating Center of Connecticut this winter.

SIMSBURY, Sept. 20, 2022 – The Connecticut Whale women’s professional hockey team is coming to Simsbury. The Whale announced they will play nine of 12 home games at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury.

The Whale are one of eight teams in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) that was once called the National Women’s Hockey League. Connecticut is one of four charter members of the league along with Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts and New York (Metropolitian Riveters). The PHF also has teams in Toronto (Six), Montreal (Force) and Minnesota (Whitecaps).

It will be the fifth home for the Whale in Connecticut. The team previously played home games in Stamford at two separate facilities, North Branford and Danbury.

“The Whale are thrilled to be putting down our roots at ISCC in Simsbury and bringing Brass Bonanza back to the greater Hartford area,” said Tobin Kelly, Whale Owner. “Preparation has been under way for some months now, and I can’t say enough about how hard ISCC ownership has been working to make this a great home for the Whale. We are looking forward to being a part of the community in Simsbury.”

The first two games of the season will be at the Milford Ice Arena, where the team will continue to train three times a week, according to Whale general manager Alexis Moed.

The season opens Saturday, Nov. 5 with Connecticut visiting Boston for a rematch of last spring’s Isabel Cup final, which the Pride won.

The first games in Simsbury will be Dec. 9-10 with the Minnesota Whitecaps visiting the International Skating Center. Connecticut will host Minnesota on Friday night, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m. and on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m.

Connecticut has struggled on the ice for most of their tenure in the league.

The Whale had the second-best regular season record in the league in year one (2015-16) but were eliminated the semifinals that season. A year ago, Connecticut (15-3-2) set a franchise record with 15 regular season wins and went to the Isobel Cup championship game for the first time before losing to Boston, 4-2.

“We are so excited to bring the highest level of sports back to Simsbury and our surrounding communities,” said Kelle Becconsall, owner and general manager of the ISCC. “This building opened with Olympic figure skaters and has been host to many national hockey tournaments and competitions over the years. It’s been our mission to revitalize that hometown pride and bring ISCC back to the international spotlight.

“Now we get to host women’s professional hockey, and it doesn’t get much better than that,” she said. “We’re beyond honored to have the Connecticut Whale call us their home rink and can’t wait to welcome them to ISCC.”

The last professional sports franchise in the Farmington Valley was the Hartford Foxforce, the World Team Tennis squad that played at Blue Fox Run in Avon for four seasons from 2003 through 2006.

“It really came down to all of the positives in Simsbury,” Moed said. ”This is where we want to be. We’re that premier tenant and partner with them. This was an opportunity to get into a facility we can call our own.”

Becconsall said the rink is still working with the town of Simsbury regarding expanding the number of seats for games so there is no information at the moment on how many people could attend games. Game tickets are on sale now, though, she said.

There have been upgrades to locker rooms, Becconsall said. “We have a lot of work to do,” she said. “We want them to get recognized as professional athletes and feel like that when they get here. We want to give them the space they deserve as pro athletes.”

Hosting a professional team won’t hinder the rink’s ability to host area boys and girls high school hockey teams as they have done for years. The boys and girls teams from Simsbury, Northwest Catholic and Suffield co-op will call the ISCC their home. The Simsbury program also plays some home games outside at Simsbury Farms.

There are two organizations in North America organizing professional women’s hockey games at this time. There is the PHF and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA).

The PWHPA has four teams (Team adidas, Team Harvey’s, Team Scotiabank, Team Sonnet) of 25 players each, including 43 players with Olympic experience. The league will have a tour of across the country, including five weekend series. Two have been scheduled for November in Montreal and in the province of Nova Scotia.

Thirteen players on the U.S. team that participated in the world championships earlier this month in Denmark are part of the PWHPA and 21 Team Canada players are in the PWHPA. Canada beat the United States in the finals, 2-1.

2022-23 Connecticut Whale schedule

Sat. Nov. 5: At Boston, 7 p.m.
Sat. Nov. 19: BUFFALO at Milford, 6 p.m.
Sun. Nov. 20: BUFFALO at Milford, 6 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 3: At Montreal, 1 p.m.
Sun. Dec. 4: At Montreal, 1 p.m.
Fri. Dec. 9: MINNESOTA, 7 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 10: MINNESOTA, 2 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 17: METROPOLITIAN, 2 p.m.
Sun. Dec. 18: BOSTON, 2 p.m.
Fri. Jan. 6: BOSTON, 7 p.m.
Sun. Jan. 8: At Metropolitan, 1 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 14: vs. Montreal, site TBA, 3 p.m.
Sat. Jan. 21: At Toronto, 2 p.m.
Sun. Jan. 22: At Toronto, 2 p.m.
Fri. Jan. 27: MONTREAL, 7 p.m.
Fri. Feb. 3: At Metropolitian, 7 p.m.
Sun. Feb. 5: At Boston, 2 p.m.
Sat. Feb. 18: TORONTO, 7 p.m.
Sun. Feb. 19: TORONTO, 2 p.m.
Sun. Feb. 26: METROPOLITAN, 3 p.m.
Sat. March 4: At Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sun. March 5: At Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Sat. March 11: At Minnesota, 7 p.m.
Sun. March 12: At Minnesota, 2 p.m.