The Women’s Hockey League Championship was the first of the professional championships in which the season ended. In the rest, where the men compete, the semi-finals are in full swing. In the WHL, the streak is slightly shorter: in the quarterfinals and semifinals – up to two wins, in the finals – up to three. Therefore, the fans already recognized the champion at the end of March – Agidel from Ufa beat Dynamo-Neva from St. Petersburg in the final series and won the trophy.
Eight out of nine teams qualified for the WHL playoffs this year. SKSO (the national team of the Sverdlovsk region) from Yekaterinburg was left behind. Moreover, the decision on such a number of participants in the relegation matches was made only at the end of January. The women of Ufimka and St. Petersburg got tickets for the playoffs in advance. “Agidel” won the regular season and beat “7.62” and “Torpedo” in the first two rounds. Dynamo Neva came third, defeating Shenzhen KRS in the quarter-finals and Biryusa in the semi-finals.
The WHL Championship Final Series for the first time in its history has reached Game 5. Agidel won the first meeting (4:0), then the St. Petersburg team won in extra time – 2:1. In the city on the Neva, the teams again exchanged victories – 3:2, but Dynamo won in a series of free throws. In the last game of the series, the Ufimkas led 2-0, the Petersburgers tied the score, but four minutes before the siren Elizaveta Rodnova scored – this puck turned out to be victorious for Agidel. All of the individual season prizes went to the champions.
Best Goalkeeper – Anna Prugova
Photo source: ZhHK “Agidel”
During the regular season, the 29-year-old goalkeeper showed the best reliability coefficient – 1.55. In the playoffs, that number was 1.18. Six times the hockey player played zero during the regular season (the same number for Daria Gredzen from Biryusa), she scored three more “crackers” in the playoffs.
Prugova is probably one of the most famous hockey players outside of the WHL. She is often brought in as a pundit for the men’s team matches.
The best defender – Maria Batalova
Photo source: ZhHK “Agidel”
This season, 26-year-old Batalova repeated her personal best, earning 31 (11+20) points in the regular season. The previous time, the hockey player scored so many points in the 2021/22 season. A defensive player’s +44 utility rating is the best among defenders in the WHL.
Best Sniper – Elizaveta Rodnova
Photo source: ZhHK “Agidel”
In 32 games, the Agidel striker scored 31 goals, and in the playoffs she added two more goals in ten games. Previously, Rodnova did not score so much during the season. His best result was 18 goals in the 2018/19 season. And the striker is the author of the “golden goal” of “Agidel”. It was his puck, dropped four minutes before the end of the fifth game of the final, which brought victory to the Ufa team.
Regular Season Top Scorer and Playoff MVP – Olga Sosina
Photo source: ZhHK “Agidel”
The striker of “Agideli” played ten games in the playoffs, during which she got 10 (4 + 6) points, the utility index was +8. It was she who brought victory to the Ufa team in the decisive match of the semi-finals against Torpedo: her puck in the fifth minute of the match became the only one of the game and allowed Agidel to reach the final. Moreover, the hockey player scored 56 (13 + 43) points during the regular season and became the leading scorer. Sosina also became the best assistant in the regular season and became the owner of the best utility indicator +56.
