The Metropolitan Riveters open play on Sunday as they head to Boston to take on the Pride on Sunday at 2:00 pm. Coming into the new season, the Rivs will have a new look roster as only three players from 2021-22 are returning, and those players are Captain Madison Packer, Kelly Babstock, and Kendall Cornine, all of who are forwards. When asked about the team’s overhaul, Packer said, “Just the ability to focus on different things. We have a lot of weapons in the arsenal, we have a lot of players who are good at specific things, specifically in me looking over at the course of the last couple seasons, I got a ton of ice time and played in a lot of different situations, that maybe took away from my ability to produce in others, less is not always a bad thing, I think I may get less ice time, but I got a lot of good people who are going to take those opportunities that were falling on me it takes a lot of pressure of and makes it more fun” said Packer. The shift to American Dream has also helped from a player’s perspective. According to Packer, “We get our own locker rooms, so we don’t have to carry our bags back and forth ever, and that’s a huge plus as players are concerned, and we have all our facilities right there, it’s much more like you’re going to the office every day.”
Some new additions to the Riveters include former Olympian Amanda Pelkey, who spent the previous three seasons in the PWHPA. The Riveters went fishing and wheeled in a few players from the Whale in Kaycie Anderson, Cathrine Crawley, and Taylor Marchin. In goal, the Rivs will roll with Eveliina Makinen and Rachel McQuigge. Makinen went 15-3 with a 2.27 GAA, and .905 save percentage, and three shutouts in the SDHL last year. She has spent the previous four seasons in the SDHL. McQuigge comes to the Rivs after spending four years at Princeton. Last season she went 10-14-4 with a whopping 1.88 GAA and a .938 save percentage, along with four shutouts. Those numbers were good enough to make her one of 12 finalists for the Women’s Hockey Commisonner Association goaltender of the year.
Coming into a new season will be a new head coach in Venla Hovi, who played in three Olympics, taking home a bronze medal in two of them. She also spent a year with the Calgary Inferno in the CWHL. Hovi spent the last two seasons as a head coach in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League. One of the big things that Hovi touched on was that she wants her players fresh, and that’s one of the reasons the team only holds morning practices, “I don’t want them there after an eight-hour work shift because that puts hockey second, I wanted to kind of shift the thinking to that we should practice in the morning, and whoever is going to work is going to work but I get them after a good night’s sleep, and they are practicing at a higher level” said Hovi. The team has players/coaches from six different nations, and that’s huge for Hovi, “It’s obviously a huge step forward, there are other leagues out there who have been successful at bringing in players from different countries, for example, the Swedish league, but I personally know that the US and Canada are the best in Women’s Hockey, I’ve been waiting on the opportunity to see some of the best Europeans playing in North America, in a smaller ice surface, playing a faster game overall and that will help them overall when they go home and play for their national teams, she also said you’ll see improvement in those European players and the season progresses” said the Riveters head coach.
However, Ivo Mocek is staying with the Rivs as he will be the Associate Head Coach and Hovi talked about having the former Riveters bench boss on her team, “It’s helped a lot for sure, Evo’s connections within the league and the knowledge across the board on players in the league helps us a lot, even though I know a lot of players, there’s a few I didn’t know for sure, and it’s very beneficial and knowing the ins and outs of how the team used to operate in finding a way of making a few slight changes to head in the right direction and being able to it with someone who’s very passionate about women’s hockey is very refreshing” said Hovi.
