Torrent drop finale in shootout, lose chance for top pick in PWHL draft
Sold-out Climate Pledge Arena was rainbow-hued on Saturday night, but the Torrent were hoping for gold in their season finale.
Singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile dropped the ceremonial puck to kick off Pride Night, which culminated in a six-round shootout. Captain Hilary Knight scored to extend it, but the Torrent fell 2-1 and lost the right to the first-overall pick in the 2026 draft as decided by the PWHL's Gold Plan."
The Torrent would have preferred this be a playoff tuneup, as it was for their opponent. The Montreal Victoire needed Saturday's win to hold off the Boston Fleet and enter the postseason as the top-overall seed.
While the Torrent's inaugural season drew large crowds, the on-ice results fell short. The Torrent entered the season surrounded by high expectations but finished 9-16-5, last in the eight-team league and 13 points behind the Ottawa Charge, who took the final playoff spot.
Montreal coach Kori Cheverie noted that even though it was first place against last place closing the PWHL regular season, the teams played to "the bitter end."
The Torrent sold out Climate Pledge Arena for the second time in their inaugural season. They averaged 12,876 fans over 13 games at their home barn and drew under 10,000 fans only twice, in their second and third games at CPA back in December.
The Torrent, New York Sirens, Vancouver Goldeneyes and Toronto Sceptres missed the postseason. The team that accrued the most standings points post-elimination wins the No. 1 pick in the next PWHL draft as part of the league's "Gold Plan" setup.
The Torrent entered Saturday with four Gold Plan points to the Goldeneyes' three. Vancouver won in overtime in its own finale, so Seattle needed at least the same result to secure the top-overall pick.
The consensus top pick is Caroline Harvey, 23, who recently became only the third defender to win the Patty Kazmaier Award as the NCAA's top player at Wisconsin. She was also named the tournament MVP of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics while winning gold with Team USA, alongside Torrent players Knight, Alex Carpenter, Cayla Barnes and Hannah Bilka. Harvey finished with two goals and seven assists, tied with teammate Megan Keller for the most points in the tournament.
While Harvey would be great, the top four teams in the 2026 PWHL draft should be able to select an immediate impact player. Laila Edwards, 22, was the first Black woman to play hockey for the U.S. at the Olympics and made the tournament All-Star team. She took the shot Knight redirected to tie the gold-medal game against Canada and send it to overtime. She played alongside Harvey for two-time defending national champion Wisconsin.
Two more members of Team USA, Abbey Murphy (Minnesota) and Tessa Janecke (Penn State), are in most media outlets' top-five rankings for the upcoming draft, which usually takes place in June. The league is expected to announce another round of expansion before the draft, which could affect the order.
In their season finale, the Torrent spent a good bit of time killing penalties over the first 40 minutes. They finished off three garden-variety power plays, but the Victoire capitalized on 1:16 of 5-on-3 time. Abby Roque beat goalie Corinne Schroeder in the top corner, stick side, midway through the second period.
"Maybe could (have) put the whistles away a bit, and let us all play 5-on-5 a little bit more," Roque said of the officiating, even though she benefitted from it. "But that's hockey."
It took until midway through the third period for Carpenter to get it back, this time on a Torrent power play. After several near-misses, Carpenter plucked a rebound out of the mess and buried it.
Carpenter led the Torrent in goals with 12, and tied for the team points lead with Julia Gosling (20).
The announced 17,151 fans in attendance saw the Torrent season extended five extra minutes as the teams ended regulation tied at 1. After a scoreless overtime, Carpenter and Gosling sent the puck wide on Seattle's first two shootout chances. Montreal scored, so it was up to Knight to prolong the shootout and she did.
Carpenter went again, and missed again. Next went Seattle defender Aneta Tejralova, a bold choice that didn't net a winner.
Knight went again in the sixth round and her shot was stopped. Lina Ljungblom scored to seal the victory for the Victoire.
Schroeder made 35 saves through overtime for Seattle. Ann-Renée Desbiens made 23 for Montreal.
Barnes called it "an incredible first year" of Torrent hockey.
"We love each other very much, and are sad to see our season come to an end," Barnes said. "We hope that a lot of girls are back next year, because I think we all had such a great time.
BOX SCORE
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This story was originally published April 25, 2026 at 11:40 PM.