Photo Credit: Bruce Bennet/Getty Images
The National Women’s Hockey League has just had their first ever trade happen at the end of January. The Connecticut Whale traded their goaltender Chelsea Laden to the New York Riveters in exchange for goaltender Shenae Lundberg.
The NWHL has announced that a trade occurred between @CTWhale_NWHL and @NYRiveters today https://t.co/p2jbOWyM34 pic.twitter.com/k3u9st8L3s
— NWHL (@NWHL) January 27, 2016
Though new Riveter Laden has only played one game in net with the Whale she performed strongly and posted a 2.00 goals against average and a .947 save percentage. While in college at Quinnipiac University, Laden posted stats of a .923 save percentage and a 1.56 goal against average in 88 games played as a Quinnipiac Bobcat.
Laden will now join the Riveters in New York for the rest of the season, while Lundberg will go play in her place in Connecticut. Lundberg, who also only played one game with the Riveters, in a relief effort, posted a .875 save percentage in that game. In Lunberg’s last season of playing hockey at Union College, she posted a 2.95 goals against average and a .918 saver percentage, making over a thousand saves in that season alone.
Many fans were surprised when the NWHL announced the trade. While no-trade clauses exist within the league, many fans were also surprised of the move, since there had been little trade talk. This trade is the first of the NWHL but it won’t be the last, and it might not be the last of this season either. Now that one trade has been made it wouldn’t be out of the question that other teams might discuss making moves.
With the rest of the season ahead, Laden and Lundberg will join their new teams. and the league will continue to get on the ice and play. While there hasn’t been any new trade news yet, it might only be a matter of time.
