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Metropolitan Riveters 2021-22 Season Preview

ByDan Rice|
The New York Riveters of the National Womens Hockey League jersey to fight cancer hangs in the lockerroom prior to the game against the Connecticut Whale on October 25, 2015 in Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The New York Riveters of the National Womens Hockey League jersey to fight cancer hangs in the lockerroom prior to the game against the Connecticut Whale on October 25, 2015 in Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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Metropolitan Riveters
A member of the Riveters of the PHF. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

This weekend (November 6-7) the Metropolitan Riveters begin their seventh season as a professional hockey team. One of the Founding Four teams of the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), the Riveters won their lone Isobel Cup championship in 2018, raising the trophy at the Barnabas Health Hockey House in Newark, New Jersey after beating the Buffalo Beauts 1-0.

This offseason, the NWHL rebranded and changed its name to the Premier Hockey Federation, or PHF, and while there will be expansion coming very soon, this season will remain with six teams competing for the Cup. The Riveters will once again compete against the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Minnesota Whitecaps, and Toronto Six.

Now, obviously, this is a New Jersey Devils website but this season the Riveters will once again be playing games in Newark and I wanted to hopefully reach out to potential new fans (and current ones of course) with a bit of a season preview/introduction to the team. Feel free to drop any questions to me on Twitter, more than happy to help spread the word.

A big question I hear a lot is “why aren’t they the New Jersey Riveters?”. Well, that’s because their roots are from Brooklyn, New York where they played in the inaugural season. Throughout their existence, they’ve played their home games in various rinks across New Jersey and New York. Season 1 was Brooklyn. Seasons 2-4 were in Newark. Season 5 was in Monmouth Junction. Season 6 was in Lake Placid. They’ve also practiced in various rinks across the two states. The Riveters are trying to be as inclusive to as many fans as they can within the NY-NJ metropolitan area. Why limit yourself, right?

Their first two home games this season (Nov. 6-7) will be at Mennen Arena in Morris County, New Jersey. That is the home of the NJ Colonials, a program that has so many development roots with Riveters players (both current and former), and other players in the PHF. All 20 of their regular-season games will be played on weekends. Their final eight home games (starting on Nov. 20-21) will be back in Newark at the Devils’ practice rink, where their 2018 Championship Banner still hangs.

There are two instances where both the Devils and Riveters will be home on the same day: December 19, Boston at Rivs (3:45 pm) Pittsburgh at Devils (7:00 pm), and March 12, Minnesota at Rivs (5:30 pm) Anaheim at Devils (7:00 pm). Hopefully, the Devils promote it as a doubleheader of hockey and possibly move one of the Rivs games to the main rink. It’s been done before.

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