# 2022–23 Women's League season

The 2022–23 Women's League season was the 37th ice hockey season of the Swiss Women's League (abbreviated PFWL or SWHL A).

## Teams

After winning the 2022 SWHL B championship, the HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls (HCAP Girls) were promoted to the Women's League.
| Team | Coach(es) | Location | Arena | Capacity |
| HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls | Dmitri Zygurow, Mario Gendotti | Quinto | Nuova Valascia | 6,675 |
| SC Langenthal Ladies | Ruedi Minder, Nicola Minder | Langenthal | Schoren Halle | 4,320 |
| Ladies Team Lugano | Benjamin Rogger, Pasi Koppinen | Lugano | Cornèr Arena | 7,200 |
| HC Université Neuchâtel Dames | Yan Gigon, Mike Gosselin, Thierry Bourquin | Neuchâtel | Patinoire du Littoral | 7,000 |
| EV Bomo Thun | Thomas Zwahlen, Petra Melicheríková | Thun | Kunsteisbahn Grabengut | 4,000 |
| Hockey Team Thurgau Indien Ladies | Emanuel Karrer, Monika Leuenberger | Kreuzlingen | Bodensee-Arena | 4,300 |
| ZSC Lions Frauen | Angela Frautschi, Christoph Scherrer | Zürich | Kunsteisbahn Oerlikon | 1,700 |

## Regular season

The regular season started on 17 September 2022 and ended on 19 February 2023. The regular season was played four-cycle round-robin, that is to say that each of the seven teams played four games against each opponent for a total of 24 matches. The first four teams in the regular season ranking went on to compete in the best-of-five playoffs.
In the postseason, the three teams at the bottom of the table competed in a ranking round. Unlike previous seasons, the champion of the SWHL B was given the opportunity to be promoted directly to the Women's League for the 2023–24 season, in order to raise the number of participating teams to eight. The runner-up of the SWHL B championship played a league qualifier against the loser of the Women's League ranking round. In the event the SWHL B champion did not wish to be promoted, the runner-up would have had the option to be promoted directly and no Women's League team would be relegated. In the event both the SWHL B champion and runner-up did not wish to be promoted, there would have been no relegation from Women's League to SWHL-B.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | ZSC Lions Frauen | 24 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 122 | 39 | +83 | 63 | Advance to Playoffs |
| 2 | EV Bomo Thun | 24 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 109 | 30 | +79 | 60 | Advance to Playoffs |
| 3 | Ladies Team Lugano | 23 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 61 | 48 | +13 | 39 | Advance to Playoffs |
| 4 | HT Thurgau Ladies | 24 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 61 | 78 | −17 | 33 | Advance to Playoffs |
| 5 | SC Langenthal Ladies | 24 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 47 | 66 | −19 | 30 | Advance to Ranking Round |
| 6 | HC Université Neuchâtel Dames | 23 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 52 | 89 | −37 | 18 | Advance to Ranking Round |
| 7 | HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 44 | 146 | −102 | 6 | Advance to Ranking Round |

### Statistics
#### Scoring leaders

The following table shows the top-ten point scorers at the conclusion of the regular season. If two or more skaters are tied (i.e. same number of points, goals, and played games), all of the tied skaters are shown.
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Maija Otamo | EV Bomo Thun | 24 | 26 | 27 | 53 | 14 |
| Estelle Duvin | EV Bomo Thun | 23 | 20 | 27 | 47 | 37 |
| Skylar Fontaine | ZSC Lions Frauen | 23 | 15 | 24 | 39 | 9 |
| Sinja Leemann | ZSC Lions Frauen | 24 | 15 | 21 | 36 | 10 |
| Lisa Rüedi | ZSC Lions Frauen | 24 | 11 | 25 | 36 | 36 |
| Alina Marti | ZSC Lions Frauen | 24 | 12 | 19 | 31 | 12 |
| Katie Cipra | ZSC Lions Frauen | 24 | 16 | 10 | 26 | 8 |
| Stefanie Marty | EV Bomo Thun | 18 | 8 | 17 | 25 | 8 |
| Cindy Joray | EV Bomo Thun | 23 | 11 | 13 | 24 | 18 |
| Simona Grascher | Hockey Team Thurgau Indien Ladies | 22 | 15 | 8 | 23 | 14 |

#### Leading goaltenders

The following table shows the five goaltenders who led the league in goals against average while playing at least 40% of their team's minutes, at the conclusion of the regular season.
| Player | Team(s) | GP | TOI | GA | GAA |
| Alexandra Lehmann | EV Bomo Thun | 13 | 632 | 11 | 1.05 |
| Jade Dübi | EV Bomo Thun | 16 | 812 | 19 | 1.41 |
| Sandy Heim | ZSC Lions Frauen | 17 | 864 | 24 | 1.67 |
| Sofia Decristophoris | Ladies Team Lugano | 20 | 1216 | 37 | 1.83 |
| Caroline Spies | SC Langenthal Ladies | 24 | 1404 | 59 | 2.52 |

## Playoffs
### Bracket

| Semi-finals (best-of-5) | Semi-finals (best-of-5) | Semi-finals (best-of-5) | Finals (best-of-5) | Finals (best-of-5) | Finals (best-of-5) |
| 1 | ZSC Lions Frauen | 3 | | | |
| 4 | Hockey Team Thurgau Indien Ladies | 0 | | | |
| 4 | Hockey Team Thurgau Indien Ladies | 0 | 1 | ZSC Lions Frauen | 3 |
| | | | 2 | EV Bomo Thun | 2 |
| 2 | EV Bomo Thun | 3 | 2 | EV Bomo Thun | 2 |
| 3 | Ladies Team Lugano | 1 | Game for 3rd place (best-of-1) | Game for 3rd place (best-of-1) | Game for 3rd place (best-of-1) |
| | | | 3 | Ladies Team Lugano | 1 |
| | | | 4 | Hockey Team Thurgau Indien Ladies | 3 |

### Semi-Finals
#### (1) ZSC Lions Frauen vs. (4) Hockey Team Thurgau Indien Ladies

* ZSC Lions Frauen won the series 3–0.

#### (2) EV Bomo Thun vs. (3) Ladies Team Lugano

* EV Bomo Thun won the series 3–1.

### Game for 3rd place

* Hockey Team Thurgau Indien Ladies won the game and finish at the 3rd place.

### Finals

* ZSC Lions Frauen won the series 3–2.

### Team of Swiss champions

Goalkeepers: Laura De Bastiani, Sandy Heim
Defense: Nele Bachmann, Alessia Baechler, Skylar Fontaine, Nina Harju, Janine Hauser, Jana Peter, Dominique Scheurer, Aurela Thalmann
Offense: Sara Bachmann, Katie Cipra, Chiara Eggli, Nora Harju, Naemi Herzig, Kristina Kontny, Sinja Leemann, Renee Lendi, Alina Marti, Lisa Rüedi, Jessica Schlegel
Coaching: Angela Frautschi, Christoph Scherrer

## Ranking round

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | SC Langenthal Ladies | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 9 | +16 | 12 | Saison Ended |
| 2 | HC Université Neuchâtel Dames | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 22 | −8 | 5 | Saison Ended |
| 3 | HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 20 | −8 | 1 | Advance to Relegation round |
HC Fribourg-Gottéron Ladies were crowned champions of SWHL B and, therefore, were promoted to the Women's League. The runner-up of the SWHL B finals, HC Tramelan Ladies, declined the opportunity to compete for promotion to the Women's League and, as a result, HC Ambrì-Piotta Girls kept their place in Women's League.

## Awards

* Most Valuable Player : Sinja Leemann (ZSC Lions Frauen)
* Best forward : Estelle Duvin (EV Bomo Thun)
* Best defender : Skylar Fontaine (ZSC Lions Frauen)
* Best goalkeeper : Sandy Heim (ZSC Lions Frauen)
* Best rookie : Alena Lynn Rossel (EV Bomo Thun)
* Best coach : Thomas Zwahlen (EV Bomo Thun)