The Sirens knew what they were doing when they picked Krist\u00fdna Kaltounkov\u00e1 first overall in the 2025 PWHL draft.<\/p>\n
Coach Greg Fargo owned the best scouting report out there on Kaltounkov\u00e1, whom he coached at Colgate for four years before taking the Sirens job ahead of the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n
She plays fast and isn\u2019t scared of physicality. <\/p>\n
The Sirens selected Krist\u00fdna Kaltounkov\u00e1 first overall in the 2025 PWHL draft. Noah K. Murray for New York Post<\/p>\n
Her sturdy 5-foot-9 frame allows her to play through contact and be a bully on the ice. \u201cA true weapon\u201d is what general manager Pascal Daoust called Kaltounkov\u00e1 after she signed a three-year contract before the season.<\/p>\n
The Sirens saw Kaltounkov\u00e1 as a pillar for the franchise\u2019s future alongside 2024 No. 1 overall pick Sarah Fillier. And halfway through her rookie campaign, the Sirens have to be feeling pretty good about their bet on the Czech forward.<\/p>\n
Kaltounkov\u00e1 entered the PWHL\u2019s Olympic break this week on a career-best four-game point streak. The rookie\u2019s two goals in Wednesday\u2019s 4-3 shootout loss to the first-place Boston Fleet made her the league-leading scorer with 11.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s still plenty of time for Kaltounkov\u00e1 to set the league\u2019s scoring record for a first-year pro (held by Fillier with 13 goals last season) and potentially the overall single-season scoring record, which stands at 20 goals (Natalie Spooner in 2024).<\/p>\n
That will have to wait, though, until the PWHL season resumes Feb. 26.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Kaltounkov\u00e1, a front-runner to follow in Fillier\u2019s footsteps and win Rookie of the Year, is one of six Sirens who are heading to the 2026 Milano Cortina Games to represent their countries. She\u2019ll be making her Olympic debut for Czechia.<\/p>\n
Krist\u00fdna Kaltounkov\u00e1 skates past Ashton Bell during the Sirens\u2019 road loss to the Goldeneyes on Dec. 6, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
Fillier will be playing in her second Olympics with Team Canada, and forward Kristin O\u2019Neill and goalie Kayle Osborne will join her in their first Winter Games. Maja Nylen Persson (Sweden) and Nicole Vallario (Switzerland) also received nods to play for their home countries.<\/p>\n
With the team dispersing for the next month, here\u2019s a look at some of the Sirens\u2019 midseason superlatives:<\/p>\n
MVP and top rookie<\/strong>: Kaltounkov\u00e1 captures both honors for the first half. But Casey O\u2019Brien, the No. 3 overall pick in 2025, deserves an honorable mention for the rookie honor. She\u2019s second on the team with 11 points (four goals and seven assists.)<\/p>\n Sirens captain Micah Zandee-Hart AP<\/p>\n Notable veteran presence:<\/strong> Micah Zandee-Hart had a chance to go home this offseason and play for expansion Vancouver. But she opted to stay to be the anchor of New York\u2019s defense. She is one of the most respected voices in the dressing room and one of the Sirens\u2019 most reliable blue liners.<\/p>\n Most improved:<\/strong> Taylor Girard, a third-year player, is on pace to have her best season yet. Her five goals \u2014 three of which came on a natural hat trick in the season opener \u2014 are already a career high. She has been a mainstay in the Sirens\u2019 rotation since joining last season from Boston \u2014 well, until her three-game suspension earlier this month for leaving the bench to join a brawl.<\/p>\n Best win:<\/strong> The Sirens\u2019 2-1 win Jan. 18 against the Montr\u00e9al Victoire in Washington. Was this the Sirens\u2019 most dominant win? No. That might have been the 5-1 win against Vancouver in the home opener Nov. 29.<\/p>\n But to get a win at a neutral site in front of a record crowd against one of the league\u2019s best teams is worth noting. Kaltounkov\u00e1 and Anne Cherkowski scored the goals, and Osborne stopped 31 of the 32 shots she faced.<\/p>\n Worst loss:<\/strong> The Sirens have yet to beat first-place Boston or the second-place Minnesota Frost. The worst loss, though, had to come on Dec. 6, when the Sirens gave up three goals in a lethargic first period against the Vancouver Goldeneyes and never recovered in a 4-0 shutout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sirens knew what they were doing when they picked Krist\u00fdna Kaltounkov\u00e1 first overall in the 2025 PWHL…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":560492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[48],"tags":[208447,208446,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-560491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-new-york-sirens","tag-pwhl","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115999970708193802","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}