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When the NWHL season started, few people expected Jenny Scrivens of the New York Riveters to see much ice time, especially considering her teammate Nana Fujimoto was the league’s highest-paid netminder.

In addition to there being a clear number one goalie in New York, Shenae Lundberg, a standout at Union College, turned quite a few heads in the Riveters’ exhibition games. When the NWHL season got underway it was obvious that Scrivens was the third goalie on the team’s depth chart.

But Scrivens proved throughout the 2015-16 season that she was a lot more than a key member of the league’s public relations department, a reality television star, and a social media darling.

Scrivens proved she was an invaluable, albeit unorthodox, goaltender that more than held her own when her team needed her most.

Scrivens, who is turning 28 this upcoming June, was several years removed from her college hockey days at Cornell when she stepped into the crease for the Riveters. When both Fujimoto and Lundberg went down with their injuries in the regular season, Scrivens became the default starter. It was Fujimoto who earned all four of the Riveters’ regular season wins, but when Scrivens was in the crease she stood tall for New York.

In over 240 minutes of regular season hockey, she posted a 0.902 save percentage on the team that allowed the most goals in the NWHL’s inaugural season. She was able to make herself big in net, which was successful with her hybrid style. Her habit of making scrambling, desperate saves had diehard fans at Aviator Sports and Events Center cheering and shaking their heads in disbelief.

Scrivens’ inspiring work ethic and refusal to quit while playing behind her hardworking and “collapse first, ask questions later” team helped her shine. But it wasn’t just the regular season where Scrivens made her mark on the ice for the league’s flagship franchise.

While playing in over 95 minutes of playoff hockey, Scrivens was likely the team’s most valuable player of the postseason. She earned the start over under-the-weather Nana Fujimoto in game one against the eventual Isobel Cup Champion Boston Pride.

During her postseason appearances, she posted an impressive 0.910 save percentage and there are some who believe that New York might have avoided a playoff sweep if they had started her in game two.

Her performance against the best offense in the league cannot be understated. Scrivens was exceptional when the games mattered most.

#ScrivensSave#NWHL#IsobelCup pic.twitter.com/vVAvpkRnHZ — NWHL Gifs (@nwhlgifs) March 5, 2016

Off the ice, Scrivens was just as impactful on the skeleton crew that operated out of the league’s headquarters in New York, in her public relations role.

After being eliminated by the Pride along with the rest of the Riveters, she was in Newark a week later helping to put on the production that was the Isobel Cup Finals between the Boston Pride and the Buffalo Beauts. When she wasn’t on the ice turning heads, she was promoting and helping run the league, and when she wasn’t working she was traveling to Montreal to watch her husband play for the Montreal Canadiens.

As often happens, the expectations of Scrivens’ role prior to the season were well exceeded by the reality of her impact.

While she was asked to juggle her many roles this year, she managed to make something abundantly clear while she was on the ice; above all else, Jenny Scrivens is a hockey player.