The Professional Women’s Hockey League roster is in the making as the league begins to officially take shape. For New York fans, there is peak interest in who will make the PWHL New York team.
On Sept. 1, all teams were granted access to sign three players, each team’s “Big Three”. New York general manager Pascal Daoust signed two American forwards, Alex Carpenter and Abby Roque, along with Canadian defenseman Micah Zandee-Hart.
Alex Carpenter is a 29-year-old Center who played at Boston College for four seasons, captaining the team her senior year. She has played in two Olympic games, 2014 and 2022, and in eight IIHF World Championships. Most recently, she wore the ‘A’ for Team USA in the 2023 World Cup.
Given her credentials, Carpenter has a high chance of being the first captain of the New York PWHL club.
Abby Roque is a 26-year-old American born winger, attending and playing at the University of Wisconsin for four years. Roque put up an impressive 170 points in 155 games during her time at Wisconsin. She will be key to New York’s offense. Roque is also a member of Team USA during international events.
The last of New York’s signings was Micah Zandee-Hart, an alumna of Cornell University. Zandee-Hart was also the captain of the team in 2019-20. Shewill play a big role of being a leader on the defensive side of the game, but can contribute offensively as well, amassing 87 points in 125 games for Cornell.
On Sept. 18, the first ever PWHL Draft was held where the original six teams of Minnesota, Toronto, Boston, New York, Ottawa and Montreal each picked 15 players.
With the fourth overall pick in the draft, New York selected 25-year-old defenseman Ella Shelton.
Shelton played her college hockey at Clarkson University from 2016 to 2020, captaining the team in her senior year. Since graduation, she has been playing for Team Canada in international events.
In 38 games for her native country, she has scored five goals and has 23 points, including two IIHF World Championship gold medals and one Olympic gold in the 2022 games.
With their sixth round pick, the team selected Corinne Schroeder, a 24-year-old Canadian goaltender. Schroeder will no doubt be the starting goalie for New York. She was the PHF goalie of the year last season with the Boston Pride.
Her stats were exceptional; in 22 games she held a 19-1-0 record with a .955 save percentage and a 1.67 goals against average. Schroeder also led the league in shutouts with seven.
New York ended the 15-round draft with nine forwards, four defensemen and two goalies selected. Some work will need to be done to complete a full roster. But with these selections New York will be a team to reckon with.