PWHL: 42 Players Primed To Join the Next Class of Women’s Hockey Stars
The best women’s hockey players in the world traveled to Minnesota for the 2024 PWHL Draft on Monday, June 10. The inaugural season’s success influenced some of the top players from the IIHF and NCAA to declare for the draft, loading the player pool with star talent.
Over the first season of the new league’s presence, the PWHL repeatedly set new highs with record attendance in the six locations. After 72 regular season games, the league released a final attendance record of 392,259 fans, with an average attendance of 5,448 and highlighted sell outs in Toronto’s Scotia Bank Arena and Montreal’s Bell Centre, which packed an international women’s hockey record 21,105 fans in to watch Montreal host Toronto.
The first round featured six of the NCAA premiere names, with four players from the ECAC and two players from Ohio State. Hockey Canada forward Sarah Fillier, who led the team in goal scoring at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, was the number one overall pick by New York. At Princeton, Fillier finished the 2023–24 season third in the NCAA in goal scoring, which ranked her as ECAC First-Team All Conference, ACHA Second-Team All American, and finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award given to the NCAA’s best player.
Forward Daniele Serdachny, another budding Hockey Canada name who scored the overtime game winning goal to secure Gold in the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship, was selected second overall by Ottawa. Like Fillier, Serdachny was a front runner for the Patty Kazmaier Award after being the runner-up in 2023. This season, Serdachny finished 4th in the NCAA in assists, 5th in total points, and 10th in goals scored which placed her on the ECAC All Conference First-Team and a ACHA First-Team All American. Serdachny also captained the Colgate Raiders to their fourth consecutive ECAC Tournament Championship.
Former Princeton Tiger, Claire Thompson, was third off the board by the host team and inaugural Walter Cup Champions, Minnesota. Thompson graduated from Princeton in 2020, after being the Captain and securing the school’s first conference title in the 2020 ECAC Championship. She also appeared alongside teammate Sarah Fillier in the 2022 Olympic Games, and played most recently for the PWHPA Team Sonnet.
Boston and Montreal used the fourth and fifth picks to draft 2024 NCAA National Champions from the Ohio State Buckeyes back to back, sending forward Hannah Bilka to Boston and defenseman Kayla Barnes to Montreal. Both Bilka and Barnes represented Ohio State on the WCHA All Conference First-Team. Bilka finished 2023–24 with 48 points in 39 games, totaling 22 goals and 26 assists as an ACHA Second-Team All American. Barnes tallied 36 points in 39 games from the Buckeyes blue line. She was also a WCHA All Conference First-Team selection with 11 goals and 25 assists.
The ECAC’s Julia Gosling rounded out the first round, selected sixth overall by Toronto. The forward from St Lawrence joined Hockey Canada at the IIHF Women’s Worlds for the first time after being recognized on the ECAC All Conference Second-Team. Gosling ranked top 15 in the NCAA in goals, assists, and points following a 51 point season on 22 goals and 29 assists. The 5’11” forward will add skill and speed to Toronto’s offense in her first season as a professional.
With the 20th and 21st picks, Ottawa selected Stephanie Markowski and Minnesota selected Brooke McQuigge. Markowski and McQuigge both played for the NCAA Clarkson Golden Knights during their undergraduate seasons before Markowski transferred to Ohio State, where they spent their freshman year as roommates in the Ross Dorm. McQuigge Captained the Golden Knights to the Frozen Four this season where they were knocked out by Markowski and the Buckeyes. Markowski went on to win the 2024 National Championship with her new team before declaring for the PWHL Draft. Lauren Bernard, who played her first two NCAA seasons with Clarkson and final three seasons with Ohio State, was drafted 24th overall by Toronto, and Dominique Petrie who played her graduate years at Clarkson with Markowski and McQuigge was drafted 27th overall by Minnesota.
The NCAA led the rankings with 28 players being drafted from U.S. based college teams. Ohio State lapped the field with eight of their players heading to the PWHL next season. Six colleges saw multiple players have their names called, while six other schools had one player represented: Ohio State (8), Colgate (5), Northeastern (3), Clarkson (2), Wisconsin (2), St. Lawrence (2). The Swedish Women’s Hockey League (SDHL), had nine players drafted, making up the second largest number from any league across the world. Most players from the SDHL represented various international teams at the IIHF Women’s Worlds, showing the stardom shift that the PWHL’s success has started to quake worldwide.
Written by: Casey Ditzel
