11 former Bulldogs drafted into Provincial Women’s Hockey League

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - The all-new Provincial Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) held its inaugural draft on Monday.

The new league was created after The Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ (PWHP) Association and the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) reached an agreement to join as a “super league” at the end of June.

The six franchises already had the chance to sign three players in free agency, but teams had a chance to fill out the rest of their rosters through the draft.

The first pick of the draft went to the team out of Minnesota and they selected Minnesota native and former University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Taylor Heise.

A University of Minnesota Duluth product was selected second overall to Toronto in two-time All-American, two-time NCAA Champion, and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Jocelyne Larocque.

In the second round, Larocque’s Canadian National Team teammate for the 2022 Olympic Gold Ashton Bell was selected eighth overall to play for Ottawa.

Recent graduates Gabrielle Hughes and Emma Soderberg were drafted in the fourth and tenth rounds of the draft.

Seven other Bulldogs were selected to play in the league which is scheduled to begin in January 2024.

There will be 24 games played between the six teams across Canada and the United States.

Click here to download the Northern News Now app or our Northern News Now First Alert weather app.

Copyright 2023 Northern News Now. All rights reserved.