Boston PWHL Roster Overview
Alright folks, it’s time: it is time to start going over PWHL rosters and try to gain a bit of an idea of what you could expect to see from these teams. Today, we’re starting with Boston, as we’re going alphabetical by city. In a previous article for paid subscribers (which you can find just below this paragraph) you can see I wrote an article about each team’s free agency signings, so if you want to read about Boston’s three signings, read about them there. In this article, I’ll give very brief biographies about each player, and then a general takeaway or two just looking at the broader roster. I don’t expect these articles to be too long, so let’s get into it.
PWHL Free Agency Recap (2023)
While the free agency period still has a few days to go, all the spots have been filled. All six PWHL teams had three spots they could fill, and each has now done so. Over the last few days each team has revealed their franchise cornerstones, and now I can release this article in full. So, today, we are looking at each player signed during the initial free agency period for this new league.
Anyway, let’s start with the defenders:
Emily Brown: Going into her second season of professional hockey, she played five seasons of college hockey with the Minnesota Golden Gophers (and was captain for the last two) and played for Team Sonnet of the PWHPA last year. She has played internationally once for Team USA in 2016 in the Junior Championships, where she won a gold medal.
Emma Buckles: Like Emily Brown, Emma Buckles is going into her second season of professional hockey. She played four years of college hockey with Harvard, and played for Team Sonnet in the PWHPA last season. She’s also only played in international hockey once, playing in the Junior Championships in 2017, and winning a silver medal with Team Canada.
Jess Healey: She has only played in international hockey once, in 2014, winning a gold medal with the Team Canada’s U18 team. After that, she would go to play with the University of Minnesota-Duluth for four seasons. From there, she would go to Sweden to play with HV71 for three seasons, and was named team captain in her second. Last season, she came back to North America, playing for the Buffalo Beauts.
Jessica DiGirolamo: In what has been a clear trend, so far, here is another young defender going into her second professional season. Last year, she played for Team Adidas in the PWHPA. Before that, she played five seasons for Syracuse University, being named team captain in her fourth season.
Megan Keller: In college, she played for Boston College, and led a defensive unit that was so good, that in 2015-16, BC had 14 shutout victories. When it comes to club hockey, she has experience in the PWHPA. In international hockey, she's helped Team USA win six gold medals, and four silver medals.
Sophie Jaques: Coming straight out of college, we have Sophie Jacques. She played five seasons for Ohio State, won a national championship in 2022, also being awarded as the WCHA Final Faceoff Most Outstanding Player for her efforts during the tournament. In 2022, she was the first Buckeye to be a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award (awarded to the best female ice hockey player in the nation), before winning it in 2023.
Moving on to goaltenders:
Aerin Frankel: The current starting goaltender for Team USA, and in her young international career, has one gold medal and two silver medals. She doesn’t have any club experience, but in college, with Northeastern, she did win the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best female goaltender in college along with the WCHA National Goalie of the Year award, twice.
Emma Söderberg: While Frankel’s international career is still young, Söderberg’s is not. She has played for Team Sweden since the 2014-15 season. She has won one bronze medal and “Best Goaltender” honors in World Junior Championships. She’s also had two seasons of professional hockey, both before she played college hockey. Her two seasons of professional hockey were in the SDHL (Sweden’s top women’s hockey league) for MODO Hockey. After that, she went to the University of Minnesota-Duluth for five seasons.
And finally, the forwards:
Alina Müller: She has a long international career, going back to the 2012-13 season for Switzerland. She has the honor of being the youngest ice hockey player ever to win a medal at the Olympic Games, winning a bronze at age 15 (2014 Sochi Olympics). She has also been awarded at the Olympics for being the top forward. In non-international hockey, she has won two SWHL championships with ZSC Lions Frauen and played for Northeastern University for five seasons. This upcoming season is her first playing professionally in North America.
Hannah Brandt: Having played for Team USA since 2010, she has won five gold medals, including one of them being as a member of USA’s U18 team, and three silver medals as well. In college, she played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers and won three national championships, and was named WCHA Player of the Year in 2015. After that, she played two seasons in the NWHL (later renamed as the PHF) for the Minnesota Whitecaps and won a championship with them. Then, she would play three seasons in the PWHPA, and now for the PWHL.
Hillary Knight: The all-time leading USA scorer. She won two national championships with the Wisconsin Badgers. Also, while in college, she was awarded NCAA Tournament MVP (2011). In club hockey, she’s played in the CWHL, NWHL (later PHF), and PWHPA. She won two championships in the CWHL and one in the NWHL. In 2013, she was awarded the CWHL Most Outstanding Player Award. In international hockey, she has 10 gold medals, 7 silver medals, and was the IIHF World Women's Championship Tournament MVP in 2015.
Jamie Lee Rattray: This highly decorated veteran forward is not only accomplished at ice hockey, but ball hockey as well. She won a bronze medal with Team Canada at the 2017 Ball Hockey World Championship, and was the tournament’s top scorer. In ice hockey, she played four seasons in college for Clarkson, where she led the team to their first national championship in 2014 and won the Patty Kazmaier Award for being the top female ice hockey player in the NCAA. She would go on to play five seasons in the CWHL for the Brampton Thunder (later Markham Thunder) and would win the Clarkson Cup in 2018. After that, she would play three seasons in the PWHL. Internationally, she’s played for Team Canada since the 2008-09 season, and has four gold medals (one with the U18 team), three silver medals (one with the U18 team), and a bronze medal.
Loren Gabel: Boston fans already know quite well who this is. She was the PHF MVP last season, for the Boston Pride, and Newcomer of the Year. In college, she played for Clarkson and won two straight NCAA championships and was awarded the Patty Kazmaier Award (for being the best women’s ice hockey player in the NCAA). She would go on to play in the PWHPA for three seasons before joining the PHF last year. She has played internationally once for Team Canada in the 2018-19 season, winning a bronze medal at the World Championships.
Shiann Darkangelo: She’s played all over the place, never sticking around too long anywhere. She played two seasons at Syracuse University before transferring to Quinnipiac. After that, she would play two seasons in the NWHL (later the PHF), one year for the Connecticut Whale and then the Buffalo Beauts. She would then join the CWHL and play for the Kunlun Red Star for one season before joining the Toronto Furies the next. She would then join GTA West of the PWHPA for one season before spending the next three seasons in the PHF with the Toronto Six and serving as their captain. Internationally, she has played twice for Team USA, winning a gold medal both times.
Sophie Shirley: Playing one season in the CWHL with Calgary Inferno (and winning Rookie of the Year honors), she would go on to play five seasons with the University of Wisconsin. With the Badgers, she would win three national championships. She has also played internationally twice with Team Canada’s U18 team, winning two silver medals, and in 2017 being named the tournament’s top forward at the World Championships.
Tatum Skaggs: After playing four seasons with Ohio State, she went pro in the 2021-22 season, going over to Europe. She would play part of the season with EHV Sabres Wien of the EWHL, before transferring to Djurgårdens IF of SDHL. Last season, she played for Team Scotiabank of the PWHPA.
Taylor Girard: After playing five seasons in the NCAA (three with Lindenwood, two with Quinnipiac), she would go on to be drafted first overall in the 2021 PHF draft by the Connecticut Whale. She would play two seasons with the Whale before the league got bought out.
Theresa Schafzahl: Having played for Austria internationally since the 2014-15 season, she has also been playing professionally since 2013, starting in DEBL2 and DEBL, before working her way to the top league, EWHL, in 2015. In 2018, she would come to North America to play college hockey for University of Vermont for five seasons.
So, taking a step back, what are my thoughts on this roster in general? Defense, defense, and more defense. General manager Danielle Marmer clearly knows how gifted offensively each team will be, so she zeroed in on defense. Not to say this team lacks offensive ability, that’s far from the truth. The forward core is full of goalscorers who play with speed and skill. Heck, look at the defense, Keller and Jacques should be two of the best offensive-minded blue-liners in the league. But, you also look at this forward core and realize that most of these forwards are, at bare minimum, solid defensively, if not elite. Having a forward core of two-way players was clearly a priority. Then, defensively, you look at the rest of the defenders without the last names “Keller” and “Jacques”, and they’re all stay-at-home defenders who are elite defensively. We haven’t even talked about the goaltenders yet: Frankel, a two-time NCAA goaltender of the year, and Soderberg, who was the best goaltender at the most recent World Championships. The identity of this team is defense, with some skill and speed.
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