Toronto PWHL Roster Overview
Alright folks, it’s time: we are going over every PWHL roster and who these players are and how they got here. Today, we’re ending the series with Toronto, as we’re going alphabetical by city, and they’re fourth. In a previous article (which you can find just below this paragraph) you can see I wrote about each team’s initial free agency signings, so if you want to read about Toronto’s three signings, read about them there. In this article, all I will be doing is giving brief biographies about each player. I don’t expect these articles to be too long, so let’s get into it.
Anyway, let’s start with the defenders:
Allie Munroe: Playing four seasons for Syracuse University, Allie went pro in 2019. She would play for Djurgårdens IF of the SDHL for two seasons before returning to North America. From there, she played two seasons with the Connecticut Whale of the PHF.
Jocelyne Larocque: Winning two national championships with the University of Minnesota-Duluth, she would play four seasons with them. After that, she would bounce around for the next decade, spending time in the Western Women’s Hockey League, Alberta Elite Hockey League, and the CWHL. In the CWHL, she would win a Clarkson Cup with the Brampton Thunder. In the 2020s, she would stay with the PWHPA for three seasons. Internationally, she has represented Canada since 2011, and is the first indigenous person to play women’s ice hockey in the Olympic Games (2014). She has two Olympic gold medals and two World Championship golds. For silver medals, she has one from the Olympics, and six from World Championships, and also has one bronze from the World Championships.
Kali Flanagan: After four non-consecutive seasons for Boston College, Kali would go pro in 2019 and play in the PWHPA for two seasons. After that, she went to the PHF to play for the Boston Pride in their last seasons. Internationally, she has represented the USA from 2017-19. In that time, she won a gold medal in both the Olympic Games and World Championships.
Lauriane Rougeau: Before even entering college, Lauriane would win the Clarkson Cup with the Montreal Stars. After that, she went to Clarkson University, where her team lost in the championships to Larocque’s University of Minnesota-Duluth. After graduating, she went back to play for Montreal in the CWHL until the league folded. Then, she would play in the PWHPA for all four of its seasons. Internationally, she represented Canada from 2008-18, and it was in 2008 she was named “Best U18 Defender” by the IIHF. She would win a gold medal at both the World Championships and Olympic Games, and four silver medals at the World Championships along with one at the Olympics.
Maude Poulin-Labelle: This will be Maude’s rookie season, coming off five seasons of college hockey. The first four were played for the University of Vermont, and the final season with Northeastern University.
Olivia Knowles: After five seasons with the University of Minnesota, Olivia spent her rookie season last year with the Minnesota Whitecaps of the PHF. She has represented Canada twice internationally, on the U18 team. She won a silver medal both times.
Renata Fast: Winning a championship with Clarkson University, Renate went pro in 2016. She would play for the Toronto Furies for their last three seasons, before joining the PWHPA. Renata would play three non-consecutive seasons in that league. Internationally, she has represented Canada since 2017. She has three gold medals (one at the Olympics), three silver medals (one at the Olympics), and a bronze medal.
Moving on to goaltenders:
Carly Jackson: Playing five seasons in for the University of Maine, Carly would go pro in 2020 with the Buffalo Beauts of the PHF. She played two seasons in Buffalo before joining the Toronto Six and winning an Isobel Cup with them.
Erica Howe: After four seasons with Clarkson University, with whom she won a championship, Erica went pro in 2014. She would play five seasons with the Brampton Thunder (later, Markham Thunder) in the CWHL and win the Clarkson Cup once. Then, she would go onto play in all four seasons of the PWHPA. Internationally, she has represented Canada three times since 2010, only actually playing in two games. She does have a gold medal with the U18 team, and a silver medal with the adult team.
Kristen Campbell: She would play five seasons of college hockey. The first two were with the University of North Dakota, and the last three with the University of Wisconsin. As a member of the Wisconsin Badgers, she would win a national championship. She would then go pro in 2020 and play two non-consecutive seasons in the PWHPA. Internationally, she has represented Canada since 2015 in non-consecutive years. With the U18 team, she has a silver medal. Meanwhile, with the adult team, she has three gold medals (one being an Olympic medal), and a silver medal at the World Championships.
And finally, the forwards:
Alexa Vasko: Having played five seasons for Mercyhurst University, Alexa spent her rookie season with Team Sonnet of the PWHPA last year. Internationally, she has represented Canada once, on their U18 team, in 2017. She won a silver medal.
Blayre Turnbull: After four seasons with the University of Wisconsin, Blayre went pro in 2015, playing with the Calgary Inferno of the CWHL. She would win a Clarkson Cup with them. After the league folded, she joined the PWHPA and played in three of its four seasons. Internationally, she has represented Canada since 2016, having three gold medals (one at the Olympics), four silver medals (one at the Olympics), and a bronze medal.
Brittany Howard: Playing five seasons with Robert Morris University, Britanny went pro in 2018. She joined the Toronto Furies of the CWHL, and played with them in their final season before joining the PWHPA for three seasons. After that, she would go join the Toronto Six of the PHF last season and win the Isobel Cup.
Emma Maltais: This will be Emma’s rookie season after five non-consecutive years with Ohio State University. She has represented Canada internationally since 2016. She has three gold medals, one being an Olympic gold, and three silver medals, two being with the U18 team.
Hannah Miller: Playing with St. Lawrence University for four seasons, Hannah went pro in 2018 and joined the Chinese national team (at the time, known as Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays) who played in the CWHL at the time. After the CWHL folded, the team joined the WHL, Russia’s top women’s league. She would also play a short time with Djurgårdens IF in the SDHL in the 2021-22 season before returning to China. Internationally, she has represented both Canada and China. She won two gold medals with the Canadian U18 team, and placed first with the Chinese team in the Women’s Worlds Division 1, Group B tournament.
Jess Jones: After four seasons with Mercyhurst University, Jess would go pro in 2012, and has bounced around different leagues since. She has played for HK Pantera Minsk in the EWHL, Brampton Thunder in the CWHL, Buffalo Beauts in the PHF, and various PWHPA teams. Internationally, she has represented Canada once, on their U18 team, in 2008.
Jesse Compher: This will be Jesse’s rookie season, coming off five seasons of college hockey. She played the first four for Boston University, before transferring to the University of Wisconsin, with whom she won a national championship. Internationally, she has represented the USA on-and-off since 2016. She has three gold medals, two of which being with the U18 team, three silver medals, one of which being an Olympic silver.
Kaitlin Willoughby: After playing five seasons for the University of Saskatchewan, Kaitlin would go pro in 2018. She would play for the Calgary Inferno of the CWHL in their final season, and win the Clarkson Cup. After that, she would join the PWHPA for all four seasons of its existence.
Maggie Connors: This will be Maggie’s rookie season, coming off four seasons with Princeton University. Internationally, she has represented Canada once, on their U18 team, in 2018. She won a bronze medal.
Natalie Spooner: Having played four seasons for Ohio State University, Natalie has played professional hockey since 2012. She played for the Toronto Furies of the CWHL and won a Clarkson Cup with them in 2014. After the CWHL folded, she would play in the PWHPA for three of their four seasons. Internationally, she has represented Canada since 2008, having four gold medals (two being Olympic golds), seven silver medals (one being an Olympic silver), and a bronze medal.
Rebecca Leslie: Playing for four seasons with Boston University, Rebecca went pro in 2018. She spent her rookie season with the Calgary Inferno of the CWHL during the league’s final season, and won the Clarkson Cup. After that, she joined the PWHPA and played in all four of its seasons. Internationally, she has represented Canada once, in 2014, on its U18 team. She won a gold medal.
Samantha Cogan: Going pro in 2020 after four seasons with the University of Wisconsin, Samantha played in the PWHPA. She did join the KRS Vanke Rays of the WHL (Russia’s top women’s league) for the playoffs, before returning to the PWHPA the next season. Internationally, she has represented Canada twice, both times being on the U18 team. She won both a gold and silver medal.
Sarah Nurse: She played for the Wisconsin Badgers in college before moving on to professional club hockey. She played for the Toronto Furies in the CWHL for one season before three seasons in the PWHPA. In international hockey, she has four gold medals for Team Canada (one being on the U18 team), one silver, and one bronze.
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