The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) will make a definite impact on the new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), which begins its inaugural season of play in January, as a total of 60 former WCHA standouts have been listed on the PWHL’s training camp rosters.
 
The PWHL will open its training camps at its six league affiliates on Nov. 15 with a total of 185 players being invited to the camps  in preparation for the league’s inaugural season.  The teams in the league include Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto.
 
“Training Camps are the next step towards our inaugural season and provide an opportunity for all players to showcase their abilities, and in some cases, earn a roster spot on one of the PWHL’s original six teams,” said Jayna Hefford, PWHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations. “This is an exciting phase for all of our organizations and an important part of the team building process from both an evaluation standpoint and for establishing cohesion in their pursuit of a championship.”

Teams were permitted to bring a minimum of 28 players and up to a maximum of 35 players to camps.  All teams will have final rosters set by December 11 that must include 23 players signed to Standard Player Agreements, plus two Reserve Player Contracts.

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Wisconsin's Carla MacLeod to Coach Ottawa PWHL Team Former University of Wisconsin standout Carla MacLeod has been selected as the head coach for the PWHL's Ottawa franchise.  An All-WCHA and All-American defender during her college tenure from 2001 to 2005, MacLeod is a member of the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame and posted 13 goals and 66 assists at UW.   MacLeod comes to PWHL Ottawa on the heels of coaching Czechia to historic back-to-back bronze medals at the 2022 and 2023 IIHF Women’s World Championships – the country’s first medals as part of the tournament’s top division. The success earned her a three-year extension with the national team that will take her through the 2026 Olympics. The Calgary, AB native spent the last two seasons as head coach of the University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team, and prior to that, was an assistant coach with Team Japan from 2012-14 and led the U18 Female Prep Team at Edge Hockey beginning in 2014. MacLeod is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2006, 2010) with Canada and won four IIHF Women’s World Championship medals (1 Gold, 3 Silver), earning MVP in 2009. She competed at the club level with the Calgary Oval X-Treme, both as an independent team and as part of the WWHL, winning the league championship in 2007 and 2008.

Listed below are the former WCHA players invited to PWHL training camps this month. 

MINNESOTA:
Lauren Bench, UM and BSU
Abigail Boreen – UM
Sydney Brodt – UMD
Natalie Buchbinder, UW
Claire Butorac – MSU
Michela Cava, UMD
Clair DeGeorge, BSU
Maggie Flaherty, UMD
Brittyn Fleming. MSU
Taylor Heise, UMS
Sophia Kunin, UW
Amanda Leveille, UM
Patti Marshall, UM
Sidney Morin, UMD
Kelly Pannek, UM
Maddie Rooney, UMD
Liz Schepers, OSU
Catie Skaja, UM
Lee Stecklein, UM
Susanna Tapani, UND
Grace Zumwinkle, UM

MONTREAL:
Madison Bizal, OSU
Catherine Daoust, UMD
Ann-Renee Desbiens, UW
Blanka Skodova, UMD

TORONTO:
Kristen Campbell, UND and UW
Mellissa Channell, UW
Jesse Compher, UW
Samantha Cogan, UW
Olivia Knowles, UM
Jessica Kondas, MSU
Jocelyne Larocque, UMD
Emma Maltais, OSU
Sarah Nurse, UW
Natalie Spooner, OSU
Blayre Turnbull, UW

NEW YORK:
Emily Curlett, OSU
Johanna Fallman, UND
Elizabeth Giguere, UMD
Paetyn Levis, OSU
Abbey Levy, MSU
Savannah Norcross, UM
Madison Packer, UW
Abby Roque, UW
Kassidy Sauve, OSU

OTTAWA:
Ashton Bell, UMD
Emily Clark, UW
Jincy Dunne-Roese, OSU
Gabrielle Hughes, UMD
Katerina Mrazova, UMD
Daryl Watts, UW

BOSTON:
Hannah Brandt, UM
Emily Brown, UM
Jess Healey, UMD
Sophie Jaques, OSU
Hilary Knight, UW
Cami Kronish, UW
Gigi Marvin, UM
Sophie Shirley, UW
Emma Soderberg, UMD