The Montreal franchise of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF) continued building its first roster for the circuit’s inaugural season by selecting Canadian defender Erin Ambrose with the sixth pick in the league’s very first draft, which took place Monday afternoon.
Ambrose, from Keswick, Ont., represented the country at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, after playing three seasons in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, including two in Montreal. Last year, she played for Team Sonnet in the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association league.
The general director of the Montreal team, Danièle Sauvageau, held the last place in the first round of this historic draft.
She then selected Canadian forward Kristin O’Neill, from the Cornell University program.
The 15 planned rounds will be held according to this formula.
Sauvageau established the foundations of his team by signing center Marie-Philip Poulin, forward Laura Stacey and goalkeeper Ann-Renée Desbiens on the free agent market about ten days ago. Sauvageau then hired Kori Cheverie as head coach.
The six-team league is scheduled to launch next January. Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, New York and Minnesota obtained the other concessions.
Heise makes history
American center Taylor Heise made history by becoming the very first player drafted by the Minnesota team. Heise is a native of the same US state and spent five years with the University of Minnesota hockey program.
Toronto has set its sights on Manitoba defender Jocelyne Larocque, a veteran of the Canadian national team who played with the Adidas Professional Hockey Players’ Association team last season.
In third place, Boston chose the first European in Alina Müller. The Swiss plays at center and comes from the Northeastern University program. She also played for the Zurich Lions of the National Women’s A League and represented Switzerland at the last three Olympics.
The New York team selected Canadian defender Ella Shelton. A graduate of Clarkson University, she notably represented Canada at the Beijing Olympics.
Just before Sauvegeau drafted a first player, Ottawa chose American defender Savannah Harmon.
Also from Clarkson University, she represented the United States at the Beijing Olympics. Harmon played last year in the league set up by the Professional Players Association.