(Toronto) Defender Erin Ambrose on Monday became the first player to be selected by the Montreal team in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (LHPF) draft.
General manager Danièle Sauvageau had the sixth and final pick of the first round, and had warned earlier that she would probably set her sights on a defender. In fact, players at this position were in demand in this draft, representing four of the six selections in the first round.
Ambrose, 29, has been a member of the Canadian senior team since 2017. She competed at the PyeongChang and Beijing Olympics, winning silver and gold, respectively. She also accompanied Canada to five world championships.
She also spent two seasons with the defunct Montreal Canadiennes for two seasons. “I’m going home,” she told The Press moments after learning the identity of his new team.
Like the other athletes selected in the first round, she was welcomed on stage by Mme Sauvageau, but also by Billie Jean King, co-founder of the league, as well as by Jayna Hefford, director of the circuit.
With Montreal having the first pick of the second round, the metropolitan team immediately selected Kristin O’Neill, a 25-year-old striker also from the national team.
The small forward (5 ft 4 in) described as a “relief” the prospect of joining Marie-Philip Poulin and Ann-Renée Desbiens, already hired as free agents, rather than having to face them. In 2020-2021, after graduating from Cornell University, the Ontarian trained at Center 21.02, located at the Verdun Auditorium, in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. She said she was excited to come back to Montreal to have the chance to discover it for good.
Around a hundred players gathered in Toronto with family members and representatives of LPHF teams for this inaugural LPHF draft.
American Taylor Heise was the very first to hear her name. Fresh from the university ranks, the 23-year-old striker has already represented her country twice at the world championships, notably helping the American team to win the title in the last presentation of the tournament. She will now wear the colors of the Minnesota team, her native state.
Toronto then caused a relative surprise by selecting Jocelyne Larocque. The defender, veteran of the Canadian team and triple Olympic medalist, was expected a little later by the main experts who had ventured into predictions.
Boston subsequently made Alina Müller the first European player in the league’s young history. Aged 25, this Swiss striker has already participated in three Olympic Games.
In the next row, the New York team and its general manager, Quebecer Pascal Daoust, chose Ella Shelton, a 25-year-old defender also from the Canadian national team. Ottawa continued with American defender Savannah Harmon.