The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) recently concluded a very successful first season, with Minnesota taking the title over Boston as the championship round went the full five games.
Playing a big role in Boston reaching the final was Saskatoon’s Sophie Shirley. This is someone that our area’s minor hockey players are familiar with as Sophie and her sister Grace were the main speakers at the first Pack the Barn: A Celebration of Female Hockey in Warman in December 2021.
Sophie Shirley was drafted 63rd overall by Boston. A Saskatoon Stars alumni, she played at Wisconsin University, winning multiple NCAA National Championships. Prior to going to college Shirley was named the CWHL’s Rookie of the Year in 2018 after playing with the Calgary Inferno as a teenager. Shirley then went on to play at the University of Wisconsin, where she was seemingly the heart and soul of the women’s hockey team, winning three NCAA championships, and was a two-time finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award as the NCAA’s best player. She was named to Team Canada’s Rivalry Series roster, when Canada closed out the 2023-2024 Rivalry Series against Team USA including games played in Saskatoon and Regina.
She got to play with one of her heroes, another Saskatoon Stars and Wisconsin Badger alumni, Emily Clark.
Emily Clark has been a Team Canada standout and was the first-ever signing by Ottawa along with Team Canada teammates Brianne Jenner and Emerance Maschmeyer.
In a Hockey Sask story she shared what the newly formed league means to our province:
“It’s really awesome and nothing but good things for these girls in Saskatchewan to see that professional hockey is a route that they can aspire to take,” said Clark.
In the same way Clark had been inspired as a young girl. In 2022 after winning an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada in Beijing she shared on social media a signed photo of the 2002 gold medal winning Team Canada photograph. Clark explained: “I got to meet Dana Antal after she helped Hockey Canada win Canada’s first Olympic Gold. I had this up in my room growing up. I took what she said to heart and proud to have helped bring this home. The message signed by Antol said, ‘Go for gold’.”
Shirley and Clark were not the only Saskatchewan athletes who had an impact on the inaugural PWHL season.
Kaitlyn Willoughby (Prince Albert) who played with the U18 Prince Albert AAA Bears, and later the U of S Huskies where she had 111 points in 132 games, played for the university. While undrafted she received an invite to Toronto’s camp where she earned a spot on the final roster. Her tenacious play made her valuable in checking the opponents’ top lines and on the penalty kill.
Another Prince Albert product in the league was Brooke Hobson, who was drafted 45th overall by New York. A stalwart on defence. She played five years for the NCAA Division I Northeastern Huskies. In her senior year she was captain, guiding Northeastern to their first championship appearance, where they lost to Sophie Shirley’s Wisconsin Badgers 2-1 in an epic overtime game.
U of S Huskies hockey alumni Chelsea Purcell, a Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, product was senior director of corporate sponsors for the PWHL.
The excitement of the league can provide inspiration for the next generation.
Two area players recently signed to play with the Saskatoon Stars, the same team that Clark, then Shirley, had played for.
Martensville’s Sadie Green, who starred for the Warman U15AA Wildcats, scoring 36 goals and adding 31 assists in 27 games to lead the Sask U15AA League in scoring, signed to play in the 2024-25 season.
Joining her is Wildcats teammate Ayla Anderson of Warman.
Last year both the Warman U13AA and U13A Wildcats won Saskatchewan Female Hockey League titles. There is a lot of talent being displayed on the ice as female hockey continues to grow. Perhaps we are watching some future PWHL stars in action.