Story and File Photos by Janet Schultz©, NY Hockey
(Editors Note: This season NY Hockey Online Magazine will be focusing on Western New York women’s ice hockey. However, any connection players in other areas of New York and beyond have with WNY will also be covered. We make this change as covering the entire state in-depth has become a challenge with only three reporters and one photographer. Press releases are still very welcome from all hockey venues.)
PWHL
The Professional Women’s Hockey League dropped their first puck on January 1, 2024. They played a half season and then held their 2025 draft this past June. The PWHL is preceded by the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) and the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).
The league, now owned by the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises, began with six team and then expanded the league by two more this year. The original six teams, Boston Fleet, Montreal Victoire, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, Minnesota Frost and Toronto Sceptre, were joined by the PWHL Seattle and PWHL Vancouver.
New York played in the first game of the PWHL on January 1 against Toronto. Ella Shelton of New York had the first PWHL goal and the Sirens won the first game of the new league. Toronto finished first overall after the short season. However it was Minnesota defeating Boson and winning the first-ever Walter Cup Championship. Natalie Spooner won the League’s first-ever MVP as the league’s leading scorer. Taylor Heise led the playoffs in scoring and took the post season MVP.
Then came the 2025 PWHL Draft. Held at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Ottawa, Kristyne Kaltounkova was the first overall draftee taken by New York. She is from Czechia and played at Colgate University where she was tapped the NCAA All Time Leading Scorer with 111 points.
Rochester’s Hayley Winn went second overall to Boston, coming from Clarkson University. Winn played for the Bishop Kearney Selects.
New York made the first trade by sending Ella Shelton to Toronto for Toronto’s first choice and third overall. They took Casey O’Brien the Patty Kazmaier Awardee from the University of Wisconsin.
Other New York Sirens selections included Forward Anne Cherkowski (Clarkson University), Forward MacKenna Webster (Ohio State), Defender Dayla Ross (St. Cloud University), Forward Maddie Wheeler (Ohio State), Goaltender Callie Shanahan (Boston University), Forward Anna Bargman (Yale) and Goaltender Kaley Doyle (Quinnipiac).
There were several draftees with New York State connections including from Clarkson University Nicole Gosling; Colgate University: Katoun Kova and Hannah Murphy; Cornell University: Rory Guilday and Lily Delianedas; St. Lawrence: Abby Hustler and Anna Segedi both to Minnesota;
WNY’s Brooke Becker was drafted by Minnesota. Becker played for the WNYGVIH Frontier/LakeShore/Orchard Park team and then went to Providence College to play for the Frairs.
Fairport’s Kiara Zanon went to Toronto in the second round.
Already rostered by the PWHL from WNY are Katy Knoll of Rochester and Natalie Buchbinder of Fairport with the Minnesota Frost and Hayley Scamurra and Maureen Murphy both from Buffalo and playing for Montreal.
New Hartford’s Sydney Bard is with Vancouver and Conger’s Abigail Levy is in Boston.
Boston’s Aerin Frankel is from Chappaqua and skated at the Westchester Ice Arena before playing for Shattuck St. Mary’s. She played for the New York team before being signed by Boston.
NY has signed Sara Fillier and Allyson Simpson to two year contract extensions and signed Savanna Norcross, Lauren Bernarce, Kayla Vespa, Jiney Roese and Taylor Girard to one-year contracts.
Another WNY connection is Goaltender Carly Jackson who spent played for the NWHL/PHF Buffalo Beauts and is currently with Minnesota.
The PWHL recognized several players with their 2025 awards. Named BJK MVP as well as Forward of the Year was Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin. Defender of the Year honors went to Toronto’s Renata Fast. Ann-Renee Desbiens was named Goaltender of the Year for her play with Montreal and Rookie of the Year went to New York’s Sarah Fillier. Montreal’s Head Coach, Kari Cheverie, was named Coach of the Year. Montreal’s Laura Stacey was named the PWHL Hockey For All honoree.
The League’s first All Star teams were announced:
First Team All Stars: Forwards Sarah Fillier (NY), Hilary Knight (BOS), Marie-Philip Poulin (MTL); Defenders Renata Fast (Tor), Sophie Jaques (Min) and Goaltender Ann-Renee Desbien (MTL).
Second All Star Team: Forwards Kendall Coyne Schofield (MIN), Tereza Vanisova (OTT) and Daryl Watts (TOR); Defenders Ella Shelton (NY) and Claire Thompson (MIN) and Goaltender Aerin Frankel (BOS).
All Rookie Team: Forwards Britta Curl-Salemme (MIN), Sarah Fillier (NY), Jenn Gardiner (MTL); Defenders Cayla Barnes (MTL) and Anna Wilgren (MTL) and Goaltender Gwyneth Philips (OTT).
Impact Awards went to Jaime Lee Rattry (BOS), Nicole Hensley (MIN), Amanda Boulier (MTL), Emmy Fecteau (NY) Rebecca Leslie (OTT) and Allie Munroe (TOR).
This coming season the PWHL will schedule 30 games for each team with two games being played in Sweden. They will take a 19 day break for he 2026 Winter Olympics. Playoffs will begin May 7 with the Finals scheduled for May 26. Minnesota will be looking to defend their championship.
College
Buffalo State University
Head Coach Rachel Grampp begins her fifth season with the Bengals coming off the most conference wins since 2019-20. Williamsville’s Vanessa Willis logged 6 goals and 18 assists to lead the Bengals in scoring. Willis played for the WNYGVIH Williamsville team.
The Bengals will be hosting their Buffalo State Golf Classic on August 4 at Pendleton Creek Golf Club.
Hilbert College
Brian Becker was named Head Coach in February, replacing interim Head Coach Emma Knoll. Becker comes from St. Francis High School Prep where he served as head coach from 2021-2024. He also served as head coach of the Lockport Express NA3HL team.
Hilbert continues to grow its program, now in its 4th year as a NCAA team. With that said there are some records to acknowledge with Goaltender Jewely Monford making over 500 saves, Tia Card with 1,200 career saves and Brooke Thompson making 74 saves in a single game against Buffalo State.
This year’s Coach’s Award went to Perry’s Brooke Kwiecien, MVP honors went to Izabelle Wagner and Card.
NY’ers on the roster include Alexandra Heyden of Henrietta and Kelsey Fuller of Rome. The freshmen recruits have not yet been announced.
St. John Fisher
It’s the Inaugural Season for St. John Fisher with a familiar name at the helm. Head Coach Scott McDonald (at RIT) comes from Niagara University, where he played defense for four years. then he coached the women’s ice hockey program at Rochester Institute of Technology and served as the Rochester Jr. Amerks Girls Hockey Director and College Hockey Advisor. McDonald joins Fisher after three years as the player development coach of the Bishop Kearney Selects Girls Hockey Program. In addition, he is owner/leader of Maverick Hockey Development, where he designs custom hockey development programs for all Rochester Area youth hockey organizations.
Assistant coach is Georgiana Santullo who played five seasons with Utica College and then played in Italy.
The team opens on the road at Neumann College on October 31. Their first-ever home game will be held against William Smith on November 8. They will play at the Rochester Ice Center in Fairport.
St. John Fisher will be part of the United College Hockey Conference (UCHC) league.
Nazareth
Twenty-two Nazareth women’s ice hockey players were named to the UCHC All Academic team including three who have been recognized five times. Those honors went to McKinely Huff, Julia Holmes and Kate Cascio.
NY natives named were: Cascio (Oceanside/Bishop Kearney Selects), Brooke Terry (Massena/Ottawa Jr. 67s), Brooke Judkiewicz (East Concord/Barrie Jr Sharks), MacKenzie Garrow (Akwesasne/Malone Adk 46ers),
Julia Holmes received Academic All District honors from the College Sports Communicators.
Nazareth College awards went to Amy Laskowski, Rookie of the Year.
The team was also recognized for the Best Social Media Post of the Year with their post on women’s hockey road trip and goal trouble.
Holmes was also cited for Best Career Accomplishments. Her and Laskowski were named to the East Third Team All American by CCM Hockey/American Hockey Coaches Association.
The team took the UCHC Championship after a 3-2 win over Utica College and then ended their season in the NCAA Quarterfinals with a 1-0 loss to Middlebury. They posted a 21-7-1 overall record under seventh season Head Coach Chris Baudo.
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
Head Coach Celeste Brown enters her sixth season as coach of the Tigers. After a 16-17-4 overall record the Tigers open September 26 against Post University at home.
The team has selected Emma Pickering and Jordan Fahrny as team captains for the upcoming season with Lexi Sung. Addie Alvarez (Rochester/Syracuse Valley Eagles) and Linda Rulle serving as alternate captains. Alvarez was the top scorer in 2024-25 with 6 goals and 26 assists for 32 points.
WNY native Cam Brownschildle will be entering her senior year this fall.
NY Hockey sends condolences to RIT on the passing of Stu Hughes a 47-year member of the arena staff. Hughes served as Ice Operations Manager at both the Frank Ritter Arena and the Gene Polisseni Center. He passed of cancer at 64 years of age on July 15.
Note that ticket sales are on right now for RIT men’s and women’s ice hockey. Call 585-475-4121.
RIT had a number of D1 Krampade All American Scholars this past season including Kylie Aquaro, Sarah Coe, Jordan Fahrny, Kailey Favro, Bronwyn Khangsar, Emma Pickering, Linda Rulle and Misa Tsilernas. Seventeen were named to the Atlantic Hockey All Academic Team.
Jordyn Bear was named AHA Best Defensive Forward.
The Tiger’s season ended with a 4-0 loss to #1 Penn State in the AHA semi-finals.
Other
Looking at the ACHA teams from WNY for 2025-26 it looks as though Niagara University will once again have teams in the D1 and D2 divisions with Oswego, RIT and Brockport icing D2 squads.
Last season NU’s D2 teams posted a 13-8-1 record and their D1 team was ranked 8th with a 11-10-2 record.
Brockport posted a 4-7-0 record last season and RIT a 3-5-2 record.
The University of Buffalo’s team did not play last season.
On rosters from the WNYGVIH league in the ACHA are Reece Honadle from Monsignor Martin for RIT and Skylar Berube from Niagara County for NU.
…Cortland Red Dragon’s Head Coach Rick Filighera will be entering his 10th season in 2025-26. Cortland opens with an exhibition game against Nazareth on October 18 at 1 p.m. at home.
…Niagara County’s Kayla Persinger of Youngstown is playing for Cortland, as is Fairport’s Katie Diem.
…Buffalo’s Sarah Waskielewicz is on the Elmira Women’s Ice Hockey Team.
…Lauryn Brown (Eden/WNYGVIH HEWS) was named an ACHA All American Scholar, as was Rochester’s Emma Corbett.
…Kendal Kalinowski (Buffalo/Buffalo Bisons) was received SUNYAC Commissioner’s Academic honors. She plays for SUNY Morrisville.
…Congratulations to Sara and Hannah Barrett on their graduation from Potsdam, where they also played ice hockey. The Barretts played for the HEWS team in the WNYGVIH Federation. They both received SUNYAC academic honors this past season.
…Also playing for Potsdam is Olivia Visco of West Seneca who played for Nichols High School. She also was the recipient of SUNYAC academic honors.
…Plattsburgh’s Tessa Morris (Grand Island/Nichols) was named to the D1 Krampade/American AHCA Hockey Coaches Association All American Scholar honor list.
…Lara Beecher, Buffalo, has transferred from the University of Vermont to Clarkson University where she will play ice hockey this coming season. She is a senior.
…Haley Winn graduated from Clarkson and was named to the Academic All Academic At Large Team.
…Riley Andzel (West Seneca) will enter her junior year at SUNY Canton. Andzel played five years for the WNYGVIH Federation HEWS team. She served as team captain with HEWS and was named to First Team All Fed.
…Madison Mallone (Lockport) played for WNYGVIH Niagara County and will play her sophomore year at Canton. In her high school career she was named to First Team All Fed, Player of the Year for her team and took the Coaches Award.
WNYGVIH
Along with several players named in the collegiate stories above, several have made college commitments for the upcoming year. (They may not be playing hockey.)
Cady Kowalow will play for Northeastern University after a successful career with Lancaster/Iroquois/Depew and then the Bishop Kearney Selects.
Bella Jayme, a familiar name with Kenmore/Grand Island/Lockport has committed to Cortland for the upcoming season.
Danielle Cottrell will be attending Ithaca College. Cottrell played for St. Mary’s of Lancaster.
Georgia Mango will be playing Lacrosse at SUNY Oswego. Mango played for Clarence/Amherst Sweethome (CASH)
Frontier/Lakeshore/Orchard Park’s Maya Griffin will be playing lacrosse and soccer at Youngstown State.
FLOP’s Lila Cudney will be attending SUNY Canton where she will play ice hockey for the Roos.
Hamburg/Eden/West Seneca’s (HEWS) Samantha Miller will be attending Buffalo State University. Katlynn Wittschack and Kayla Pelc will be attending SUNY Cortland.
KGi’s Natalie Kopf will be attending RPI; Isabelle Bourgeault, Cortland; and Jullian Hager, Oswego.
Avery Hall, goaltender for St. Mary’s of Lancaster will be playing ice hockey at Johnson and Wales; Riley Kumrow will be playing ice hockey at Kings College; Alana Pagano will be attending the University of South Carolina; Samantha Hatt, Niagara University; Emma Babcock, Niagara University.
Williamsville’s Sophia DePrima will be attending Sacred Heart College.
Williamsville’s Mia Wendel played four seasons at Yale University and will now move on to Sacred Heart to play her graduate student year. The goalie is working on her MBA.
(Please note, some of this may have changed since I received information at the end of the hockey season and rosters for most colleges have not been posted. If player is playing a sport other than hockey, I did not have that information. Looking forward to any help so email me at Janet@nyhockeyonline.com You know I welcome your assistance.)
