NCAA-to-pro pipeline: Women’s hockey

The GIST: Women’s hockey is the moment, and so much of the sport’s meteoric rise has come from the PWHL’s glass ceiling–breaking inaugural season. The new league is giving college’s biggest stars a shot at their pro dreams — and growing the game for future NCAAers.

The pipeline: The PWHL’s second-ever draft went down on June 10th, when the six teams chose 42 athletes from a pool of 167 eligible players across seven rounds. Of the 61 eligible NCAA alum, 28 were drafted, meaning 2.5% of the 1,119 players on last year’s Division I (DI) ice are now pros. The undrafted athletes became free agents and are eligible to sign contracts at a later date.

• As for those currently in the league, a whopping 91% of last season’s 157 PWHL players are NCAA alum — and Boston’s and Minnesota’s teams consisted of only former college players.

The names: The PWHL’s first-ever draft pick in 2023 was a former NCAA star — Minnesota’s Taylor Heise — and this year’s No. 1 overall pick followed in her footsteps: Princeton alum Sarah Fillier is headed to PWHL New York.

• Reigning national champ Ohio State led all schools with eight (!!!) draft picks this year, followed by 2024 Frozen Four squad Colgate with five.