Jessie Eldridge and Kayle Osborne both played their NCAA hockey in New York State - Photo @ PWHLEight NCAA Division 1 women's hockey programs call New York State home. Last season the fledgling PWHL New York played a handful of games on Long Island, but this year, the league has moved out of the state with the New York Sirens playing in Newark, New Jersey.
With the PWHL heading to Buffalo this weekend for the PWHL Takeover Tour however, much focus has been placed on the strong programs developing many of the PWHL's top players from the state.
The NCAA's New York based programs include ECAC programs Cornell, Colgate, Clarkson, St. Lawrence, RPI, and Union; Syracuse from the AHA; and Long Island University from NEWHA.
Those schools are well represented in the PWHL. Clarkson has 12 alumni in the league including Renata Fast, Erin Ambrose, Ella Shelton, Savannah Harmon and Jamie Lee Rattray. There are eight Colgate alumni, including Danielle Serdachny and Jessie Eldridge in the league. From Cornell, six alumni including Brianne Jenner, Jaime Bourbonnais, Izzy Daniel, Micah Zandee-Hart, and Kristin O'Neil are in the league. St. Lawrence also has six alumni in the PWHL including Hannah Miller and Julia Gosling. It means more than 20% of the PWHL has played collegiately in New York State.
It's a list that will grow yet again next season through the PWHL Draft as players like Kristyna Kaltounkova (Colgate), Nicole Gosling (Clarkson), Anne Cherkowski (Clarkson), Haley Winn (Clarkson), Rory Guilday (Cornell), and Abby Hustler (St. Lawrence) all look to join the PWHL.
Puck drop for the PWHL's Takeover Tour in Buffalo at 4pm on February 23.