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    Ian Kennedy
    Ian Kennedy
    Jun 10, 2024, 23:11

    PWHL New York has selected Team Canada star and Princeton captain Sarah Fillier first overall in the 2024 PWHL Draft.

    PWHL New York has selected Team Canada star and Princeton captain Sarah Fillier first overall in the 2024 PWHL Draft.

    Ranked first throughout the 2024 PWHL season, Sarah Fillier was officially chosen with the first pick overall in the 2024 PWHL Draft.

    Fillier is a national team star with Canada having won Olympic and World Championship gold and being named a World Championship All-Star twice, including MVP at the 2023 tournament.

    Playing for Princeton in the NCAA this year, Filler had 30 goals and 43 points in 29 games.

    She's not however, a one-way player. Fillier competes hard on both sides of the puck.

    "I like to play a complete 200-foot game," Fillier told The Hockey News. "I know I'm relied upon in a lot of special situations. I try to play a really good and strong defensive game, be tough to play against and hopefully elevate all the players around me." 

    According to the PWHL's Hockey Operations department, Fillier is considered "A generational player with change of pace skating that makes her difficult to defend. Her game sense makes her a threat to create scoring in a variety of ways and will upgrade a team’s powerplay immediately.”

    A product of Georgetown, Ontario, the 5-foot-5 Fillier can play center or shift to the wing as she's done often internationally. 

    "Filly has, she's got an incredibly dynamic style of play, she has an offensive touch that is, I don't want to say generational, but almost," said Team Canada and PWHL Toronto general manager Gina Kingsbury of Fillier. 

    "She's very creative offensively, she's very dynamic, she's a true competitor, her personality may seem a little bit quiet and shyish, but she's got some killer instincts in a sense of she's a winner, she wants to score, she wants the pressure, she wants to be the best athlete in the world, she approaches everything she does off ice, on ice with that kind of killer instincts and that mindset. I think she's the full package, I really do. I think she's going to be successful in the women's game for many years to come."

    At the NCAA level, Fillier was recognized as a Patty Kazmaier Award finalist multiple times, and was the NCAA Rookie of the Year when she entered college hockey in 2018-2019.