Jane Kuehl is entering the 2026 PWHL Draft with hopes of following the path of other recent Princeton grads to the professional ranks.
As PWHL expansion ramps up, a record number of college athletes are entering the upcoming draft. For Jane Kuehl, her decision to enter came two months after securing a post-grad job in New York City.
It was during the quiet month of January, when Princeton was on break, and there was only hockey, that Kuehl decided she couldn’t leave it behind.
“I really decided this is something that like I love playing,” Kuehl said. “I love going to practice every day. I don't want my love for the game to end right now.”
Kuehl finished her senior season with 13 goals, 27 points and 13 blocks—her strongest. yet. She’s intent on going into every shift with what she calls a “fast, fun energy.”
“I don't want to take a shift for granted, because I love it so much,” Kuehl said.
In the last semester, she’s gained “poise and swagger” with the puck on her stick, something she’s matched with characteristic speed and energy. She also stepped up as an alternate captain in her final year.
“The last couple months of playing I really just wanted to soak in Princeton hockey and play for my team,” Kuehl said, “and then now since the season has been over I'm definitely working on some aspects of the game that I need to be working on in order to even compete next year.”
After deciding to declare, she began training with Issy Wunder, who is estimated to go in the first round of the draft. It’s brought the pair closer over hours of additional skating and weight-training.
“We can kind of bounce off each other and help give each other feedback and what we think we could do better, and honestly just having fun with it,” Kuehl said.
Kuehl grew up in Minneapolis, where she won two state titles with the Edina Senior Varsity team. When she went to Princeton, the team felt like family, a feeling only extended by the fact that she played on the same line as her sister Annie, a 2024 Princeton graduate.
"I remember coming, and I felt like there was already a family within the team," Kuehl said, "and I think the culture here was so good that, yeah, I had my sister, but I feel like I had a bunch of sisters as well."
Princeton’s program also has unique ties to the PWHL, given that former head coach Cara Gardner Morey became general manager of the Vancouver Goldeneyes last year and current head coach Courtney Kessel was head coach for the Boston Fleet in its initial two seasons.
“I feel like we have a lot of understandings of the professional woman's hockey space that [Kessel] comes and translates to our game on the ice, which I think is advantageous for girls who want to pursue professional hockey to come here and be coached under the best coaches here,” Kuehl said.
When Kuehl walks into Princeton’s storied Hobey Baker Memorial Ice Rink, alumni who went to the NHL are everywhere, with just a few women recognized, those who played at the international level. Soon there will be a PWHL section for the first time. Kuehl hopes to be a part of that legacy.
“Knowing that that's a possibility for us college athletes, but then also high school [and] younger girls. I think that's kind of full circle and it gives a player a purpose to play,” Kuehl said.