PWHL San Jose’s Lily Shannon Wants to Be the Role Model She Never Had

When Lily Shannon was drafted by PWHL San Jose, she knew she wanted to talk about more than her next step in hockey.

Shannon grew up playing the game with hearing loss and didn't have many role models who shared that experience. At the 2026 PWHL Draft, she had an opportunity to speak to a much bigger audience about her own journey.

“I remember thinking this is my time to tell this big fan base watching a little bit about myself,” Shannon told The Hockey News.

After the draft, Shannon received messages from people thanking her for speaking about hearing loss. Some came from parents whose children had recently been diagnosed and were looking for someone their kids could look up to.

“To be able to help one person, that means the world to me,” Shannon said. “Parents saying, like, ‘My kid just got diagnosed with hearing loss and they now have a new role model to look up to.’ It's things like that that warm my heart.”

Shannon had begun sharing her experience at Northeastern, where she approached the school's media staff about doing articles on her story. The draft gave her a chance to reach people beyond the college hockey community, and she intends to keep talking about hearing loss as she begins her professional career.

“Going forward I'm going to keep striving to get my story out there and help whoever needs it,” she said.

Shannon wears hearing aids on the ice to help her hear whistles and communicate with teammates. Sweat can affect the devices' sound quality, though, making practices and games more difficult at times. She spent years figuring out what worked for her, including regular visits to an audiologist in Massachusetts to have her hearing aids dried out.

“It took a long time to find different strategies to help out,” she said.

When Shannon began her college career, the PWHL didn't exist. Watching the league grow and seeing players such as Alina Müller get drafted helped her recognize that professional hockey could be an option for her, too.

“As the years went on and the PWHL got bigger, more teams joined the league, I started to realize it could be a potential future path for me,” she said.

Now, Shannon will have the chance to continue her career in San Jose, signing a two-year contract ahead of camp, while reaching young players who may share some of her experiences. She's already heard from people in the Bay Area who want to connect with her as she prepares to move across the country. 

Shannon's college career prepared her to adjust to different roles on the ice. At Northeastern, she played everywhere from the fourth line to the first, contributed on the power play and penalty kill, and switched between center and wing.

During her junior season, she moved to right wing and played alongside Skylar Irving. The experience gave her a better understanding of a winger's responsibilities, which she carried with her when she returned to center as a senior.

“Playing wing, I really saw the other side of the game, in terms of the wingers' responsibilities and where they are supposed to be on the ice and what they are supposed to do,” Shannon said. “Going back to center my senior year I kind of had a better understanding of where my left and right wingers are, what they're supposed to be doing with my firsthand experience.”

Shannon also served as Northeastern's captain, taking a quieter approach to leadership and focusing on setting an example for her teammates.

“I'm not super loud. I want to get the team going, obviously, but I lead by example,” she said. Shannon was elected captain by her teammates, capping off a journey at Northeastern that began her freshman year as a walk-on to the hockey program. 

That versatility should be useful as San Jose builds its first roster. Shannon already knows several members of her draft class and will live with fellow rookie Tia Chan. She's planning to arrive in California early to spend time with her teammates before the season begins.

The move will also give her a different routine. After balancing hockey and academics at Northeastern, she'll be able to focus on the game full time and learn from teammates with international experience.

Shannon is excited about the move west for personal reasons, too. Growing up on the East Coast, she often said she'd like to play for an NHL team in California or Florida if given the choice. Now, she'll get to experience the West Coast while helping launch professional women's hockey in San Jose.

She expects the team to be competitive from the start, even as its players work to build chemistry.

“We're a super competitive team and we want to be grinders, gritty, and hard to play against,” she said. “I have a lot of faith in this team. Some people don't have faith outside the team but within the team we have a lot of faith in each other.”

For Shannon, the season will be a chance to establish herself in the PWHL and learn from a new group of teammates. She also plans to keep sharing her story, particularly with young players who may be navigating some of the same challenges she faced growing up.

“It means everything,” she said of being a role model. “To be able to help one person, that means the world to me.”