Gwyneth Philips, PWHL Ottawa's third round pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft discusses making the jump to pro hockey next year. Prior to the 2024 PWHL draft, Ottawa GM Mike Hirshfeld had shared that it was important that the team become bigger, grittier and more difficult to play against, and had alluded to selecting a defender high in the draft. While they accomplished both of those things, in selecting Danielle Serdachny and Ronja Savolainen in the first two rounds, they turned to improving their goaltending, by selecting Athens, Ohio native Gwyneth Philips with the 14th overall pick. “It was like, no words,” Philips recalled about hearing her name called by Ottawa. “I had no idea that I’d be going to Ottawa. I’ve heard so many good things about the city. I keep hearing that Ottawa has the best market,” Philips continued. “And everything I’ve heard, that’s so true. They have the best fans, the facilities are really great, so I’m just so excited to be there.” Philips is a graduate of Northeastern University and had an incredible career, boasting a career .958 save percentage and a .960 goals against average. Expect her to help challenge veteran Emerance Maschmeyer for starts throughout the season and to instantly elevate a position which needed to be addressed going into next season, especially considering the increased number of games played.
