Five underrated NCAA prospects to watch in 2025’s PWHL Draft
The IX: Hockey Friday with The Ice Garden, April 4, 2025
Hello everyone, I am Angelica Rodriguez from The Ice Garden welcoming you to another edition of Hockey Friday! NCAA season has just wrapped up, with Wisconsin an unbelievable eighth-time national champion after picking off Ohio State in overtime 4-3. Those of you who rock with us over at The Ice Garden may have already seen the podcast episode hosted by Geremy, with all three NCAA girlies – Emma Sullivan, Giselle Velazquez, and myself – sharing our thoughts on the entire tournament and the semi-controversial result in the national championship game. If not, please check it out – it was a lot of fun to put together!
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With Worlds coming up and some of the projected top talent in this year’s PWHL draft (such as Abbey Murphy, Haley Winn, and Lacey Eden) about to play on the international stage, I think it’s time we put an eye on some of the players who might fly a little more under the radar. I’ve chosen one player from each conference to focus on, and tried my best to go down the least obvious routes possible. I’ve also weighed in with my NCAA staff to make sure the choices made sense. So here goes.
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WCHA: Emma Gentry, St. Cloud State
St. Cloud isn’t one of those teams known for its scoring prowess, so that will be a big part of the reason why Gentry will slide off the board somewhat. Still, at a commanding 5’11” (which she uses to her advantage in a physical conference like the WCHA), she can certainly provide some size and strength to a team that might be lacking in both those areas. She’s also decent in the faceoff dot, she can play heavy minutes if needed, and she has national team experience from her time on Team USA during U18s as well as in the Six Nations Tournament.
ECAC: Abby Hustler, St. Lawrence University
This might be controversial for those of you who follow ECAC Hockey, but then again it might not be – although St. Lawrence had another strong season and made a tournament appearance, they still aren’t quite top of mind when it comes to their skaters. Hustler is an excellent playmaker fresh off a second-team all-ECAC nod and a 39-point season on a team that forced less than three goals per game. Moreover, she led the team with four game-winning goals, meaning she can score in the moments that count most (think Danielle Serdachny during last year’s Worlds). I think she can provide excellent depth scoring.
Hockey East: Abby Newhook, Boston College
Newhook took well to the NCAA in her first season, leading all first-years in scoring and earning Hockey East Rookie of the Year honors in 2021. She’s gotten looks from Hockey Canada, but nothing has stuck – still, I wouldn’t count her out as far as fulfilling a role on a PWHL team. She’s been a solid leading scorer for the Eagles throughout four seasons, and she can kick it up a notch particularly in high-pressure situations.
NEWHA: When I asked for suggestions for this conference – this poor, sweet, just-trying-their-best conference – let’s just say it was pretty cricket filled in the group chat. Simply put, there are too many young teams freshly turned D-I to have any standouts amongst their graduate ranks. Yet. That’s not to say some might be coming down the pike, but unfortunately we don’t have a large sample size currently.
AHA: Sydney Pedersen, Mercyhurst
Another player who can score big goals when necessary, but this time from the blueline. Pedersen had four solid years at Mercyhurst, who admittedly has not been a huge topic of conversation for a while when it comes to contending for a national championship. She has a strong shot and decent size for a defender, not Gentry-level height but certainly not small, and I think she could fit in well playing mid-bottom pair minutes and potentially some special teams.
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Women’s Hockey Links
We are gearing up hardcore for Worlds, so please be sure to check out our National Team previews if you haven’t yet done so. We have a surprise appearance by Norway, who hasn’t made the Top Division in 28 years (and that’s longer than some of our readers have been alive!). It should be a wild time, especially considering the fact that I will probably not be getting much sleep due to the time difference.
Check out the pre-Worlds draft rankings from The Hockey News here.
Melissa Burgess over at TIG has a recap of the World Bandy Championships, which Team USA took bronze in – and it’s sort of a “where are they now” for a couple of former PHFers as well.
Nicole Haase reports that Casey O’Brien, who just earned herself the Patty Kaz for being the top women’s D-I player in the nation, can also add a second USCHO Player of the Year to her ever-growing resume. O’Brien is one of those super special players who has proven indispensable even to a stacked team like Wisconsin, and I’ll be excited to see where she lands come draft time. In addition, UMD’s Caitlin Kraemer has earned Rookie of the Year honors for her breakout year on a team that struggled to score at multiple times throughout the season.
Also a couple really great features on Hockey Humanitarian Award nominee Kendra Fortin out of Bemidji State – apparently, great minds think alike when it comes to features on great human beings in women’s college hockey.
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