6 September 2023
Minnesota’s Professional Women’s Hockey League team doesn’t yet have a name, or even an official place to play. But general manager Natalie Darwitz does have her first three players — two of them with Minnesota ties.
The team agreed to terms Wednesday on three-year deals with Team USA mainstays Lee Stecklein, Kelly Coyne Schofield and Kelly Pannek. Stecklein and Coyne Schofield each won national titles with the Gophers.
Stecklein, 29, and Coyne Schofield, 29, were members of Minnesota’s former professional team, the Whitecaps, and helped it win the Isobel Cup in 2018-19 when the team played at TRIA Rink.
Among them, Stecklein, Coyne Schofield and Pannek, 27, have six Olympic medals. Pannek, a Benilde-St. Margaret’s graduate, won national titles at Minnesota in 2015 and 2016, and Stecklein was part of the Gophers’ 2013 NCAA champions.
Darwitz said Wednesday the team hasn’t nailed down its future home, or a team name but she is close to adding members to her operations staff, including a head coach. The new league intends to start a 24-game schedule sometime in early January.
The league and Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association have approved a Collective Bargaining Agreement that gives teams a $1.265 million salary cap for an active roster of 23 players. Next up is the 15-round draft, which begins Sept. 18 in Toronto.
Minnesota has the No. 1 pick and is likely to spend it on former Gophers player and 2022 Kazmaier Award winner Taylor Heise, who in her first international appearance was the tournament MVP at the 2022 IIHF world championships after scoring seven goals and 18 points.
Heise said Wednesday she is just eager to play in the new league, which aims to finally build a financially viable women’s league by consolidating the world’s best players in one place.
“So, I’m just grateful for this amazing opportunity to have one league in one place with all the best players,” she said. “It’s a dream come true. I’m lucky I was born at the right point in time. It’s not my doing; all the work to make this happen was done before me.”
The six-team league, which also will have teams in Boston, New York, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, is owned an operated by the Mark Walter Group, which owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chelsea Football Club of the Premier League.
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LEE STECKLEIN, 29, D
Roseville and Minnesota graduate helped the Whitecaps with the 2018-19 Isobel Cup but has been most conspicuous on the international stage, helping the U.S. win gold and silver medals in the Olympics and World Championships. Was a first-team all-American at Minnesota and member of Gophers’ 2013 national title team. Helped lead Roseville to a state championship in 2010.
KENDALL COYNE SCHOFIELD, 29, F
The 2016 Patty Kazmaier Award winner at Northeastern was a member of the Whitecaps’ Isobel Cup squad. Has played in three Olympics, winning gold (1) and silver (2) medals, and was a member of six gold-medal winning IIHF world championship teams. All-time leading scorer in IIHF Under-18 championship tournament history, 22-11–33 in 15 games.
KELLY PANNEK, 27, F
Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Minnesota graduate won national titles with the Gophers in 2015 and 2016, and gold and silver medals in two Olympics appearances. Member of three U.S. IIHF gold-medal teams.
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