Women's hockey: NCAA's look inside the 2018 NWHL Draft NCAA.com

CHAMPS

PRESENTED BY The National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) just wrapped up its 2018 draft, and NCAA.com is here to give you a rundown of where your favorite college hockey players will be starting their professional careers. RELATED: For new fans, here’s a quick lesson in how the draft works. There are five rounds with five picks in each round. The draft occurs over a two-day period, with rounds 1-2 on the first day and rounds 3-5 on the second. There are five teams in the league, so each team gets one pick each round. Draft order is determined based on teams’ winning percentage in the first half of the current season. Teams can draft any player entering her senior year of college, but she is not allowed to play for a team until she has graduated college and is no longer under NCAA rules (for those who play in the NCAA). Got it? Great. Then without further ado, here is the full NWHL 2019 Draft class: ROUND 1 Overall Team player position school 1 Metropolitan Riveters Annie Pankowski F Wisconsin 2 Connecticut Whale Melissa Samoskevich F Quinnipiac 3 Buffalo Beauts Megan Keller D Boston College 4 Minnesota Whitecaps Kelly Pannek F Minnesota 5 Boston Pride Kali Flanagan D Boston College ROUND 2 Overall team player position School 6 Metropolitan Riveters Kendall Cornine F RIT 7 Connecticut Whale Makenna Newkirk F Boston College 8 Buffalo Beauts Loren Gabel F Clarkson 9 Minnesota Whitecaps Sophia Shaver F Wisconsin 10 Boston Pride Bailey Larson F Colgate ROUND 3 overall team player position school 11 Metropolitan Riveters Courtney Wittig F Wisconsin-Eau Claire (DIII) 12 Connecticut Whale Katelyn Rae F Merrimack 13 Buffalo Beauts Jessie Eldridge F Colgate 14 Minnesota Whitecaps Lauren Boyle D Ohio State 15 Boston Pride Emily Clark F Wisconsin ROUND 4 overall team player position school 16 Metropolitan Riveters Paige Voight F Merrimack 17 Connecticut Whale Dominique Kremer D Merrimack 18 Buffalo Beauts Olivia Zafuto D Colgate 19 Minnesota Whitecaps Grace Bizal D Boston College 20 Boston Pride Lovisa Selander G RPI ROUND 5 overall team player position school 21 Metropolitan Riveters Cailey Hutchison F Maine 22 Connecticut Whale Maggie LaGue D Robert Morris 23 Buffalo Beauts Nicole Schammel F Minnesota 24 Minnesota Whitecaps Karlie Lund F Princeton 25 Boston Pride Jenna Rheault D New Hampshire School Pride Learn more about the selected in this year's ! — Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerWHockey) This year, 15 schools were represented in the draft. Here’s the list of schools and how many players were selected from each: Boston College — 4
Wisconsin — 3
Colgate — 3
Merrimack — 3
Minnesota — 2
Quinnipiac — 1
RIT — 1
Clarkson — 1
Ohio State — 1
RPI — 1
Maine — 1
Robert Morris — 1
Princeton — 1
New Hampshire — 1
Wisconsin-Eau Claire (DIII) — 1 Pictured clockwise, from top left: Draft Pick, Draft Pick, Draft Pick, Draft Pick.

Congrats to these 4️⃣ Eagles!? — BC Women's Hockey (@BC_WHockey)

Conference

All four DI conferences were represented in the draft: Hockey East — 9
ECAC Hockey — 7
WCHA — 6
CHA — 2 RELATED:

Where in the world and country

Not too surprisingly, players from just three different countries were selected. They are: United States — 20
Canada — 4
Sweden — 1 Selander has had an impressive collegiate career, setting the career saves record as a junior! — NWHL (@NWHL) Home states are a little more varied, with players hailing from 13 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Arizona - 1
California - 2
Connecticut - 1
Illinois - 1
Massachusetts - 1
Michigan - 1
Minnesota - 6
North Dakota - 1
New Hampshire - 1
New Jersey - 1
New York - 2
Ontario - 3
Saskatchewan - 1
Vermont - 1
Wisconsin - 1

Position please

The draft displayed a solid mix of positions, featuring: Forwards — 16
Defenders — 8
Goaltenders — 1 Congrats, Emily! forward has been selected by with the 15th overall pick of the 2018 — WCHA Women's Hockey (@WCHA_WHockey)

About that goalie…

The lone goaltender in this year’s draft, Lovisa Selander, was taken by the Boston Pride in the fourth round, 20th overall. She currently graces RPI’s collegiate roster and happens to be outlier in nationality, as well, hailing from Sollentuna, Sweden. Selander certainly earned her draft pick, currently ranking fifth in the nation with a .944 save percentage. She has 506 saves on the season so far, allowing just 30 goals in 16 games and earning two shutouts. Congratulations to Courtney Wittig! — NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey)

Golden Ties

From the pool of Americans drafted, it's interesting to note the close relationship with USA Hockey. Of the first five draft picks, three competed with Team USA in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Keller, Flanagan and Pannek all came back for their senior college seasons with a gold medal around the neck, and the No. 1 draft pick, Pankowski, was a late round cut from the Olympics roster. WOW! Thank you for an unforgettable Olympic experience!! — Megan Keller (@megan_keller4) Callan Sheridan is a graduate of Saint Peter's University and has produced content for The Press Enterprise, the American Junior Golf Association and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Follow her on twitter at @calsh_13.

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