YORKTON - Women’s hockey has a new professional league in North America with the creation of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).
Two Saskatchewan players are joining the ranks of the new league as Saskatoon’s Sophie Shirley and Prince Albert’s Brooke Hobson were among the 48 Canadians to be drafted at the recent PWHL’s draft.
Shirley was selected 63rd overall by Boston, while Hobson was taken with the 45th overall selection by New York.
“It was super cool to be part of that day,” Shirley told Yorkton This Week. “I was really excited and humbled to be selected by a team like Boston.”
Shirley said she knew there was interest in her for the draft.
“I had a few calls from a few teams. Boston was one of them . . . So I kind of had an idea.”
There was also a previous connection to Boston. In 2023, Shirley had turned professional by signing with the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation before it ceased operations.
In Shirley the Boston franchise added a player with some extensive experience playing hockey at a high level, including two NCAA women’s hockey championships with the Wisconsin Badgers.
Prior to joining Wisconsin Shirley played one season with the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women's Hockey League, and was named the league's rookie of the year.
Before joining the University of Wisconsin, the 24-year-old represented Canada at the IIHF World Women's U18 Championships, capturing two silver medals in 2016 and 2017.
Shirley was also a member of Saskatchewan's women's ice hockey team that competed in the 2015 Canada Winter Games losing in the bronze medal game to Manitoba by a score of 2–1 in overtime.
The new league has Shirley excited, not only for her own hockey career, but for women’s hockey on this continent.
“I think it’s great,” she said, adding the PWHL has a pay structure that lets players just be hockey players.
“We can just do hockey as an occupation – no other jobs. We don’t have to work (another job) we can just focus on hockey.
“That’s amazing.”
The ability to have a career in hockey is huge for younger players, said Shirley.
“It’s something they can look forward to. In terms of that (inspiring players) it’ll be great,” she said.
And Shirley expects more opportunities will arise as the PWHL expands beyond it’s initial six franchises.
“I’m really looking forward to the growth of this league,” she said.
Shirley said now it’s a case of readying for the new league and season.
She said it will be a case of lining up a place to live and some roommates ahead of training camp scheduled to start in mid-November.
The PWHL starts play in January with a 24-game regular season.
