The Canadian Women’s Hockey League draft was held on Sunday in Toronto. The draft began around 3 PM EST.

Draft Criteria

To enter the draft, players must meet certain criteria to be eligible. The draft ends when all eligible players are drafted to a team. This criteria is:

  1. Be at least 20 years old by January 1 of their draft year (exemptions may be granted).
  2. Not have previously signed a contract with a CWHL club.
  3. Not be on the reserve list of any club.
  4. Not be committed to any NCAA or USPORT program.
  5. Register for the draft themselves before a specified deadline.
  6. Pay a fee in order to register ($150 CAD).

Additionally, players can pick three locations that they are willing to be drafted by. Teams can only pick players that have chosen their location. Players usually know which team they are going to prior to the announcements at the draft.

Blades’ Picks

The Worcester Blades had the first picks of the first thirteen rounds for the third consecutive season and the draft order is pre-determined by the standings of the previous season. The first ten rounds of the draft were announced live, with the remaining rounds being completed behind closed doors. The Blades drafted the following players in order:

Lauren Williams (D) – First Round, First Overall, University of Wisconsin

Morgan Turner (F) – Second Round, Eighth Overall, Dartmouth College

Meghan Turner (F) – Third Round, Thirteenth Overall, Quinnipiac University

Jessica Convery (G) – Fourth Round, Nineteenth Overall, Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth

Rebecca Fleming (F) – Fifth Round, Twenty-fourth Overall, Univ. of Connecticut, Holy Cross

Jennifer MacAskill (F) – Sixth Round, Twenty-ninth Overall, Mercyhurst Univ.

Carrie Atkinson (D) – Seventh Round, Thirty-fourth Overall, Djurgårdens IF

Chih-Lin Liu (D) – Eighth Round, Thirty-ninth Overall, Chinese Taipei

Hannah Desjarlais (F) – Ninth Round, Forty-fourth Overall, Buffalo State Univ.

Shannon Hickey (F) – Tenth Round, Forty-ninth Overall, Plymouth State Univ.

Tzu-Ting Hsu (G) – Eleventh Round, Fifty-fourth Overall, Chinese Taipei

Mizuki Nishi (F) – Twelveth Round, Fifty-ninth Overall, Japan U18

Akane Konishi (G) – Thirteenth Round, Sixty-third Overall, Japan

 

Further Reading – Women’s Hockey 101: CWHL Draft, CWHL Draft Tracker