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2024 PWHL Draft: PWHL Toronto Defenders and Goaltenders

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PWHL Toronto Defender, Lauren Bernard in the 2024 PWHL Draft

The 2024 PWHL Toronto defenders and goalkeepers recap the full draft for PWHL Toronto. The 2024 PWHL Toronto draft involving forwards can be seen in the link near the bottom of the article under the heading “PWHL Toronto Draft Overview.”

The PWHL Toronto Defenders and Goaltenders Drafted

Megan Carter (Defender, Drafted 12th Overall, Round Two)

The Canadian, Megan Carter, was drafted from Northeastern University, which is part of the NCAA collegiate system in the U.S. This is what Carter said about playing in Toronto (Source: PWHL):

“I am beyond excited and honoured to be officially joining the PWHL Toronto family! It was a treat to be able to watch the best of the best play against each other in the inaugural season, and to now have the opportunity to play in this league, close to home, in front of the best fanbase is a dream come true.”

She has many accolades while with Northeastern University, including winning and earning the Hockey East Best Defender and the Hockey East First Team All-Star two years in a row (2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons).

In her last season, she has also shown an ability to dish out assists as she scored four goals and dished out 21 assists in her last season with Northeastern University.

Source: Northeastern Huskies

Lauren Bernard (Defender, Drafted 24th Overall, Round Four)

PWHL Toronto drafted another defender with Lauren Bernard. Bernard has shown to excel in being a champion as she won the Two-time National Champion (2022 and 2024) and the Two-time WCHA regular season champion (2023 and 2024) twice. In addition, she also won the WCHA Final Faceoff Champion in 2022.

Source: Ohio State

This is what Nicole Haase of The Victory Press said about Bernard:

“Bernard has a good eye for feeding the puck, picking out lanes and reading her teammates. I like what she can mean for a quick transition game.”

For both Bernard and Carter, they will be a lot of players to learn from on the defensive end of the ice. According to Ian Kennedy of The Hockey News, three of the top ten defenders come from PWHL Toronto. This includes Renata Fast who came in second while Jocelyne Larocque (ranked six) and Kali Flanagan (ranked ninth) are the other two players that were confirmed.

Raygan Kirk (Goalie, Drafted 42nd Overall, Round Seven)

Raygan Kirk was the very last player drafted in the 2024 PWHL Draft. Also from Ohio State University, The Manitoba-born Canadian from Ste. Anne, Manitoba said this about winning the championship with her team (Source: Lexi Olifirowich of Steinbach Online):

“I definitely ended up at the bottom of that pile, but it was just incredible that feeling. And definitely emotional afterward when it was sinking in.”

She also talked about the state of Manitoba with their goalies and also what now starting PWHL Toronto goalie, Kristin Campbell, wishing her luck when she was playing with Ohio State University (Source: hockeymanitoba YouTube Account):

“Definitely a lot of strong goalies and players as well, but how many strong goalies are coming out of Manitoba,” Kirk said. “Soupy, actually, she texted me, before the semi-final and the final game too and she was just like you know, you put in so much work and now just play hockey.”

With Erica Howe retiring, the two main goalies for PWHL Toronto will have been brought up in Manitoba. At least to start the season, Kirk will be a backup goalie to her fellow Manitoban goalie, Campbell.

PWHL Toronto Draft Overview

READ MORE: The 2024 PWHL Toronto Draft: Forwards

It will be interesting to see how much influence these seven players drafted by PWHL Toronto impacts the team on and off-the-ice. Also, with the name coming in next month not just for PWHL Toronto, but for the other five teams as well (Source: PWHL), a permanent identity to get behind will increase the attention and popularity of the game in North America.

Photo Credit: PWHL Toronto Facebook Page on June 12, 2024.

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