Erinsville’s Maddi Wheeler has a new pro hockey contract.
She has inked a two-year deal with San Jose, the latest expansion team in the PWHL.
Wheeler played for the Quinte Red Devils from 2010 to 2016.
She leaves the New York Sirens as part of the league expansion process.
“There’s a initial phase where all the existing teams could protect three of their players. So, New York had protected three players, and everybody else did. Once that phase is complete, there’s kind of this phase two where you’re put on a list, expansion teams had interest in signing you. In this phase, every expansion team was looking to sign five players.”
Had conversations and ultimately got to work out a deal with San Jose. Had some really good talks with them and was really exciting and just happy to get to work down there.
She is one of the first females out of the Quinte Red Devils program to make the pro ranks.
“From my group, there’s me and Hannah Murphy. It’s been really cool, I think. Played in Quinte for seven years, and then went to Juniors in Ottawa and then went to Wisconsin for four years and then Ohio State. Quinte was definitely a big part of my hockey journey, getting to play boys. There wasn’t a ton of girls playing for the Red Devils.”
We asked about the growth of the women’s game.
“I don’t think necessarily it was such a short order of a climb. I think that a lot of the things that have been done just haven’t been necessarily covered by the media. I think that past Olympics, I think ’96 the women’s game got put in the Olympics—I think every single year there’s been tons of growth in women’s hockey. There’s just been a very large gap in investment, especially in women’s sports across the board. Seeing the NWSL start in the ’90s, and then the WNBA reaching their 30th season this year, I think it’s super positive for sports in North America. Previous players, previous coaches, organizations have worked tirelessly to get women’s hockey to where it is right now. You have to hand your cap off to all the players that worked before us that didn’t get a chance to play in a league that was necessarily sustainable.”
