DULUTH — Apparently, Ottawa’s Professional Women’s Hockey League franchise just cannot get enough Minnesota Duluth captains.
Former Bulldogs captain Mannon McMahon was one of two UMD alumnae drafted during the second PWHL Draft on Monday in St. Paul, along with former teammate Anneke Linser, who was selected by Toronto.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ottawa drafted three former Bulldogs a year ago, including two former captains, defenseman Ashton Bell and forward Gabbie Hughes. Hughes played four seasons with McMahon from 2019-2023 at UMD and Bell played three with McMahon, taking a break in 2021-22 to win Olympic gold with Canada.
“It's so amazing just to be in a room with all these amazing athletes, women, current and former players,” McMahon said on the PWHL draft broadcast from St. Paul. “It's a dream come true. I couldn't be happier.”
McMahon, UMD’s captain in 2023-24, is the Ironwoman of Bulldogs women’s hockey, playing in all 173 games of her five-year collegiate career to set a school record for consecutive games played and total games played. It’s the fourth-most games played by a WCHA player in league history.
A native of Maple Grove, Minnesota, McMahon helped the Bulldogs get to four straight NCAA tournaments her sophomore through fifth year and back-to-back NCAA Frozen Fours in 2021 and 2022. She finished with 32 goals and 55 assists in her career, with the last at UMD being the double-overtime game-winner against UConn in a first-round NCAA tournament game in Columbus, Ohio.
McMahon was drafted by Ottawa in the fifth round, No. 26 overall and Linser, who played last season in Sweden, was selected by Toronto in the sixth round at No. 36 overall.
Linser, a native of Lino Lakes who played with Hughes in high school at Centennial, graduated from UMD in 2023 along with Hughes and Bell. She originally signed with New York in the Premier Hockey League out of college, but the league was bought by the PWHL and disbanded. Linser instead signed with Djurgardens IF in the SDHL and finished 17th in the Swedish league in scoring, with 14 goals and 17 assists in 36 games.
“I'm just so overwhelmed with emotion,” Linser said on the PWHL broadcast from St. Paul. “I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be in a room with such a great talent.”
ADVERTISEMENT
A total of 11 former Bulldogs were taken during the inaugural league draft in September, which saw 90 players taken by the six teams over 15 rounds. The PWHL’s second draft on Monday was seven rounds, with the six teams selecting a total of 42 players. Six former Bulldogs declared for the 2024 draft , including McMahon and Linser.
UMD had 13 alumnae play in the PWHL during the league’s inaugural season in 2023-24, including four on the Walter Cup champions from Minnesota.
