By SAMANTHA GORMAN
Correspondent
Forward Annie MacDonald, Princeton University Class of 2021, was drafted into the National Women’s Hockey League by the Toronto Six. This second round, ninth pick selection was announced by Princeton alumna Kelsey Koelzer, Class of 2017, on June 29.
“Annie certainly is a special player who deserved this draft pick,” said Cara G. Morey, Princeton University’s Women’s Hockey head coach.
According to the Princeton University Athletic Department, MacDonald assisted the Princeton Tigers in their pair of NCAA tournament appearances and to their 2020 ECAC tournament title.
“Annie was an energy player for sure. She was tenacious, gritty, and was the first person in the zone to get the puck,” Morey said. “She’s just an all around team player that when your team needs a little energy boost, she gets out there and picks up the motion of the game.”
Along with many other Princeton University sports teams, Princeton Women’s Ice Hockey has produced nationally and internationally recognized players. With athletes hailing from Canada, Germany, Sweden and across America, Morey believes that Princeton recruits some of the best players in the world.
“At Princeton, we keep a really highly competitive environment, and we’re always trying to get better every single day. I think this environment just leads to having [the athletes] develop to a higher level,” she said.
“We just had two players named to the Canada world championship team. We have one that’ll be playing for team Sweden; we have three that will be playing for the [winter] Olympics this year. We have players that will go on to play professionally in europe. There are two leagues in North America … we have players those” Morey said.
“It’s so awesome. We have really, really talented players. We just always want them to leave better than when they came in,” she added.
A Nova Scotia native, MacDonald will be based in Toronto beginning in the fall.
The Toronto Six’s first game, on Nov. 6, will be against the Buffalo Beauts.