Six rounds, 72 players selected, 236 eligible prospects, and PWHL Detroit was just two picks away from drafting teammates.
Forward Tessa Janecke and defenseman Leah Stecker were teammates for Penn State’s women’s hockey program.
Janecke was selected third overall by PWHL Las Vegas and Stecker was drafted by the Boston Fleet as a 27th overall pick.
Initially, both selections belonged to Detroit, and they had a chance to start their PWHL careers together.
“I would have loved to go anywhere. Obviously having Detroit known as the hockey town would have been very cool,” Janecke said. “The state of Michigan getting a professional women’s hockey team will really help grow that in the collegiate level as well, and I think that’s so important with the amount of women’s teams and programs that they have here in Detroit especially.”
PWHL Detroit would have been the first expansion franchise to make a selection in the draft, but traded their first-round pick for forward Hilary Knight, and received forward Ella Huber from Boston for their 27th pick.
Instead of playing for Detroit, Stecker will be joining Farmington Hills native Megan Keller on Boston’s team for this upcoming season.
“Just got to meet her backstage, I’ve heard nothing but great things about her on and off the ice,” Keller said of Stecker. “One of her coaches who I’m good friends with reached out and said we got a good one, and one of her teammates, Tessa Janecke said the same thing, so I couldn’t be more excited to get the chance to be her teammate.”
The change of events worked in Stecker’s favor, because now she gets to stay on the east coast to start her professional career.
A native of Randolph, New Jersey, Penn State was only a train ride from home, and Boston is only four hours away. Stecker can stay close to home with her family, but there will be some rivalry going on with her dad being a die-hard New York fan.
“Oh my god that would be amazing – to be teammates again, missed opportunity,” Stecker said about playing with Janecke for Detroit. “I’ll see her in the league and I’ll see her around, so I’m really excited for that.”
Janecke, on the other hand, is packing her suitcase and traveling to the other side of the country. Playing at Penn State, she wasn’t too far away from her home town in Orangeville, Illinois.
The change in region isn’t a problem for her, and after winning the gold medal with the U.S. national women’s team, she is ready to take on the world.
Luckily she still won’t be alone in Vegas with her teammate Kendall Butze joining her after Vegas received the 49th pick from Vancouver.
“I love to get to see new things and to be in new places – you get to learn perspectives and just the culture of the place you’re in,” Janecke said. “I can’t wait to really embrace that. I think that’s so important – just being involved in the community and the people who are there to support you and support what you do.”
amarable@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: How two PWHL players were almost teammates again in Detroit
Reporting by Alauna Marable , The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Alauna Marable , The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
