Michigan State club goalie Jullisa Gross-Turkey is one of 12 local players eligible for the PWHL draft on June 17 at the Fox Theater in Detroit at 5 p.m.
Gross-Turkey, who played two years at Indiana Tech, had a 7-3-0 record with a 2.57 goals against average and .916 save percentage with the Spartans this year.
The Vancouver Goldeneyes hold the first overall pick. The draft will make the debut of the four expansion teams from Detroit, Las Vegas, Hamilton and San Jose.
The talent pool of 236 eligible players includes 23 Olympians from eight countries which competed in the 2026 Milano Cortina Games.
There’s 128 forwards, 68 defensemen and 40 goalies with more than 50% of draft-eligible players from NCAA programs.
Meghan Agosta, the four-time Canadian Olympian and three-time gold medalist, also declared for the draft before the May 8 deadline.
Here’s the list of 12 players with Michigan connections:
Forwards
Courtney Ben, Adrian College
Elyssa Biederman, Franklin, Colgate University
Haley Coolsaet, Grosse Ile, DNP
Allie Hubenschmidt, South Lyon, Adrian College
Riley Johnson, Farmington, Adrian College
Asher Printzen, Michigan State
Kristen Simms, Plymouth, University of Wisconsin
Clara Yuhn, Bloomfield Hills, Boston University
Defensemen
Casey Borgiel, Port Huron, Colgate University
Maya Roy, Clarkston, ERC Ingolstadt
Goalie
Jullia Gross-Turkey, Michigan State
Vanessa Ruban, Adrian College
Grand Rapids to open at home Oct. 9
The Grand Rapids Griffins will begin the home portion of their 2026-27 American Hockey League schedule on Friday, Oct. 9 at Van Andel Arena.
The season will mark the Griffins’ 26th year in the AHL and 31st season overall.
In addition to their home opener, the Griffins will host their 29th annual New Year’s Eve Celebration on Thursday, Dec. 31, along with a Friday game on Nov. 27, and Saturday games on Jan. 16, Feb. 6, and March 20.
Opponents for these games will be revealed later this summer when the complete schedule is released.
Canes enter finals historically hot
The Vegas Golden Knights know that the bookmakers in their own city have them as the underdogs in the Stanley Cup Final.
All that matters to the Golden Knights is what happens on the ice during the best-of-seven finals that begin Tuesday when they face the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C.
“I honestly don’t really think I care or it matters to us,” Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore said on Monday. “We have belief in our room from the first game of playoffs up until now. Whatever is said is said. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who picks who. The better team ends up winning.”
The Golden Knights, who are riding a six-game winning streak, and the Hurricanes, who are looking to become the first NHL team to go 16-1 in the postseason, are both chasing a second Cup title in franchise history.
Carolina – the former Hartford Whalers franchise which became the Hurricanes for the 1997-98 season – for the won its only Cup in 2006 and had not reached the finals since. Vegas, which won in 2023, is in the finals for the third time in its nine-year history.
Thirteen players on this season’s Vegas roster played on that 2022-23 team.
“You can draw from your experience, knowing what to expect, having done it before and knowing what this is gonna look like,” said forward Jack Eichel, a member of that Cup-winning team. “But I think every series and every season has its own story, so we’re trying to write that now.”
Although Carolina’s run is garnering more headlines, the Golden Knights have been just as hot since the final few weeks of the regular season. After John Tortorella was hired in a late-season coaching change, Vegas posted a 7-0-1 mark down the stretch to claim the top spot in the Pacific Division and has marched through its opponents with a 19-4-1 record since he took over.
“He’s a big personality guy,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “So it’s very easy to get comfortable right away. He tells you exactly what he wants from you and it’s all black and white.
“He came in and preached the right things and got us playing better and better as a team.”
That said, the Hurricanes are worthy of their favorite status. Carolina reached this point by sweeping its opponents in the first two rounds – the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers – and then knocking out the Montreal Canadiens in five games in the conference finals, which it concluded with a pair of dominant victories.
The Hurricanes are the first team since the 1976 Montreal Canadiens to win 12 of 13 games to open a playoff run. That Montreal team claimed the Stanley Cup, and the Hurricanes are looking to duplicate the feat.
“We went through so much … now we’re here,” forward Andrei Svechnikov said. “But still the job is not done. This is the biggest stage, we all know that, but now we have one more step.”
Reaching this point was a huge achievement for a Carolina club that reached the Eastern Conference finals for the third time in four years and fourth time in eight seasons, but was becoming known for falling short.
A key to the Hurricanes continuing their success, beyond the club’s stifling defensive play, will be to embrace the situation. After all, hockey history is loaded with clubs that managed to reach a new point but then failed to reload.
“We’ve been knocking on the door for this for a while. To be in this moment now, I think everyone is extremely grateful and super excited,” forward Seth Jarvis said.
“We’re competing for the Stanley Cup with 20 of my best friends. Twenty guys I’ve spent a lot of time with. To be here in this moment with this group of guys, I can’t ask for anything more.”
Gates acquires minority stake in Kraken
Billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates is acquiring a minority ownership stake of the Seattle Kraken, the franchise announced Monday.
Terms of the deal, which is pending NHL approval, were not disclosed.
The partnership pairs French Gates, the ex-wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates who has a net worth of $30 billion according to Forbes, with the Kraken’s ownership group (One Roof Sports and Entertainment), which is helmed by Samantha Holloway.
“As a longtime Seattle resident, it means a lot to me to have the chance to make this investment in our city and its future,” French Gates said in a press release. “I’m a big believer in the power of sports, and after many years of cheering on Seattle from the sidelines, I’m excited to have an even deeper connection to the Seattle sports community. Seattle is an engine of innovation in so many ways, and Samantha Holloway’s leadership of the Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena reflects that.”
“I am excited to welcome Melinda to our ownership group,” Holloway added in the press release. “Melinda is an impressive business leader, philanthropist and importantly, a Seattle sports fan. We share many of the same values, including a deep commitment to Seattle and a belief in building organizations that create lasting impact.”
The Kraken have made the playoffs just once in their first five campaigns since debuting for the 2021-22 season. The franchise hired a consulting firm, the Sportsology Group, in May to perform an external audit of the team’s hockey operations department.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan State club goalie one of 12 local players in PWHL draft
Reporting by Detroit News staff and wires / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
