By Janet Schultz
The Professional Women’s Hockey League has announced their Season Awards for 2026.
Rookie of the Year Honors presented by Ally Financial went to Rochester native Haley Winn of the Boston Fleet. Winn is the first to receive the honor after recording 19 points in 30 games.
Named Goaltender of the Year and recipient of the Billie Jean King MVP Award is Boston Fleet Goaltender and a native of Chappaqua New York, Aerin Frankel. Frankel logged 19 wins in 26 starts, had eight shut-outs and 18 games where she allowed 1 or less goals.
Forward of the Year: Kelley Pannek of the Minnesota Frost. Pannek is also the Points Leder and Top Goal Scorer with 33 points in 33 games and served as Alternative Captain of the team.
Defender of the Year: Megan Keller of the Boston Fleet. She tied the PWHL single-season record with 22 points in 30 games.
Boston Fleet Head Coach Kris Sparre was named Coach of the Year after leading the Fleet to second place with a 16-5-4-5 record.
The Hockey For All Award by Scotiabank went to Rebecca Leslie of Ottawa. Leslie volunteers with the Ottawa Senators Foundation; Children’s Hospital of East Ontario and the PWHL Mentorship Program and the Do It For Daron Program. The award is presented to the player who made the greatest impact on the community during the regular season.
Named to First All Star Team for 2026 were Forwards Taylor Heise (Min), Brianne Jenner (Ott), Kelly Pannek (Min); Defense: Sophie Jaques (Van) and Megan Keller (BOS) and Goaltender Frankel (Bos).
Second All Star Team: Forwards Britta Curl-Salemme (Min), Rebecca Leslie (Ott) and Laura Stacey (Mtl); Defenders Nicole Gosling (Mtl) and Haley Winn (Bos) and Goaltender Ann-Renee Desbien (Mtl).
All Rookie Team: Forwards Kristyna Kaltounkova (NY), Abby Newhook (Bos) and Casey O’Brien (NY). Defenders Nicole Gosling (Mtl) and Haley Winn (Bos) and Goaltender Hanna Murphy (Sea).
The Impact Award went to Minnesota’s Marlene Boissonnault, Montreal’s Shiann Darkangelo, Toronto’s Emma Woods and Vancouver’s Ashton Bell.