PWHL Toronto did not have to do a ton of homework in making its first-round pick, sixth overall, in the 2024 PWHL draft on Monday.
London, Ont., native Julia Gosling is very familiar to general manager Gina Kingsbury and head coach Troy Ryan, having played for that pair in their alternate roles as GM and head coach of the Canadian national women’s hockey team.
Gosling, 23 and 5-foot-11, is a goal-scorer at heart and provides the kind of coverage Toronto may require if the team’s leading scorer Natalie Spooner is to miss any time in the upcoming season.
Spooner sustained a knee injury in Game 2 of the team’s PWHL semifinal series with eventual Walter Cup champion Minnesota.
Spooner has undergone surgery and while the rehab timeline is not known, it could very well eat into the regular season.
Gosling has a tremendous release and a penchant for scoring goals. It doesn’t hurt either that Spooner has been a role model of sorts for Gosling, who shares her combination of a nose for the net and even size.
As expected, New York chose Georgetown native Sarah Fillier with the first overall selection. Ottawa, picking second, chose Danielle Serdachny, who scored the overtime game-winning goal for Canada in the gold-medal game of the world women’s hockey championship in Utica, N.Y., in April.
The other first-round picks:
3. Minnesota, Claire Thompson, D, Team Sonnet (PWHPA);
4. Boston, Hannah Bilka, F, Ohio State University (NCAA);
5. Montreal, Cayla Barnes, D, Ohio State University (NCAA).
The seven-round draft took place at Roy Wilkens Auditorium In St. Paul, Minn.
More to come …