Brooke Bryant: Skating into the Professional Women’s Hockey League

By Scott Linesburgh | Photos courtesy of Stocktonia News

The 23-year-old Linden resident, a member of the Minnesota franchise of the new Professional Women’s Hockey League, had the biggest thrill of her hockey career when she lifted the PWHL Cup over her head after her squad eliminated Boston in the seventh and final game of the series. “I still don’t think it’s really, totally set in,” Brooke said. “Seeing how good the league did this year and how much of an impact it had on women’s sports and women’s hockey, and being able to be a part of the inaugural season was awesome. And being able to win and go down in history like that, it means so much to me.”

She also quickly realized that instant success can weigh heavily on you, especially when you have to lift a giant metal cup while on ice skates. “The cup is actually pretty heavy,” she said. “I don’t know exactly how heavy it is but when we were waiting for our turn, everyone that had lifted it before me was like ‘Oh, dang, it’s actually pretty heavy. Be careful when you lift it up.’ But after we lifted it up a couple of times, it seemed that it wasn’t too heavy after a while.”

It certainly wasn’t an easy path to a title. Minnesota had a strong start to the season but struggled and scrambled to earn the final playoff spot. The squad thought it had won the title in Game 6 at home, but a goal in double overtime was disallowed and Minnesota finally clinched with a 3-0 win in Boston on May 29.

Brooke was more than prepared to deal with the challenges. It’s not easy for a woman from Northern California to make it to the pros. She was always a very good athlete, starring in softball and volleyball at Linden High School. But hockey was her passion. After playing for the Stockton Colts at Oak Park Ice Arena, she headed south and joined the Anaheim Ducks girls’ hockey program.
All the travel paid off when she was offered a scholarship at Minnesota State. She planned to play for four years and look for future playing opportunities, but COVID hit and changed everything. She stayed a fifth year and played well and was signed by the Minnesota Whitecaps of the Premier Hockey Federation in May 2023.

However, the PHF was in its last month and would dissolve in June to make way for the PWHL. Although the new league set up in Minnesota and other PHF cities, the contracts from the disbanded league were voided. “It was kind of out of the blue for me,” Brooke said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen with signing with Whitecaps and you know, expecting to play there for the next two years. So, yeah, it was kind of a bump in the road and I didn’t really know what to expect. But everything worked out for me.”

While the Whitecaps were gone, interest in her was not. PWHL Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz, who spent a decade playing for the United States National Team, said the franchise had their “eye on Brooke” and six roster spots to fill going into training camp. “We knew about her when she played for Minnesota State and knew she could add some impact to our roster,” she said. “We wanted to give her a shot at training camp. She did really well and earned a spot on the team.”

Brooke said many lessons were learned in her first season. “I learned a lot on the ice from the other girls but also a lot off the ice about preparation and being ready to play. I learned how to be a professional athlete but still have a lot more to learn.”

The PWHL has six teams in its inaugural season, located in Minnesota, New York, Boston, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal and the league plays a 24-game schedule. The rosters for each team feature several national team members from various countries. Minnesota has six American Olympians, including Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek, Lee Stecklein, Kendall Coyne-Schofield and goaltenders Nicole Hensley and Maddie Rooney, the latter of whom was the gold medal-winning goalie for the United States in 2018.

Brooke added a little West Coast presence to the PWHL. She was the only woman raised in California in the league; Boston’s Hilary Knight was born in Palo Alto but raised in New Hampshire. She is the first player born in San Joaquin County known to go pro and the third Stockton Colts player, joining Don Carter and Drew Sanders, both of whom played for teams in the men’s minor leagues.

Brooke signed a one-year contract with Minnesota, so she’s currently a free agent. She’s confident that there are still plenty of adventures in hockey in her future. “It’s kind of all up in the air right now. We’ll see what happens,” Bryant said. “I had an awesome year at Minnesota and it would mean a lot to go back there. But I just want to keep playing and be a part of the league.”