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Abby Hustler makes history as 1st from P.E.I. to be drafted into women's pro hockey league
22-year-old forward says she'll be home on P.E.I. this summer to train for fall season
Image | Abby Hustler - Minnesota draft
Caption: Abby Hustler from St. Louis, P.E.I., has been drafted by the Minnesota Frost, one of the six charter members of the Professional Women's Hockey League. The league now features eight teams. (Zoom)
P.E.I.-born hockey player Abby Hustler has made history by becoming the first Prince Edward Islander to be drafted into the eight-team Professional Women's Hockey League.
The 22-year-old forward for St. Lawrence University was chosen 14th overall by the Minnesota Frost, based in the state capital of Saint Paul and back-to-back winners of the league's Walter Cup.
Hustler, who's from St. Louis in western P.E.I., has been playing since she was a kid, years before the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) was founded in 2023.
"The little girl in me would be proud," she told Sheehan Desjardins in an interview for CBC News: Compass. "Obviously there was no PWHL when I was growing up, but seeing where it is now, I'm super excited to be a part of the league."
Hustler said she has gotten an outpouring of support from all kinds of Islanders since the draft was held in Ottawa on Tuesday.
"Texts, calls and email, whatever social media platform — yeah, it's been super special... They're all saying the same thing, that, you know, everyone on the Island is proud.
"I'm just also proud to be an Islander and to have them watching me and following me."
Hustler said that kind of response came as a big surprise, and one that has left her family feeling emotional.
Media Video | 22-year-old P.E.I. player picked 14th overall in the Professional Women's Hockey League draft
Caption: A Prince Edward Island player has been drafted into the Professional Women's Hockey League for the first time. Abby Hustler, who grew up in St. Louis, was selected 14th by the Minnesota Frost. She joined CBC'S Sheehan Desjardins from Ottawa to talk about the experience.
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"I knew that everyone was going to follow it in my immediate family, and my relatives, but I didn't realize the extent of it… just so many people out there supporting me. And I'd just like to take the time to thank all of them."
Hustler said that while the love of hockey in the United States isn't as prevalent as it is in Canada, it's pretty equivalent in the northern state of Minnesota.
"They have a passionate fan base and they have some superstar players," she said.
"That's one thing that kind of shook me into reality — when you get a text from Kendall Coyne congratulating you on getting drafted, I think a three-time Olympian, just an amazing athlete who has done so much for the sport to create the PHWL. So to be led by a captain like her is just unbelievable."
Hustler will be training close to home until she starts playing with the Frost in the late fall, having spent the last four years at university in Canton, N.Y.
"I'm going to spend the rest of the summer on the Island, in P.E.I., and the league only starts in November, early November," she said.
"So [I'll] have to find ways to train in September and October when everyone else is, you know, still in school… Usually I would be at St. Lawrence at that time and starting regular season games."
Of the relatively young league, she says: "It gives girls the opportunities to see something bigger… There were always opportunities to go and get an education in university, but now you have something that you can make a career out of and really do something you love and get paid for it — and you know, have the time of your life doing it.
"If that's something that young girls want, then you've just got to put your best foot forward and work hard and then see what happens."
