Issy Wunder is the top-ranked Canadian prospect heading into the 2026 PWHL Draft, but her journey to the professional ranks began long before the league’s inception.

From the backyard rink her mother built in Toronto to her tenure as captain of the Princeton Tigers, Issy has defined her career through a balance of elite athletic performance and strong academics.

In this episode, we move beyond the scoresheet to explore the person behind the "C." A neuroscience and psychology student at Princeton, Issy explains how understanding the brain allows her to "reframe" the immense pressure of the collegiate and professional game as a privilege.

We discuss her junior roots with the Toronto Aeros and Durham West, the influence of Olympic legend Sami Jo Small, and why she views being a role model as a non-negotiable responsibility.

As she prepares to transition from the Ivy League to the PWHL, Issy reflects on the growth, leadership, and community that made this path possible.

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"I didn't prove anyone wrong. I proved myself wrong."

Alaina Giampietro joined Robert Morris University in 2023 as part of a newly reinstated program, but her journey in the game started much earlier at her grandfather's local rink in Ohio. Now, as the captain of the Colonials, she is balancing the weight of Division I hockey with the responsibility of building a team culture from the ground up.

On Episode 119 of Rinkside Rundown, Alaina shares:

• The Ohio Origins: How early mornings skating with her grandfather laid the foundation for her career.
• The Rebuild Reality: What it actually takes to establish a culture and a legacy in a program’s first years back on the ice.
• The "Prove Myself Right" Mindset: How shifting from external validation to internal growth changed her development as a player and leader.
• The Impact Beyond the Scoreboard: Why leaving the program better than she found it is her ultimate goal at RMU.

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Episode 118 of Rinkside Rundown continues the “Road to the PWHL Draft” series with Union College defender and captain Stephanie Bourque.

A native of Moncton, New Brunswick, Bourque has built a standout NCAA career defined by consistency, durability, and production. She became Union’s all-time leader in points and assists among defenders and set an ironwoman streak, appearing in over 140 consecutive games. This season, she was also among the most utilized players in NCAA women’s hockey, averaging more than 28 minutes per game.

In this episode, Bourque reflects on her journey through junior hockey and the NCAA, her development as a leader, and how she’s preparing for the next step as she looks toward the 2026 PWHL Draft.

“Trust the process and be patient.”

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Tory Mariano grew up in a household where sport was everything. Her dad took her to events across every discipline imaginable, and where she started in tee-ball, competed in multiple sports, and carries all of that athletic foundation into the way she reads the game today.

And it was her grandfather, a professional tennis player and someone she never got to meet, who has been a role model and North Star through it all. "I want to be as good as him," she said.

That drive led her to Northeastern, where she found the right coaching staff and the right environment to help push her to become the player she always knew she was. "Everything just kind of clicked. This is where I need to be."

In Episode 117 of Rinkside Rundown, Tory shares that journey from where it all started to being on the cusp of the 2026 PWHL Draft. She talks about her first championship team in 8th grade, how competing across multiple sports shaped her hockey IQ, what drew her to Northeastern, what her year of focused preparation actually looked like, and what she wants a PWHL team to know about her before draft day.

"Everything that I've done, I feel like it's starting to pay off. I'm proud of myself, and it's been hard, but I'm glad to see where I am now."

This is the first episode in my "Road to the 2026 PWHL Draft" series, so be sure to subscribe to Rinkside Rundown for more conversations with players and leaders shaping the future of hockey. Discover more at www.rinksiderundown.ca
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Some players choose a program for the ranking. Béatrice Bilodeau chose Ottawa because it felt like home.

The Gee-Gees captain grew up in Quebec's hockey culture, played on boys' teams until she was 12, and developed through one of the province's most competitive junior pathways before making a deliberate decision to come to uOttawa. Not for the profile. For the fit.

In this episode, we get into what shaped her as a player, what leadership looks like from the inside, and how she carries that same commitment into her community work with youth programs, mentorship, and seniors in long-term care, which culminated in being awarded the Marion Hilliard Award in earlier this month.

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Molly Jordan is a defender at the University of Minnesota and one of the most compelling young players in the NCAA women's game.

Mature, humble, and deeply passionate about the sport and her community, the native of Berlin, Connecticut brings a perspective that goes well beyond the ice.

In Episode 115 of Rinkside Rundown, Molly talks about what it has been like to grow as a player and a person at one of the most competitive programs in college hockey, what it means to represent the United States on the international stage, and why she believes the American program is on a different level right now.

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Wyoming isn't exactly a hotbed for women's hockey, but for Haley Box, it's where the love for the game started. The Etobicoke Dolphins forward and incoming University of Wisconsin Badger joins Rinkside Rundown to talk about the journey that brought her from Cheyenne to one of the most storied programs in the sport.

Haley reflects on what it meant to represent Team USA, the Nashville camp that shifted the trajectory of her career, and the role the Etobicoke Dolphins have played in her development. She also opens up about the mental side of the game and what the continued rise of the PWHL means to her as a player with professional aspirations.

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She started on outdoor rinks, and now she's one of the most exciting forwards at Penn State. In Episode 113 of Rinkside Rundown, host Chris Sinclair sits down with Grace Outwater for a conversation that covers everything from the grind of being a student athlete to the moments in her career that shaped who she is as a player and a person.

Grace talks about the coaches and mentors who believed in her, what it meant to play in an outdoor game, how she stays locked in on and off the ice, and why the rise of the PWHL has her genuinely fired up about the future of women's hockey.

Subscribe to Rinkside Rundown for more conversations with players and leaders shaping the future of hockey.

Discover more at www.rinksiderundown.ca

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