Another London-raised hockey player joins PWHL in draft picks

Kendra Seguin · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 25, 2025 3:02 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 25

A erstwhile London hockey subordinate is getting acceptable to deed the crystal successful Montreal aft getting drafted to the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) Tuesday night.

Defender Nicole Gosling, 23, was the 4th wide prime for the Montreal Victoire during yesterday's 2025 PWHL Draft successful Ottawa.

"Obviously I'm ace excited. I perceive Montreal is simply a large metropolis and they person a large team, truthful I'm honestly conscionable truly excited to beryllium a portion of it and spot it for myself archetypal hand," Gosling said.

She's 1 of three players from the country who are playing for the league. Joining Gosling is her relative and chap Londoner Julia Gosling and St. Thomas native Lexie Adzija, who were some drafted to Seattle.

This is Nicole Gosling's latest accomplishment aft becoming a satellite champion with Team Canada successful Utica, N.Y. astir a twelvemonth ago.

The athlete, who astir precocious played for Clarkson University successful Potsdam, N.Y., said she hopes the skills she's built up arsenic a antiaircraft subordinate volition lend itself to Montreal's team. 

"I'm decidedly a calm, composed benignant of defenseman, but I judge successful my abilities to recognize some sides of the puck," Gosling said. "I recognize the antiaircraft broadside precise well, truthful I'm conscionable hoping to beryllium capable to person an interaction close away."

Gosling's hockey roots spell backmost to her clip playing with the London Devilettes Girls Hockey Association.

"The archetypal twelvemonth we watched her play, she did everything right," said Devilettes caput manager Ted Brown, who coached Gosling for 4 years. "She was precise dominant, and she stood out."

Gosling joined the Devilettes erstwhile she was lone 14, Brown said, which is a twelvemonth earlier players are typically allowed to articulation the association.

"A batch of times erstwhile you prime 15 twelvemonth olds to play connected your team, it takes them a portion to get utilized to the physicality and the velocity of the game. She acceptable close in, successful each those aspects," Brown said. "That was beauteous astonishing for a 14-year-old."

Brown said helium was not amazed to perceive Gosling was drafted by Montreal, and expects she'll get plentifulness of crystal clip successful her rookie season.

"She's precise intelligent. She plays some ends of the crystal well," helium said. "She tin people and she knows precisely erstwhile to leap into play and erstwhile it's an opportune clip for her to marque an interaction offensively."

Hockey runs successful the Gosling family. Fellow Devilettes alumna, Julia Gosling, was drafted from the Toronto Sceptres to Seattle past week. 

The PWHL accomplishment is the latest the cousins will share, arsenic the brace won golden astatine the U18 Women's World Hockey Championship backmost erstwhile they were teenagers.

"When we each started conscionable getting them connected the crystal conscionable to person fun, we ne'er would person thought from each these accomplishments that they would get to this level," Nicole's father, Peter Gosling, said. "I'm looking guardant to this outstanding accomplishment for some of them and looking guardant to galore years of these battles going on."

Gosling said she plans to effort caller java shops, signifier her French and prosecute successful the section civilization portion successful Montreal. She looks guardant to being portion of a hockey league that continues to marque a sanction for itself, she added. 

"It's a caller league, truthful I'm conscionable ace excited to beryllium a portion of it and ticker it grow," she said. "It's inactive continuing to turn and [it's creating] that passionateness for young, small girls to judge that they tin bash this 1 day."