Wolfe’s dream keeps unfolding in real time
Former St. Cloud State University captain Grace Wolfe skates down the ice with the puck during her collegiate career. The Owatonna product became just the fifth SCSU Husky to ever be drafted to the PWHL. Submitted photo
As the lights shone down on the crowd at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan for the 2026 PWHL Draft, Owatonna’s Grace Wolfe waited in anticipation of hearing her name called for an opportunity to continue her hockey career that was anything but a certainty.
When the 55th pick came around and the PWHL New York Sirens announced that the St. Cloud State University (SCSU) product was their choice, Wolfe walked to the stage and recognized a dream that only became a possibility with the creation of the league just three short years ago.
“It was crazy. It hasn’t really set in – even now talking about it,” said Wolfe. “The league wasn’t a thing at all [when I was in high school.] Back then, I was like, ‘I want to go play college hockey.’ I kind of just accepted it like I guess I’ll just go play in college and that will be it.”
According to her, the Sirens had shown interest during the pre-draft process, but her landing spot was a complete mystery as the nature of the event is generally unpredictable.
“I had a conversation [with New York] but it’s so hard to know with the draft. With the expansion, certain teams will lose more defenders, so they’re looking to add more defenders. Or they’ll lose more forwards and need to draft more. It’s so hard to know in the moment because sometimes you’re going for talent and other times you’re going to fill positional needs,” said Wolfe.
Her decision to travel to Michigan for the event was a no-brainer.
“Obviously, you have to declare for the draft and it was in Michigan this year. I was thinking, ‘You know what, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I should be there,’” said Wolfe.
Her selection made Wolfe just the fifth-ever Huskies athlete to be drafted into the PWHL.
Part of her confidence in attending the event stemmed from her career taking a huge leap in her senior season.
While donning the “C” as SCSU’s captain for the 2025-26 season, Wolfe had a career year on offense by tallying six goals and 15 assists for 21 points to pair with her already extremely impressive 61 blocked shots.
Her stellar finale as a Husky allowed her to enter the draft with serious momentum, which she credited to being a big part of why she believes she was selected.
Now, Wolfe is set to embark on the second phase of her professional journey: Finding her role on the team.
“There are still some conversations that need to be had. We have training camp and stuff like that coming up still. It’s more dependent on lefty-righty. More that kind of thing, or if we need a more offensive defender for a certain shift… It’s really hard to know [my role] right now, but I’m going to do as much as I can to be a solid defender and generate offensive chances,” she said.
While there are still some questions left to answer on the ice, there may be even more to figure out outside of the rink.
“It’s such a long off-season that right now I’m focused more on logistical stuff like finding housing and all that,” said Wolfe.
The move also marks the first time that Wolfe will live outside of Minnesota after growing up in Owatonna and playing collegiately at SCSU.
However, the idea of leaving her home state for the big city also brings plenty of excitement.
“I would just say I’m most excited about the busy life and having anything around the corner. There are probably so many cool restaurants to go to, and so many cool experiences. But when I was talking to everyone from New York, I told them I just really wanted to try a traditional New York slice of pizza… I’m just excited for all of it. All the great things that New York is known for,” said Wolfe.
Her journey far from home is set to unfold in the fall, and while she’ll be thousands of miles away, she hasn’t forgotten the people back home who helped her dream unfold in real time.
“I want to thank my family – my mom, Michelle, my dad, Mike, and my sister, Ava. They’ve made a lot of sacrifices over the years, whether that’s paying for hockey camps or taking me and missing stuff on the weekends for tournaments. They’ve been by my side through it all. There’s obviously a lot of ups and downs through the process, but they really instilled in me that you have to trust yourself and keep going. Not everything is going to be easy, but those tough moments are what shape you,” said Wolfe.