The fledgling Professional Women’s Hockey League held its first player draft in 2023, with two UConn players selected over the first three drafts.

On Wednesday night in Detroit, some UConn history was made as three former Huskies heard their names called in PWHL draft No. 4.

That is wonderful news for head coach Chris MacKenzie and the UConn women’s hockey program. The team finished the 2025-26 season with a 28-9-2 record (17-6-1 Hockey East) and fell one game short of qualifying for the Frozen Four, losing in the Penn State Regional to the Nittany Lions.

They finished the season ranked No. 6 in the nation by both the USCHO.com and the USA Hockey College Hockey polls. Recruits undoubtedly will see UConn as a program on the cusp of something very special.

So just who are these three women who contributed mightily to that success, and where will they begin their journeys in pro hockey?

Chan, like the other two Huskies who were selected, is a native of Canada, but she is California-bound. San Jose, one of four new teams that will enter the PWHL in the 2026-27 season, chose Chan in the third round with the No. 28 overall pick. That was the highest ever for a UConn player.

Her credentials certainly warrant that lofty spot. A first-team All-American, she also was named National Women’s Goalie of the Year and a back-to-back winner of Hockey East Goaltender of the Year.

Chan, from Hamilton, Ontario, is UConn’s all-time leader in wins (70), save percentage (.946),and shutouts (25). She also set single-season program records in 2025-26 for wins (27) and saves (1,122).

Here is the moment she had been waiting for in her college career:

Chan recorded a brief message for social media.

"Hey, San Jose fans, Tia Chan here," she said. "So excited to get started in sunny California. Can't wait."

A native of Burlington, Ontario, Josifovic was taken by Detroit in the fourth round with the No. 39 overall pick. She won’t be too far from home – a drive of just over three hours.

Detroit, another expansion team, is getting a player who was a team captain and appeared in all 39 games in the past season for UConn. And with career highs in both goals (16) and assists (24), she became the first Huskies player in nearly 20 years to score 40 points. It had not been done since the 2007-08 season.

A Hockey East All-Star, she tallied 26 goals and 43 assists in her 144 career games at UConn.

Another new PWHL team, Hamilton, selected Woodworth in the fourth round with the No. 42 overall pick. The forward, from Berwick, Nova Scotia, also set career highs in goals (16), assists (11) and points (27) in 39 games and added 41 blocked shots.

In her career, she totaled 65 points (31 goals, 34 assists) in 144 games.

Remember to join our UCONN on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Huskies fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!