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With stars signed and coaches hired, newly founded women's pro hockey league looks ahead to draft

The newly launched Professional Women’s Hockey League is quickly taking shape. Hilary Knight is in her familiar stomping grounds of Boston, Marie-Philip Poulin is home in Quebec, and Kelly Pannek landed in her native Minnesota after becoming the league's first player to sign a contract.

On Friday, the yet-to-be-named six franchises announced their head coaches, with Canadian national team coach Troy Ryan most notably being hired by Toronto, along with two of his assistants also landing jobs — Courtney Kessel (Boston) and Kori Cheverie (Montreal).

U.S. national team forward Taylor Heise has more than one reason to look forward to Monday, when the PWHL holds its inaugural draft.

Minnesota holds the No. 1 selection, and there’s a growing buzz the franchise will pick the 23-year-old, who just completed a decorated college career with the Golden Gophers and grew up 75 miles from the Twin-Cities.

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