Abbey Murphy grew up in Evergreen Park and spent the last six years in Minnesota.
Now the Mother McAuley graduate and Olympic gold-medal winner is going out west and will make Seattle her new home. The 24-year-old Murphy was drafted second overall in the Professional Women’s Hockey League Draft by the Seattle Torrent on June 17.
The ultra-aggressive forward, who agitated Olympic foes and has been one of the most penalized players in the NCAA the past few years, is looking forward playing in front of the Torrent crowds, even though she had never been to Seattle before.
“I think the most exciting thing is the crowd over there,” she said in a news conference after she was drafted. “They get a big fanbase and that’s something that’s really exciting to me. I heard it gets rowdy there.
“Everyone likes my feistiness so I’m excited.”
But Murphy is not just known for her feistiness.
She is also proficient at putting the puck into the next with regularity.
At Minnesota, she scored 261 points with a program-record 143 goals and 118 assists.
In her graduate-student season, Murphy scored 40 goals — even though she missed time because of the Olympics — and led the nation in goals per game with 1.29 and points per game with 2.13.
(“Murphy is) a fantastic individual, and we always look at the person first,” Torrent general manager Meghan Turner said in the news release. “It’s nonnegotiable for us.
“She’s a humble, hardworking person. She’s spoken so highly of by anyone who has ever known her, which is really cool. Not everyone has that.”
But on the ice, Murphy could be trouble for opponents.
“She is a generational hockey player,” Turner said. “She’s going to change the way this league operates. Teams are going to have to game-plan around her and that’s really a special thing. There are not many players like that.”
Murphy said it was “surreal” to be drafted. When she was growing up, the league didn’t exist. The PWHL started play in 2024 with two-time Olympic gold-medal winner and Sandburg graduate Kendall Coyne Schofield helping to get the league rolling.
“I can live the dream and to play as a professional and that’s pretty amazing,” Murphy said.
She said it took a lot of work to get to this point and it wasn’t always easy.
“There were goods, bads and ups and downs,” Murphy said. “That’s the best part about it. It builds a person. It builds character going through tough times.
“Obviously winning a gold medal is great, but there have been a lot of lows, too. That makes you a better person and you find ways to face that adversity.”
Seattle was enamored with the Golden Gophers program as the Torrent selected Murphy’s teammate, defender Sydney Morrow, in the second round.
The Torrent finished in last place in the eight-team league with eight regulation wins, one overtime/shootout win, 16 regulation losses and five overtime-shootout losses in their inaugural season.