Port Moody hockey fans could soon be cheering for another pro player.
Jenna Buglioni has declared her availability for June’s Professional Women’s Hockey League draft.
In the Hockey News’ mid-season rankings in January, she was rated 15th of 72 top prospects.
Buglioni was actually eligible for the league’s 2024 draft, but she opted to return to Ohio State for a fifth season with the Buckeyes while she completed her Master’s degree in sports management. She was also the team’s captain.
Buglioni, who started her hockey journey playing with future-NHLer Kent Johnson in Port Moody Minor Hockey, won two conference and two national championships at Ohio State along with a cabinet full of individual athletic and academic awards. She scored 164 points in 167 games and set a school record for career and single season game-winning goals. She also tied the program’s record for career short-handed goals.
To top it off Buglioni even sang the national anthem prior to her final regular season series for the Buckeyes.
Buglioni told the Tri-City News her decision to play an additional year of collegiate hockey has better prepared her for the anticipated rigours of the PWHL.
“I have gotten that extra time to work on skills and get more game experience that will be needed to make the jump to the next level,” she said.
More importantly, Buglioni’s academic pursuits have laid a foundation that will put her in a position to help grow women’s hockey even beyond her playing days.
“It is incredibly important that women are in leadership positions within our sport and sports in general,” she said, adding she hopes to coach in the NCAA when she hangs up her blades. “This helps show everyone that women are capable of filling those roles and making a difference.”
Ohio State came within 18.9 seconds of winning a third national championship — and second in a row — during Buglioni’s tenure when Wisconsin’s Kirsten Simms scored on a penalty shot to tie their Frozen Four championship final on March 30 then scored again 2:49 into overtime to wrest the title for the top-ranked Badgers.
Buglioni said the loss was “devastating.”
“We were so close to getting that outcome we wanted and it almost felt stripped away,” she said. “It’s what we work towards all season so to have the year and my collegiate career end like that was heartbreaking.”
Still, as the Buckeyes’ captain, it fell to Buglioni to comfort her teammates through her own disappointment.
“It was tough,” she said. “Obviously everyone was upset and there usually isn’t words that can take away that feeling. I just tried to provide support and tell the girls how proud I was of them.”
One of those girls was Coquitlam’s Jordan Baxter, a sophomore.
Buglioni said she and Baxter played together for the Greater Vancouver Comets when they were in high school and spending the past two years as teammates at Ohio State has brought their friendship and camaraderie full circle. She said she hopes their shared experience also inspires other female hockey players in the Tri-Cities.
“There are so many opportunities for girls to play hockey collegiately and I hope that they know they can do it.”
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