For new Boston Fleet defender Grace Dwyer, June 17 started with nerves and ended in a joyful whirlwind.
That day, the 22-year-old Cornell University graduate, who just inked a three-year contract this morning, heard her name called 10th overall by the Fleet at the 2026 PWHL Draft in Detroit.
“[The draft] was awesome,” Dwyer told The Ice Garden on Tuesday. “I feel like I’ve never experienced something like that. It was a feeling you don’t get before a game. It was almost like I was more nervous than [I would be] playing an actual game…. You obviously don’t know exactly what’s going to happen. Nothing’s set in stone. When you hear your name called, you kind of black out, and then it’s a lot of media. But it was just a great day. I felt like it was a whirlwind, in a good way.”
The draft was a highlight of what has been a long offseason for Dwyer. She’s been out of game action since Yale eliminated Cornell in the ECAC semifinals on March 6. However, continent-spanning travel, both for work and for fun, has kept her busy. After her college graduation, Dwyer took with a trip out west to visit national parks with some Cornell teammates. Then, after the PWHL draft, she completed an eight-week internship with Bay Club, a network of combination fitness, sports, and social clubs on the West Coast. Bay Club describes the internship as providing “exposure to the Sports, Outdoor Recreation and Active Lifestyle industry with opportunities to experience the operations of the Bay Club Company.” Dwyer was at the San Francisco location with seven of her Cornell teammates and eight members of the Cornell men’s hockey team, along with students from other universities.
“[Bay Club has] places from Seattle all the way to San Diego,” Dwyer said. “So, we did some travel there, looking at their different locations, and met with a lot of different people. [We] were kind of in the clubs and got to use a lot of the facilities and work with some of their team and everything. So, it was a great experience.”
Dwyer still trained a bit during her internship, primarily in Bay Club’s gyms and other facilities. Bay Club also got her and her Cornell teammates ice access once or twice a week. Once the internship ended, she ramped things up. To prepare for her first professional season, Dwyer has focused on training sessions with PWHL players to adjust to the league’s speed and physicality. She spent time in Halifax with a group of about 20 PWHL players, training in the morning and coaching in the afternoon (with some city exploration mixed in, of course). Dwyer then went home to Pennsylvania to do more of the same, albeit without the PWHL training partners. She moved to Boston about a month ago.
In Boston, Dwyer trains with another group of players, including members of the Fleet. She’s gotten to know some of her new teammates there, and she’s been in contact with even more, including several members of her draft class.
“I actually played with [Leah Stecker] before college for two years,” Dwyer said. “So it’s kind of full circle that now we’re on the same pro team. And then a lot of the current girls, they’ve been super welcoming. There’s probably like eight to ten of them here [in Boston]. So just kind of getting know them [has] been awesome.”
Another offseason highlight for Dwyer was Team USA’s first pre-WWC evaluation camp, which ran Sept. 13-19. Dwyer is no stranger to Team USA, having represented her country at the 2023, 2024, and 2025 Collegiate Series, along with the 2024 Six Nations Cup and the 2022 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. However, this was her first full camp with the senior national team after attending a short one in 2024.
“Being able to be at that level, it’s always a privilege,” Dwyer said. “I feel like I definitely learned a lot, and being with some fellow Fleet players, too, was cool. You just learn a lot from those camps and being at that high level. I thought it was super fun.”
There are still over two months before the 2026-27 PWHL season kicks off, but excitement is building for Dwyer. She’s most excited to experience firsthand and help build the league’s atmosphere after watching it from afar these past three seasons.
“I feel like it’s just an electric atmosphere,” Dwyer said. “[With] all the fans, there’s just a huge pull to the league. So, I think just being a part of that and helping continue that, because obviously it took a while to get here. All the women before me, they really had to break down barriers. So, [I’m] just super grateful to be able to play in this league.”
Some quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
