Amanda Leveille, the goalie who helped lead the Minnesota Whitecaps to the NWHL championship last season, on Wednesday re-signed with the club for the 2019-20 season.
Goalie Amanda Leveille re-signs with Minnesota Whitecaps
The former Gophers goalie is returning to the Whitecaps after helping them win an NWHL title.
June 6, 2019 at 5:04AM
Leveille, who also won three NCAA championships with the Gophers, becomes the second player in the past two weeks to re-sign with the Whitecaps. Forward Allie Thunstrom re-signed on May 24.
"I have the greatest respect and admiration for what the Whitecaps program represents and what it has built for women's hockey players over the past 15 years," Leveille said in a statement. "It has produced sold-out crowds, an Isobel Cup, a Clarkson Cup, and the first team in NWHL history to generate a profit.
"I will do my part in the NWHL and to continue to grow girls' hockey at the youth and professional levels through my availability and visibility to the hockey community."
Leveille's signing is the 15th by NWHL teams since a group of more than 200 top players in North America announced on May 2 that it would sit out the 2019-20 season to bring about a more financially stable league. That move came a day after the Canadian Women's Hockey League ceased operations. Those boycotting players since have former their own union, the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association.
A Kingston, Ontario, native, Leveille has had a solid career in the NWHL. She backstopped the Buffalo Beauts to the Isobel Cup title in 2017 and was earned the league's top goalie honor the following season. Last season for the Whitecaps, Leveille posted a 13-4 record with a 1.96 goals-against average and .929 save percentage. She went 2-0 in the playoffs, making 35 saves in a 5-1 win over the Metropolitan Riveters in the semifinals and 22 saves in a 2-1 overtime triumph over the Beauts in the championship game.
After letting a 135-footer bounce in between the wickets early, Fleury steadied himself in a 5-3 victory.
