When Montreal PWHL defender Mariah Keopple walked into the Verdun Auditorium for her first professional home game, she wore her heart on her sleeve. Literally. It was quite a first impression for those unfamiliar with the undrafted American, but a closer look at the outfit shows it was about much more than her.
Along the legs of the pants, every teammate had their signature on their number. The jacket had the PWHL logo in Montreal’s colour and “Team Montreal” along the back.
“I just wanted it to be very all about the team,” Keopple said. “Things in Montreal, the PWHL, my journey I put that on my sleeve, just everything wrapped up into that one moment. You’re finally here. You’re playing professional hockey, your home opener in Montreal where I’d never thought I would live before all of this.”
She designs clothes for Royalty Sports Performance, and also has an eye on creating her own fashion line for her creations as well. The home opener is just one of the many times she has made Montreal’s walk-in highlight reel with her game day attire.
“I have a lot of different ideas. Quite a bit of the things that I wear I actually make myself,” she said. “I’m a huge proponent of expressing yourself through clothing because you’re always more than just an athlete.”
The 23-year-old grew up in Menomonie, Wisconsin playing on boys teams before making the transition to Hill-Murray School in Minnesota playing girls hockey. From there she played four years at Princeton University. Her offensive numbers don’t leap off the page but she led Princeton in blocked shots and plus/minus. She wasn’t drafted in the PWHL Draft, but signed a one-year contract that was announced in the first week of training camp after joining Montreal.
From there, she rose up the depth chart. In the first game of the season, she was listed as the seventh defender. By the next week, she was on a regular pairing, and by the third week of the season she was on the top pairing with Erin Ambrose, a spot she still holds. She is the only first-year pro defender on Montreal to have played in every game, and in nine games, she has only been on the ice for one of the 13 goals Montreal has given up at five-on-five.
“I have learned so much,” Keopple said. “And even the people I’ve talked to at home, I think I’ve been progressing every single day which is exciting for me to see very small progressions, I’m just learning so many little things that have obviously helped my game quite a bit. So it’s just incredible to be where I’m at right now.”
“On our defence, a few young players continue to impress us and continue to put in the work,” said Montreal head coach Kori Cheverie. “That’s why they’re here, we knew there was something special about them. With [Keopple’s] size and presence on the ice, I know that she’ll continue to give us good minutes and good games and she’s only going to get better because she’s so young.”
Keopple’s presence is also felt in what has become the team’s signature celebration after home wins. Four players: Keopple, Ann-Sophie Bettez, Gabrielle David, and Sarah Bujold have been dancing to “Le Bal Masqué.”
🎶Au bal masqué, ohé, ohé !
— PWHL Montréal (@PWHL_Montreal) January 17, 2024
Elle danse, elle danse, elle danse au bal masqué 🎶 pic.twitter.com/GQCLKcP4nC
“Our group happened really randomly,” Keopple said. “It was in Utica, New York [during the PWHL’s pre-season camp]. We were doing a Just Dance thing, just killing some time, like what else you supposed to do… And “Le Bal Masqué” came on. And we were doing that on Just Dance and that was the group that was trying to kill some time, have some fun, and get to know each other during Utica. And it’s just stuck.”
Keopple’s one of four Americans on the roster, and has had to come into a group where a majority have played together or have known each other for a long time.
“It’s been really cool to just immerse yourself with girls that you never thought you would immerse yourself with,” Keopple said. “And even just out, off the ice, they are incredible people. Watching them interact with young girls, staff, just things like that is really cool to see and getting to know a whole new group of girls because I only knew of a couple girls.”
One of the players she knew well before coming to Montreal was fellow rookie defender Madison Bizal. The two have known each other since they were 10 years old, and despite all of the potential destinations have ended up on the same team.
“It’s been so sweet. Honestly, I love her,” Keopple said. “And we honestly haven’t really seen each other in quite a bit during college. We went to two very different colleges, she was in the Midwest, [I was on the] East Coast, two different conferences, so we really didn’t cross over that much. So it’s really fun to see us back together again, and we always talk about it when we were playing OS Hockey [a women’s hockey development program] in Minnesota and that team, so it’s really kind of eye opening to be back together.”
Keopple was also able to take part in two games in Minnesota, including the record-breaking crowd of over 13,000 fans in their home opener.
“I was saying it was kind of taking me back to high school when we were at the Minnesota State hockey tournament,” she said. “So it was really cool. And everyone was just like ‘Keps, how many family members you have coming this time’, because my family lives so close. And that’s also a crazy emotional thing is how many family members are there supporting me and have been watching me since day one, and got to also experience that incredible crowd at Minnesota. It was great.”
Keopple is also among a group of players that is perhaps most affected by this league. As a player who just graduated from NCAA hockey and is not part of the national team, it would have been impossible for her to be a full-time hockey player in past leagues. Now she not only has a high level of competition, but the ability and resources to continue to develop as a hockey player.
“I am very blessed and extremely lucky for the timing of this all, I know that,” she said. “I think a lot of people fresh out of college realize that and know that and are so thankful to all the girls that came before us and even allowed this opportunity to happen, but it is incredible. We always talk about the really young girls being inspired by us playing but it’s also those girls in high school and college that now have a rock solid foundation that’s starting this year. So it’s really incredible to see that.”
