MINNEAPOLIS — After 18 seasons of leading Minnesota's top professional women's hockey team and blazing trails for future players, defender Winny Brodt-Brown is retiring from professional hockey.
The Minnesota Whitecaps announced Tuesday that Brodt-Brown is retiring after playing for the team since its inception in 2004 when it began in the Western Women's Hockey League. She was part of both of the Whitecaps' league titles, the WWHL's Clarkson Cup in 2010 and the Premier Hockey Federation's Isobel Cup in 2019, the team's first season in their new league home.
Brodt-Brown's trailblazing career started quickly in high school, as she was the first Minnesota Ms. Hockey Award winner in 1996, which is awarded annually to the best girls hockey player in the state.
The Roseville Area High School product first enrolled at the University of New Hampshire to play colligate hockey in 1997 and was named the AWCHA tournament Most Valuable Player. She then transferred to the University of Minnesota before her sophomore season.
In 2000, Brodt-Brown was named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and selected All-WCHA First Team for her play in leading the Golden Gophers to the AWCHA National Championship, the school's first-ever women's team national title.
She left the University of Minnesota team to join the United States National Team during her junior season and went on to went silver in the World Championships. When she returned to Minnesota for her senior year during the 2002-2003 season, the Gophers reached the Frozen Four for the fourth time in five years, according to the university.
Brodt-Brown was inducted into the University of Minnesota M Club Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021.
One of Brodt-Brown's former teammates, Allie Thunstrom, who played for the Whitecaps for five seasons before signing with Boston during free agency, said in a tweet, "Thank you for everything, Winny. You’ve built this from the ground up."
Allie Morse, who was one of the Whitecaps' goalies for the last three seasons, tweeted, "An absolute legend. She made women’s hockey what it is today in Minnesota and will continue to do so even if she isn’t playing."
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