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Duggan Chosen for University of Wisconsin Hall of Fame

Meghan Duggan, the newly hired Devils’ Manager of Player Development, will be entering the University of Wisconsin’s Athletic Hall of Fame. She will enter in the Contemporary category for 2021, Amanda Stein reports.

In her blog post, Stein listed Duggan’s collegiate accomplishments. During Duggan’s time with the Badgers, they won three NCAA championships – Stein notes that she was captain of the 2011 champs; she is second in assists (130) and third in total points (238) as well as third in plus/minus rating (+164) in Badgers’ history. In addition, Stein notes that she was the 2011 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner – given to the top women’s player in the NCAA – in 2011, the year she captained the national champions.

Stein also notes her Olympic accomplishments: three medals (which includes the gold medal team that she captained at the 2018 Winter Olympics).

Congratulations to Meghan Duggan on this great accolade!

In other news around the NHL, Reuters reported five days ago that “(t)he Canadian government has approved a travel exemption for the National Hockey League on Sunday [June 6] that will allow teams to cross the Canada-U.S. border for the Stanley Cup playoffs without the mandatory 14-day quarantine.”

This will only affect the Vegas Golden Knights-Montreal Canadiens series as of now.

The statement put out by the Canadian government said that “[t]his decision was made in conjunction with the Public Health Agency of Canada, with the approval of provincial and municipal public health officials, including Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta.” The provinces included in the decision were the ones with teams participating in the playoffs.

The statement continued that “[t]he NHL’s COVID Playoff Protocol will permit cross-border travel that is safeguarded by strict quarantining, a bubble, daily testing and a comprehensive protocol that will apply to all travelling NHL players and personnel.”

Teams will only be able to travel from country to country in private planes and, once in “Canada players will live in a modified bubble that will be limited to the team hotel and arena, and there will be no contact with the public.” In addition, “[p]layers will be tested daily as well as before they board planes and when they land.”

This was done so that the Canadiens, the eventual playoff winner of the North Division over the Winnipeg Jets, would be able to participate in a series with the eventual West Division winners without needed to relocate temporarily. This exemption will continue should the Canadiens reach the Stanley Cup Final.

The Vegas-Montreal third round series gets underway on Monday, June 14 in Las Vegas. The series will shift to Montreal for game three on Friday, June 18.

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Meghan Duggan Named to Devils Front Office

In a busy news day for the Devils, the team announced this morning that former United States Olympian and gold medal winner Meghan Duggan has been named to the front office as Manager, Player Development and will operate within the team’s Hockey Operations Department.

The announcement was made by Executive Vice President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald who said “[w]e are incredibly excited to announce that Meghan has joined our Player Development Department. As our group has evolved over the past few years the past few years to include as much about off-ice as on-ice for development, we believe Meghan will be perfect for this position. Her successful track record as a teammate, leader, captain and driver of initiatives will be resources to all players in our organization. We look forward to her utilizing her perspective of the game, attention to detail and creative thinking to help our players reach their potential.”

The press release put out by the Devils states that “Duggan will work closely with Senior Vice President/Assistant General Manager Dan MacKinnon across all levels of the development department’s operations, with a specific focus on on-ice and off-ice information. She will coordinate with the Athlete Care group, Development Coaches and Management on the design, improvement and execution of progress plans for all players within the organization. Duggan will be responsible for staff schedules, synthesizing information regarding prospects and AHL/ECHL players while assessing all players through in-person and video scouting. Additionally, she will join the Devils’ staff in on-ice development throughout the year.”

Having just retired from professional hockey, she had an international career that is unparalleled in hockey for men or women. The Danvers, Massachusetts native won 11 medals, including eight gold medals for Team USA. In the Olympics, she won silver in 2010 in Vancouver, silver in 2014 at Sochi (her first Olympics as captain) and gold in 2018 at PyeongChang.

At the IIHF Women’s World Championship, she won gold seven times (2008-09, 2011, 2013 and 2015-17) and won silver once in 2007.

In 2014, while still playing, she was named to the USA Hockey Board of Directors and to the USA Hockey Women’s Advisory Committee in 2017.

She played college hockey at Wisconsin as a forward from 2006-2011 and own the Patty Kazmaier Award (given each year to the top women’s player in the NCAA in their senior season) The presser notes that she was “the Badgers’ all-time leading scorer” following her collegiate career.

In 2011, she was drafted eighth overall by the Boston Blades of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. She played in Boston from 2011 to 2015 and won the Clarkson Cup (the CWHL’s championship) twice – in 2013 and 2015.

Following her time in the CWHL, she moved to the National Women’s Hockey League in 2015 and played for the Buffalo Beauts in 2015-16 and the Boston Pride in 2016-17.

The press release notes that she has long advocated accessibility, diversity and participation in the game. It notes that “[s]he was part of the inaugural group that was named to the National Hockey League’s Player Inclusion Committee last season. She has served as a member of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PHWPA) and the Women’s Sports Foundation as a Board of Trustees member. Duggan has used her platform throughout her career for mentorship and motivational speaking with a focus on gender equality, diversity & inclusion, leadership, LGBTQ+ advocacy and teamwork.”