The Boston Pride have added yet another Olympian to their roster, announcing the signing of Gisele “Gigi” Marvin on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old Minnesota native has a lot of experience at the international level, playing for the U.S. in two Winter Olympics, six World Championships, seven Four Nations Cup tourneys, as well as time spent playing for the U.S. U22 team.
The defenseman posted 87 goals and 108 assists through 152 career collegiate games, playing for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers from 2005 to 2009.
Like with Brianna Decker and Kacey Bellamy, whose signings were also announced this week, Gigi Marvin spent last season playing for the Clarkson Cup winning Boston Blades in the CWHL.
While the league wouldn’t comment on the influx of announcements on former CWHL players over a month after the signing deadline of August 17 (as was expected and announced), it’s clear that some of the delay in announcements is due to a hold up on transfers being issued to go to the NWHL from the CWHL.
Gigi Marvin signs, adds versatility to @TheBostonPride. You can buy her jersey online now! http://t.co/95nTNqkh1b pic.twitter.com/NYAtl9NnLp
— PHF (@PHF) September 23, 2015
The NWHL announced after the signing deadline that all players had been signed, but out of respect to players they didn’t announce all signings until “they receive official releases from other leagues.”
That veiled comment, at least at this point, appears to exclusively be referring to the CWHL. With three players from the C’s Blades getting announced this week, some kind of breakthrough was had and players are beginning to get clearance to transfer between leagues.
The competition last year in the CWHL was world class and a lot of fun, but the number of American players who have left the Blades must start to be a concern for that franchise with their championship squad losing Decker, Marvin, Bellamy, Janine Weber, likely Hilary Knight, Jillian Dempsey, Jordan Smelker, Blake Bolden, Rachel Llanes, Corinne Buie, Kaleigh Fratkin, Bray Ketchum, Kelly Cooke, Alyssa Gagliardi, Jessica Koizumi, Nicole Stock and Brittany Ott to the NWHL. That’s three of the Blades’ top four scorers and 61% of the team’s roster from last season. (67% of players who were considered “active” at the end of the season.)
