Brooke McQuigge Is A Hockey Lifer Who's Fallen In Love With the Game Again

Young female hockey players suiting up in their jerseys and skates can aspire to play professionally. Having those dreams wasn’t necessarily the case for the current crop of PWHL players. But it hasn’t stopped players like Minnesota Frost rookie Brooke McQuigge from having a blast coming to the rink every day.

“I tell my parents and family all the time, this is the most in my life I have ever loved hockey this much,” McQuigge said. “So, it’s been great. … I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

The Frost left-shot forward has seven goals and 13 points in her rookie season. She also brings the longest active PWHL point streak – six games – into the final three games of the season. The Frost resume play after the International Break on April 27 at Xcel Energy Center, their last regular-season home game.

McQuigge grew up in Bowmanville, Ont., and has three siblings. Hockey started with her older sister, Rachel, and the tradition followed down the family tree, down to her younger sister Kirstyn. Since they could walk, the McQuigge parents brought their girls to public skates, “and we could just get on and rip around and learn how to skate that way,” McQuigge said.

In what’s becoming more of the norm in recent years, McQuigge played on girls’ hockey teams through her youth years. She was on the Clarington Flames team in Bowmanville. It was in her final year of bantam hockey when McQuigge could see how hockey could be something to stick with and find success in the future. She decided to switch organizations to play at a higher level.

“After that, it kind of took off, and that’s when schools really started taking interest,” McQuigge said. “I quickly saw that this was something I could do up until college.”

She played with the Whitby Junior Wolves before heading to Clarkson University from 2019 to 2024.

Her 162 games played in those five seasons rank first in Clarkson history. In her college career, she scored 53 goals and 111 points and was also a three-time ECAC All-Academic Award winner.

As a junior assistant captain in 2021-22, McQuigge scored 16 goals and 29 points. Four of those points came in a game against her older sister, Rachel, in net for Princeton. Brooke scored two goals and had two assists in the 7-1 victory on Feb. 5, 2022.

That game was a lot of fun for the sisters, who are very competitive athletes, even against each other.

“So, any time I was able to get a shot on her, I was just letting it go,” McQuigge said. “That was definitely a fun game. Not so much for her but for me and my team.”

Her sister Rachel was on the Metropolitan Riveters roster in the PHF in 2022-23 before she was the third goalie for the Ottawa Charge in 2024. She is now in law school in Ottawa. Her younger sister Kirstyn played with Brooke at Clarkson. All three sisters played for the Whitby Junior Wolves.

Their parents, Trevor and Liz, follow their daughters wherever the hockey takes them to watch them play. They take turns going to see Brooke and her younger sister. They did the same when Rachel was still playing, too. It’s great for her parents to have those travel experiences and show their support, plus “they love hockey a lot just like me,” McQuigge said.

At last year’s PWHL Draft in St. Paul, McQuigge was working her summer internship in Portland, Maine. That internship would lead to a full-time role in human resources consulting.

“But then the draft happened, and I ended up getting drafted,” McQuigge said.

The Frost selected her with the 21st overall pick in the fourth round on the day after her 24th birthday. She loved the path she was on with her consulting job, which aligned with her undergraduate degree and MBA. But she added that she’s “having way more fun out on the ice” as a professional hockey player.

She also played briefly with MoDo (Swedish Women’s Hockey League) before joining Minnesota and won silver (2017) and bronze (2018) medals with the IIHF U18 World Championships with Team Canada.

The Frost were glad to bring her to Minnesota so she could have some fun, too.

“We knew she’d be an impact player for us, I think, after we got her here and saw how she fit into our lineup,” said Frost coach Ken Klee. “You wouldn’t know it by looking at her or talking to her that she’s got a point streak going, which is fine. That’s just how she is as a person. She just goes about her business and wants to do her job and contribute.”

As a PWHL rookie, McQuigge already had a familiar face on her new Frost team: Dominique Petrie.

The Frost selected the two Clarkson players with back-to-back picks. It was a sigh of relief to get drafted, and McQuigge was also in shock and nervous that night.

“But just to have somebody that I was roommates at college with and also played on the same line with was really comforting, and just being able to have this experience again with her is just really fun,” McQuigge said.

Petrie shared that sentiment.

“She’s just a great person, a great human being and a great hockey player as well,” Petrie said. “So, just being able to have her here and the memories that we had in college and in our Frozen Four run, and now making them playing professional hockey as well, is awesome.”

McQuigge plays a simple game, plays a physical game, and shoots when she can, Klee said. Actually, McQuigge shoots the puck quite a bit. Entering Minnesota’s March 30 game against Toronto, McQuigge had a 21.9% shooting percentage, “which is crazy,” Klee said.

“She’s doing a lot of the little things well,” added Klee. “She skates well, she’s physical.”

McQuigge’s efforts have paid off in the form of that six-game point streak headed into the break. She’s scored two goals and five assists for seven points across those six games starting March 7 against Ottawa.

Her two-assist game against Toronto on March 30 immediately before the break was her first multi-point effort of the season. She’s the first Minnesota player ever to reach a six-game point streak. A seven-game streak is the PWHL record, set by New York’s Alex Carpenter, who scored five goals and five assists from Dec. 1 to Jan. 4 this season.

McQuigge’s game has been consistent since the end of January, scoring a point in 10-of-14 games.

Although Klee likes to mix up lines throughout the season to keep things fresh, McQuigge also pointed to the consistency in her line for some of her success. Since Zumwinkle returned from her injury on Feb. 11, McQuigge has skated with her and Kelly Pannek.

It’s the fast, physical play of their line that McQuigge enjoys.

“I think they definitely deserve a lot of the flowers for my (six)-game point streak,” McQuigge said. “So grateful for them.”