Aerin Frankel

Aerin Frankel grew up in Chappaqua, New York, and by the time she arrived at Northeastern University in 2017, she was already signaling what was ahead: she led all NCAA rookies in save percentage that first season, posting a .934 mark. Over four seasons in Hockey East, she became one of the most decorated goaltenders in program history, setting records in save percentage, goals-against average, wins, and shutouts, and leading the Huskies to the 2021 NCAA championship game. That same year she swept six Hockey East honors, won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top player in women's college hockey, and became the inaugural recipient of the WHCA National Goalie of the Year award — a distinction she repeated in 2022. As a sophomore, she recorded a 28-save shutout over Boston University, becoming the first goaltender to blank BU since Florence Schelling did it in 2011.

Frankel's national-team résumé runs alongside her professional one. She has earned five IIHF Women's World Championship medals representing the United States — two gold (2023, 2025) and three silver (2021, 2022, 2024). During the 2023 championship, she served as the primary goaltender and posted a shutout over Germany to send the U.S. to the semifinals. That tournament also made her the first U.S. women's goaltender to start five consecutive games at the national-team level in 26 years.

In the PWHL's inaugural season, Frankel started all eight playoff games for the Boston Fleet, logging 580:58 minutes. She finished first among all goaltenders in playoff minutes played and saves made with 286. The Boston-Montréal semifinal series alone produced extraordinary numbers: in the first two games she stopped 109 of 111 shots, including 56 saves in a 2-1 triple-overtime win in Game 2. She was a finalist for PWHL Goaltender of the Year that season, the first of two consecutive years she reached that shortlist. She also became the first goaltender in PWHL history to record 1,000 saves, reaching that mark on January 31, 2025.

In her second full PWHL season, Frankel appeared in 23 games — first in the league in both games played and minutes (1,342:18) — and finished with a 12-8-3-1 record and a .921 save percentage, second among starting goaltenders in the league. She recorded a shutout against New York on February 12, 2025, in a 4-0 Fleet win. On August 4, 2025, she signed a two-year contract extension with Boston running through the 2027-28 season.

The 2025-26 season brought a convergence of achievements at the professional and international levels. At the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, Frankel added an Olympic gold medal to her collection. Back in the PWHL, she produced seven shutouts in 22 starts — a league record — including three consecutive shutouts and a scoreless streak of 236 minutes and 45 seconds, also a PWHL record. That run gave her ten shutouts across 27 starts when combining the PWHL regular season and the Olympic Games. She was named the 2025-26 Billie Jean King MVP and PWHL Goaltender of the Year.

InGoal Magazine has covered Aerin Frankel in one podcast appearance and one InGoal article. On Episode 346 of the InGoal Radio Podcast, Frankel spoke about managing attention and pressure at the highest levels of the game ^[1]. "At first, I was nervous playing in front of bigger crowds," she said. "I think now I've just kind of learned to just focus on my own game." She also talked about the role of skating as a foundation of her work in net, describing it as something she continues to refine: "I rely a lot on my skating. It's really important for me to be a good skater. It's something I still work on and I think you can never be good enough of a skater." Colin Hodd's piece for InGoal ^[2] draws on that same conversation to examine what sits behind her record shutout pace — available to InGoal subscribers.