Aerin Frankel

Aerin Frankel grew up in Chappaqua, New York, and by the time she left Northeastern University in 2021, she had won the Patty Kazmaier Award — the top individual honor in NCAA women's hockey — along with the inaugural WHCA National Goalie of the Year award, a distinction she would claim again in 2022. She led NCAA rookies in save percentage with a .934 mark in her first season, and as a sophomore recorded a 28-save shutout over Boston University, becoming the first goaltender to blank the Terriers since Florence Schelling in 2011. In her senior year alone she collected six Hockey East honors including the Goaltending Champion, First-Team All-Star, All-Tournament Team, Championship MVP, and PNC Bank Three Stars Award.

Frankel's national team career has run alongside her professional one. She has earned five IIHF Women's World Championship medals representing the United States — gold in 2023 and 2025, silver in 2021, 2022, and 2024. During the 2023 championship run she served as the primary goaltender and posted a 3-0 shutout over Germany to advance the U.S. to the semifinals, a performance that made her the first U.S. women's goaltender to start five consecutive games at the national team level in 26 years.

When the PWHL launched its inaugural season, Frankel wore number 31 for the Boston Fleet and carried the load through the postseason, starting all eight of Boston's playoff games and logging 580:58 minutes. She finished first among all goaltenders in playoff minutes played and saves made, recording 109 saves on 111 shots across the first two games of the semifinal series against Montréal — including 56 saves in a 2-1 triple-overtime win in Game 2. She was a Goaltender of the Year finalist that season and again the following year, when she appeared in 23 games, finished 12-8-3-1, led the PWHL in games played and minutes (1,342:18), and ranked second among starting goaltenders in save percentage at .921. She also recorded a shutout on February 12, 2025, against New York in a 4-0 Fleet victory. 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 run of results that drew significant attention. In 22 PWHL starts she recorded seven shutouts — a PWHL record — including three consecutive scoreless outings that set another league mark, with an overall scoreless streak of 236 minutes and 45 seconds. She also participated in the Milano-Cortina Olympic Games, where she posted three shutouts in five games, an Olympic record. Across 27 starts that season, she recorded ten shutouts in total.

On ^[1] Episode 346 of the InGoal Radio Podcast, Frankel spoke with Kevin Woodley about navigating the pressures that come with playing on a larger stage and what she relies on technically to maintain her game. Colin Hodd's analysis of that conversation, published in April 2026, pulls from the podcast to examine her approach to the basics of goaltending ^[2] — and is available to InGoal subscribers.

In that podcast, Frankel spoke directly about the mental side of her game. "I think for me, just being able to stay present and focus on what I can control, which is only myself and my preparation and not everything that's going on," she said ^[1]. On what she leans on technically: "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." ^[1]

InGoal Magazine has covered Aerin Frankel in one podcast appearance and one InGoal article.