Gwyneth Philips

When Gwyneth Philips hiked to the top of a mountain during the PWHL expansion draft, she had no cell service. When she picked up a bar or two of signal at the summit, her phone lit up with texts telling her the roster around her had changed entirely. Her response, she later recalled, was to switch on airplane mode and head back down. That instinct — to separate from hockey on her own terms — has run through her career from Athens, Ohio, to the Walter Cup Final.

Philips, born September 17, 2000, played collegiate hockey at Northeastern University from 2019 to 2024, serving as an alternate captain in her final season. She left the program holding the NCAA record for career save percentage at .958. She was the Hockey Commissioners Association National Goaltender of the Year in 2023 and was named to the All-American First Team in both 2022–23 and 2023–24. She was also a Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Top-10 Finalist in both of those seasons.

Ottawa selected her in the PWHL Draft, and in her rookie season she compiled an 8-5-1 record with a 2.11 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage, including two shutouts, to help push the Charge into the playoffs. She was a finalist for PWHL Rookie of the Year and Goaltender of the Year, and earned a spot on the PWHL All-Rookie Team.

Her first season ended in the playoffs with a performance that produced the first-ever Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP award. She went 4-0-4 in the postseason with a 1.23 goals-against average and a .952 save percentage, never losing a game in regulation. She led all PWHL goaltenders with 257 saves in those playoffs.

On the international stage, Philips represented the United States at the 2024 and 2025 IIHF Women's World Championships, winning a silver medal and then a gold — coming off the bench in the third period of the gold medal game at the 2025 championship after Aerin Frankel was injured, and seeing the game through to an overtime victory. At the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, she started two games and did not allow a goal, earning a gold medal with Team USA.

After the Walter Cup Final, Philips bought a camper and drove to California, spending roughly 20 days camping and disconnecting from hockey entirely — including, as it turned out, from the PWHL expansion draft. She documented her travels on TikTok (@gwynethphilips) and brought her French Bulldog, Paris. That offseason reset, and what it says about how she approaches the game, is the subject of a Colin Hodd piece for InGoal Magazine ^[1], which draws on her conversation in Episode 316 of InGoal Radio ^[2]. In that episode, Philips described her philosophy in her own words: "I love hockey more than anything, but I also love to do things outside. It keeps me fresh. I think it really helps a lot with my game too." She also spoke about the whirlwind of her rookie season: "It was like two months of a whirlwind. But since then, I bought a camper in April and I went out for about a month out to California and just camped for like 20 days." The Hodd piece ^[1] goes deeper into how that approach to the offseason connects to performance, and what goalies — and goalie parents — might take from it.

Heading into her second PWHL season, Philips was named one of three protected players by the Ottawa Charge ahead of the expansion draft, and she was included on the Charge's 2026–27 training camp roster ^[3]. She also appeared on USA Hockey's national team camp roster alongside Frankel, Wisconsin's Ava McNaughton, and the Sirens' Callie Shanahan for a camp in Plymouth, Michigan, in October 2026 ^[4].

Her father, Guy Philips, raced in the Porsche series in Ohio; she grew up doing go-kart racing. She played lacrosse, volleyball, flag football, and basketball in high school, and now pursues rock climbing, cycling, camping, hiking, biking, boating, and skiing in the off-season.

InGoal Magazine has covered Gwyneth Philips in one podcast appearance and three InGoal articles.