Penguins amateur scout Krissy Wendell-Pohl is a member of the 2024 Hockey Hall of Fame class.
Wendell-Pohl, 42, is a former forward for the University of Minnesota and the U.S. women's national team. With the Golden Gophers, Wendell-Pohl was a two-time NCAA champion. She was a three-time finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award as the NCAA's top women's hockey player, and won the award in 2005. She is tied with Meghan Agosta for the NCAA record in most short-handed goals in a single season (seven in 2004-05) and most career short-handed goals (16). She ranks fourth all-time in goals (106) and also in assists (131) and points (237) in program history at the University of Minnesota in her 101 games.
Wendell-Pohl is a five-time World Championship silver medalist, a World Championship gold medalist, an Olympic bronze medalist, and an Olympic silver medalist with Team USA. She was named MVP of the World Championship in both 2000 and 2005, and captained Team USA in the 2006 Olympics and 2007 World Championship. She was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.
Wendell-Pohl joined the Penguins as a scout in 2021 focusing on amateur players in Minnesota.
The Hall of Fame called Wendell-Pohl with the news during the Penguins’ meetings preparing for the draft
“Krissy is one of the most humble people that you will meet in the game and everyone on our staff is so happy to see her tremendous career honored with the announcement of her induction,” said Kyle Dubas. “Krissy is an admired by her peers and colleagues across hockey. Her resume as a player, coach and executive speaks for itself and we would like to congratulate her on this much-deserved recognition of her talent and influence on the sport of hockey.”
This year's Hall of Fame class includes Shea Weber, Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Roenick as male players, another former U.S. women's national team forward in Natalie Darwitz as the second female player, and former Predators general manager David Poile and current NHL executive vice president and director of hockey operations Colin Campbell as the two builders. Campbell was a 27th overall pick of the Penguins in 1973 and spent four years as a defenseman in Pittsburgh from 1974-76 and 1977-79.
Each year the Hall of Fame class can include four male players, two female players and two builders. This marks the first time in 14 years that both spots for women have been used in a class.
This year's class left one of the four spots for male players unused, but there are some notable omissions. Patrick Marleau, Pekka Rinne and Ryan Miller were all eligible for the first time this year and left off. Sergei Gonchar is in his seventh year of eligibility and was again snubbed.
