Rowley Holly Harper—nicknamed Rowie, with her mother Lily’s red curls and her father Nathan’s calm blue eyes—was twenty-two the spring her name was called in the pro draft.

She had grown up on ice and water: summers rowing with Nathan on northern lakes, winters skating on the Evergreen Hollow backyard rink her grandpa flooded every year. Hockey was in her blood—Lily’s fierce competitiveness, Rowan’s leadership, Everett’s power, Clara’s defensive instincts all mixed into ...