{"id":296395,"date":"2026-07-15T10:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/296395\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:24:20","slug":"sirens-emma-peschel-ready-to-feed-off-new-york-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/296395\/","title":{"rendered":"Sirens’ Emma Peschel ready to feed off New York ‘environment’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma Peschel is a self-described \u201ccity girl at heart.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The New York Sirens introduced Peschel, their seventh overall selection in the 2026 PWHL Draft, at the Empire State Building on Tuesday. Peschel grew up in Edina, Minnesota, just outside of Minneapolis and the hometown of NHLers Anders Lee and Casey Mittelstadt, and she is excited to grow in the city just as much as she is to join its newest hockey club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always liked to be around that environment. Being in the biggest city in the world, in your 20s, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s much better,\u201d Peschel said. \u201cSo that was the most exciting part. Obviously, joining the Sirens is huge, but living in New York is going to be so fun \u2026 getting to take in all the cuisine, and the adventures, and the parks, and everything that comes with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"EmmaEmma Peschel poses for the media on the observation deck at the Empire State Building in New York City on July 14, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

Peschel spent four years at Ohio State, where she won the national championship in 2024 and learned a lot, \u201cespecially discipline and development.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, she\u2019s getting ready to join a rapidly growing league in a huge market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s one of the best times to join in the history of the league,\u201d she said. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s only been four years and we\u2019re from six to 12 teams, so it\u2019s a really cool jump to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the growth will continue in seeing the draft class that\u2019s come in. We have a lot of talent, and I think we\u2019ll make a pretty big impact in the league right away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sirens general manager Pascal Daoust had nothing but great things to say about his newest defender, who he selected over 2026 U.S. Olympian Kirsten Simms, who went to Toronto with the following pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that I probably went too short [in his opening statement] on the amount of love that we have for her,\u201d Daoust said jokingly. \u201cShe is someone who, of course, has a physicality that she has, but she skates well, she plays well. She makes decisions on the ice that won\u2019t just make her look good \u2026 it\u2019s a lot of leadership that is coming our way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were still a couple of good forwards [at the seventh pick], but \u2026 you knew that she wouldn\u2019t be there a bit later, and you know that she\u2019s gonna fit and fill a role \u2026 a D that can become a No. 1 D in this league.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Sirens general manager Pascal Daoust and Emma Peschel at the Empire State Building. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n

Peschel comes into a Sirens organization that is searching for its first taste of success in a league still in its youth. Last season, the Sirens finished seventh of eight teams in the league. Now, with four expansion teams joining the fray, there\u2019s even more competition, and the Sirens are looking to grow further excitement in a city flush with teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we shouldn\u2019t have finished where we finished, you know?\u201d Daoust said. \u201cI\u2019d like to remind people that last year, we finished first in expected goals. We finished first in Grade A scoring chances. Still, we couldn\u2019t put the puck in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of players coming in, but we have a lot of players that are coming back, so they know how they are coached, they know how to train. We\u2019re excited.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Should Daoust be correct in his highly positive analysis of Peschel, fans might just flock to the Prudential Center for a look at her this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Peschel is a self-described \u201ccity girl at heart.\u201d\u00a0 The New York Sirens introduced Peschel, their seventh overall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[12614,9,24,55,54,24233,56,24231,319],"class_list":["post-296395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-empire-state-building","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-sirens","tag-ny","tag-pwhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}