Mariah Keopple

Mariah Maxine Keopple (born June 27, 2000) is an American professional ice hockey defenceman for the PWHL San Jose of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). She previously played for the Montreal Victoire and Seattle Torrent of the PWHL. She played college ice hockey at Princeton.

Early life Keopple was born to Aaron and Joy Keopple in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and has a younger brother, Remington. She grew up playing youth hockey on boys teams in Menomonie. Keople attended Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, Minnesota where she played four years of varsity hockey on the girls team. Hill-Murray qualified for the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament all four years and won the state championship during Keopple's freshman year. She served as team captain in her senior year and collected 74 career points. Keopple led all Tigers with 51 blocked shots and compiled a plus/minus ranking of +10. She recorded her first collegiate point in her NCAA debut against the Wisconsin Badgers, Frozen Four runner-ups from the previous season, when she and Sarah Fillier collaborated on assists for a third-period goal by Carly Bullock. The season culminated with an appearance in the NCAA tournament, where Keopple assisted on a second-period goal by Fillier against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Following the season, she was named to the ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team alongside teammates Maggie Connors and Fillier. She was also named to the ECAC All-Academic Team. Cornell scored two goals in the first 2:49 of the game to take a 2–0 lead. Princeton rallied with second-period goals by Fillier and Bullock to tie the game at 2–2. After a scoreless third period, the game went to overtime. The win also snapped Cornell's 22-game unbeaten streak and marked the Big Red's first loss at Lynah that season. Princeton was scheduled to play Northeastern in the NCAA quarterfinals, but the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the season, she was named to the ECAC All-Academic Team for the second consecutive year. During the 2021–22 season, she recorded two goals and five assists in 31 games.

Professional Montréal Victoire (2023–2025)

After going undrafted in the 2023 PWHL Draft, Keopple was invited to PWHL Montreal's training camp in mid-November 2023. She impressed at camp and signed a one-year contract with Montreal on November 21, 2023. During the 2023–24 season, she rose quickly through the depth chart. Listed as the seventh defender in the first game of the season, by the second week she was on a regular pairing, and by the third week she was on the top pairing with Erin Ambrose, the team's top defender. She was the only first-year professional defender on Montreal to play in every regular season game, appearing in all 24 contests and recording three assists.

On June 17, 2024, Keopple signed a one-year contract extension with Montreal, which had rebranded as the Montréal Victoire. General manager Danièle Sauvageau stated: "Mariah progressed so much in her rookie season, and she will only get better over the next years." During the 2024–25 season, she recorded three goals and one assist in 29 regular season games, and was scoreless in four games during the 2025 PWHL playoffs, as Montreal advanced to the semifinals.

Seattle Torrent (2025–2026)

On June 17, 2025, Keopple signed a one-year contract with the expansion Seattle Torrent. General manager Meghan Turner said: "Mariah is a steady and reliable presence on the back end. She pays attention to the details, makes smart decisions under pressure, and brings the kind of shutdown ability we want in our defensive zone. She's exactly the type of defender we were looking to add." The sellout crowd set a new PWHL attendance record for a team's home arena. On November 28, 2025, the Torrent played their inaugural home opener at Climate Pledge Arena in front of a record-breaking crowd of 16,014 fans, setting multiple attendance benchmarks. The attendance established a new U.S. arena record for a women's hockey game, surpassing the previous record of 15,359 set at an NCAA game between the University of Wisconsin and St. Cloud State on January 14, 2017. During the 2025–26 season, she recorded three assists in 29 games.

PWHL San Jose (2026–present) During the league's expansion to 12 teams ahead of the 2026–27 season, she signed a two-year contract with PWHL San Jose on June 12, 2026.

Other work Keopple has her own fashion line, Riah the Label. She designed clothes for Royalty Sports Performance, helping them become the official apparel partner for the PWHL, and also designs all of her own game-day outfits.

Career statistics Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2018–19 Princeton University ECAC 33 3 11 14 14 — — — — — 2019–20 Princeton University ECAC 31 5 11 16 12 — — — — — 2021–22 Princeton University ECAC 31 2 5 7 12 — — — — — 2022–23 Princeton University ECAC 31 2 13 15 18 — — — — — 2023–24 PWHL Montreal PWHL 24 0 3 3 12 3 0 0 0 0 2024–25 Montreal Victoire PWHL 29 3 1 4 14 4 0 0 0 4 2025–26 Seattle Torrent PWHL 29 0 3 3 0 — — — — —PWHL totals 82 3 7 10 26 7 0 0 0 4