Officials with the Professional Women's Hockey League made it official on Saturday, announcing that Natalie Darwitz was out as general manager of the Minnesota team.
Reports of the ouster came early Friday, much to the surprise and outrage of players on the team that won the league's inaugural championship less than two weeks earlier.
Here is the statement, as released by PWHL communications director Paul Krotz:
The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and PWHL Minnesota General Manager Natalie Darwitz have parted ways, effective immediately.
“We appreciate all that Natalie has done for PWHL Minnesota in the league’s inaugural season and her contributions to the team’s championship success. We wish her the best moving forward,” said Jayna Hefford, Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations, PWHL.
There is no immediate timeline for the naming of the next PWHL Minnesota General Manager.
The PWHL Minnesota coaching staff will make the team’s player selections in the upcoming draft this Monday, June 10 at 6 p.m. CT. Minnesota owns the third pick in all seven rounds of the PWHL Draft, which will be streamed live on the league’s YouTube channel.
In a video conference with multiple media outlets, the PWHL's senior vice president of hockey operations said that the decision "needed to be made," and came after a league review that took months.
Darwitz is a Minnesota hockey legend, gaining attention as a seventh-grader at Eagan High School before winning two national titles with the University of Minnesota and three Olympic medals.
She was an assistant coach for the Gophers and head coach at Hamline before becoming the first general manager of the Minnesota PWHL team last year and building the team from scratch.
Minnesota was among the top teams in the inaugural PWHL season, winning the championship by beating Toronto and Boston in the playoffs.
Minnesota is hosting the league's draft on Monday at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul and Darwitz will not be at the team's table.
All teams in the PWHL are owned by the Mark Walter Group.
That's the organization that owns the Los Angeles Dodgers in major league baseball as well as a part of soccer's Chelsea FC in the English Premier League.