BOSTON – Tess Adams of the Suffolk women's hockey team signed a contract to continue her hockey career with the National Women's Hockey League's Connecticut Whale and is expected to make her pro-debut this afternoon, Sunday, Feb. 24.  

Adams wrapped up her collegiate career this season, skating in the inaugural year of Suffolk women's hockey. The forward from Calgary, Alberta, led the Rams to unprecedented first season success with a 15-9-2 overall record and the second seed in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) with a 10-4-2 league ledger. The All-NEHC First-Team honoree paced the blue-and-gold in points (32) and goals (18) and ranked among the NCAA Division III in both categories as well. Adams, the first-ever senior in Suffolk women's hockey program, cemented her spot in the Rams record books as the first-ever skater to reach the 100-point plateau. After producing 79 points in her three-years at SUNY Canton (2015-18), she tallied her 21st point at Suffolk on an assist at Becker Jan. 15 to reach the 100-point plateau. She concluded her collegiate career – one year in a Rams' sweater and three as a Kanagroo – with 111 (67 goals, 44 assists) over 99 appearances.  

Adams will be the first-ever Suffolk women's hockey player to take their talents to the pro-level when she joins the Rams' assistant coach Kim Tiberi on the ice Sunday against the Boston Pride at the Terry Conners Ice Rink in Stamford, Connecticut. 

The NWHL, formed in 2015, was the first professional women's hockey league in North America with a "Founding Four" franchises – Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale and New York Riverters – with the league expanding to five teams this season with the addition of the Minnesota Whitecaps and all vying for the Isobel Cup, named after Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy, the daughter of Frederick Stanley, the namesake of the Stanley Cup.