Amanda Kessel

Amanda Kessel (born August 28, 1991) is an American ice hockey executive and former professional player, currently serving as Manager of Minor League Operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League and Assistant General Manager of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.

Internationally, Kessel represented the United States women's national ice hockey team at three Olympic Games and seven World Championships, winning five gold medals and five silver medals. She won Olympic gold in 2018 and silver medals at the 2014 and 2022 Olympics. At the 2018 Olympic gold medal game, she scored a crucial shootout goal that extended the shootout before the United States defeated Canada 3-2, securing the first U.S. Olympic gold in women's hockey in 20 years. She won World Championship gold medals in 2013, 2017, 2019, and 2023, and ranks seventh among Americans in all-time World Championship scoring with 20 goals and 59 points in 43 games.

At the University of Minnesota, Kessel won three NCAA national championships (2012, 2013, 2016) and was awarded the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2013 as the top player in NCAA Division I women's hockey. She recorded 108 goals and 248 points in 136 games, averaging 1.82 points per game, and became the first player in NCAA women's hockey history to record over 100 points in a single season during her sophomore year in 2011–12. Her collegiate career was interrupted by concussion symptoms sustained during training for the 2014 Winter Olympics, causing her to miss the 2014–15 season and most of the 2015–16 season before returning for the national championship run.

Professionally, Kessel signed with the New York Riveters in 2016 on a contract that made her the highest-paid player in NWHL history at the time. She was named 2nd NWHL All-Star Game MVP after scoring the first hat trick in NWHL All-Star Game history. After returning to the renamed Metropolitan Riveters for the 2018–19 NWHL season, she joined the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association in 2019 to advocate for better support of women's hockey, participating in historic showcases including the first women's ice hockey event at Madison Square Garden in 2021.

In 2022, Kessel joined the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. She was promoted to Special Assistant to the President of Hockey Operations in 2023. Though she was selected by PWHL Montreal in the 2024 PWHL draft, Kessel chose to continue her management career and was promoted to her current roles with the Penguins' AHL affiliate in August 2024.