Top 25 Under 25 in women's hockey: Follow the countdown

We voted on our top choices for the top 25 players in women's hockey. You can follow along as we unveil our selections here.

Welcome to the inaugural rankings of the top 25 players under 25 in women's hockey!

Before you read any farther, you should probably be warned: this was an extremely difficult list to compile. With all the talent in the NCAA, U Sports, NWHL, CWHL and other leagues across the globe, choosing the very best rising stars isn't easy.

But we're pretty happy with the list we compiled, which we'll reveal day by day in the coming weeks, starting with No. 25 and working our way down until we unveil our No. 1 pick. You can follow along with our rankings here.

No. 25: Denisa Krizova

No. 24: Sarah Potomak

No. 23: Katie Burt

No. 22: Emily Clark

No. 21: Erin Ambrose

No. 20: Amanda Pelkey

No. 19: Dani Cameranesi

No. 18: Alina Müller

No. 17: Susanna Tapani

No. 16: Kelsey Koelzer

No. 15: Cayley Mercer

No. 14: Shiann Darkangelo

No. 13: Annie Pankowski

No. 12: Nicole Hensley

No. 11: Halli Krzyzaniak

No. 10: Ludmila Belyakova

No. 9: Renata Fast

No. 8: Haley Skarupa

No. 7: Sarah Nurse

No. 6: Emily Pfalzer

No. 5: Lara Stalder

No. 4: (TIE) Megan Keller and Hannah Brandt

No. 3: Emerance Maschmeyer

No. 2: Ann-Renée Desbiens

No. 1: Alex Carpenter

Voting process

We first compiled a list of as many top players under 25 in women's hockey, pulling from the NCAA, U Sports, SDHL, NWHL, CWHL and other international team rosters.

Players were eligible for voting if they were 24 or younger as of August 30, 2017: If they turned 25 on September 1, they were eligible. If they turned 25 on August 31, they weren't up for consideration.

11 staff members compiled ballots of players from our original list. Players were given points for where they were ranked - a No. 1 ranking gave them 25 points, No. 2 got 24 points, etc.

After voting was done, we added every player's point total together and then ranked the totals. The player with the highest total was our No. 1 and so on.

After we're done with our countdown, we'll have an honorable mentions post with some of the supremely talented players who somehow didn't make this list (and there are several of them).

We'll update our rankings with a post a day, starting at No. 25 and working our way down to our No. 1 overall pick.

Let us know what you think of our rankings in the comments!