going to lighten to mood...
This is a good read...if you dont want to read, then watch the feature from Michael Farber of SI for TSN
20 Years Ago Today, Manon Rheaume became the first female playing professional hockey at the mens level.
Spoiler!
Quote:
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Manon Rhéaume becoming the first woman to play in an NHL preseason game with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Michael Farber did a fantastic feature on Rhéaume recently for TSN, talking about how the Lightning and Phil Esposito, who was running the team, used her for publicity purposes ahead of its first season in the NHL, but Rhéaume also used them.
“People told me I couldn’t do it because I was a girl,” Rhéaume told Farber.
Said Esposito: “I made Manon a millionaire.”
If you haven’t seen the TSN feature yet, check out the video below.
And here’s an article I wrote on Rhéaume when she became the first female to suit up for a QMJHL game back in 1991.
PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE ON NOV. 21, 1991
Not just a pretty face; Woman goalie a first for junior league
STU COWAN
THE GAZETTE
It’s not very often that a backup goaltender is the biggest star in a hockey game — especially when all they do is open and close the door at the end of the bench.
But that was the case — and for good reason — as Manon Rhéaume suited up for the Trois-Rivières Draveurs in a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game against the St. Hyacinthe Laser on Tuesday night.
Rhéaume, who stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 140 pounds, became the first woman even to dress for a regular-season Canadian major junior game.
The 19-year-old attended the Draveurs’ training camp earlier this year and stopped 15 of 18 shots in an exhibition game against the St. Jean Lynx before leaving midway through the second period with a pulled muscle. Trois-Rivières eventually won the game 8-5.
Rhéaume was later sent to the Louiseville Cougars of the Quebec Junior Tier 2 Hockey League, where she had played in three games for a total of 63 minutes. She had a 0-1-0 record and 5.71 goalsagainst average for the last-place Cougars (1-18-0).
Rhéaume was recalled by Trois-Rivières after the Draveurs’ No. 1 goalie, Jean-Francois Labbe, suffered a collarbone injury in practice. Goaltender Jocelyn Thibault played the entire game for Trois-Rivières on Tuesday as the Draveurs lost 3-0 to St. Hyacinthe.
Rhéaume, who was in the Louiseville lineup last night for a Tier 2 game against Montreal North, will be back with Trois-Rivières for tomorrow’s QMJHL game in St. Jean (8 p.m.).
“She’s definitely capable of playing if it becomes necessary,” Draveurs coach Gaston Drapeau said yesterday.
“If our other goalie is hurt on Friday I have no worries about putting her in.
“She’s not on our roster as the third-string goalie for nothing … it’s because she’s good. She can play.”
Drapeau added that Rhéaume has had no trouble fitting in with her teammates.
“There’s no problem at all in the (dressing) room,” said the coach. “She changes in her own room and then joins the rest of the team in the main dressing room.
“She’s not a stranger to the players. She was at training camp and has practised five or six times with the team since the beginning of the season.
“She’s a girl the guys all know. Her brother (forward Pascal) is on the team.”
Rhéaume said she was “really happy when Mr. Drapeau gave me the good news.
“I also hope to encourage other women to play hockey, but I never thought it would attract this much attention.”
QMJHL president Gilles Courteau said he’s happy to have a woman in the league.
“I think it’s good for the league,” he said. “Today it’s 1991 and we have to face the fact that there are a lot of women out there playing hockey.”
Undoubtedly the most stacked international team we've ever seen
except in goal...
but who needs goalie when your team is THAT good...
what if we put the guys highlighted in 2014 team
I mean, with the exception of all those maple leafs... they were on the squad in 2010 anyways hahaha...yea carter included as the reserve LAWLS
