Better known as a multiple Olympic and world champion with the Canadian national women’s hockey team, Meghan Agosta also works as a police officer – as did several other women’s hockey players.
photo: Lucas Aykroyd
This was originally slated to be the first year that the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship returned to North America since 2017 (Plymouth, Michigan).
Even though unfortunately fans won’t get to cheer on the world’s best in Halifax and Truro, Nova Scotia, these days, we still have the opportunity to spotlight women’s hockey players, teams, tournaments, and cities in North America.
And there are some strange stories to be told, both old and new. They help us to reflect on how far we’ve come with this sport – and on how far we still have to go.
Here are 10 unusual tales of women’s hockey.
1) Luck of the Irish
You might be surprised to learn that female hockey players appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. The TV variety show, which famously kickstarted the American careers of Elvis Presley and The Beatles, was putting together its St. Patrick’s Day lineup. Harold and Lila Ribson, who vigorously promoted women’s hockey as arena operators in southern Ontario, wrote to suggest that the Lucan Leprechauns – a peewee team based near London – would be the perfect fit.
Ed Sullivan agreed. The team included three girls, who were (Irishly) nicknamed “the Colleens.” In addition to their March 17 show biz debut in New York, the youngsters met Hollywood stars like Mitzi Gaynor (South Pacific) and Maureen O’Hara (Miracle on 34th Street), as well as legendary Montreal Canadiens defenceman Doug Harvey.
2) Salming Lends a Helping Hand
The Swedish women’s national team has struggled to get high-level domestic support over the years. Before the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, the Swedish Olympic Committee considered not icing a team at all due to weak pre-tournament results – although they ultimately showed up and won the bronze medal. In 2019, the 4 Nations Cup scheduled for Lulea was cancelled after the Damkronorna announced they’d boycott it in search of better pay and working conditions. Also here financial cuts from the Swedish Olympic Committee after the poor results in PyeongChang 2018 were one of the reasons leading to the boycott.
However, in 1987, when the first unofficial women’s world hockey championship was held in North York, Ontario, a famous Toronto Maple Leaf stepped up to help out. Defenceman Borje Salming sponsored the Swedish team, which finished fourth on North American ice. Defender Maria Hedlund told the Toronto Star: “That makes me proud. Everyone in our town knows of Salming. His brother Stig coaches for Brynas.”
In 2008, Salming was voted to the IIHF’s Centennial All-Star Team alongside Russian great Vyacheslav Fetisov.
3) Pink, Pink, and More Pink
Many people remember that Team Canada wore pink uniforms en route to gold at the inaugural 1990 Women’s Worlds in Ottawa. It was a publicity stunt that wouldn’t fly today. However, not many people recall that it went even further.
When the Canadians beat Finland 6-5 in the semi-finals on 24 March, Civic Centre employees sported pink shirts. The Zamboni driver wore a pink flamingo costume, and there were 10 pink plastic flamingos mounted on the Zamboni. And the crowd of 4,416 got pink and white pom-poms to wave.
4) Puck Pioneers Go to Europe
Before Canada won eight consecutive Women’s Worlds between 1990 and 2004, Canadian female players headed over to Europe in the 1980s to spread the hockey gospel under the radar.
Take the Huntsville Honeys. In 1983, the Ontario champions flew to Denmark (originally slated to make its elite Women’s Worlds return in 2020 after a 28-year absence) to play exhibition games. Their sniper was Gail Cummings, who later became the all-time NCAA Division I lacrosse scoring leader with Temple University. Rhonda Leeman Taylor’s memoir Offside: Challenges Faced by Women in Hockey notes: “Even upon their return to Canada, the Honeys were well-received in their hometown, where they were paraded around on firetrucks to celebrate their victories in Europe.”
In 1989, the world was transfixed as the Berlin Wall came down. Earlier that year, the Russell Invaders – featuring players aged 20 to 41 and hailing from a small town near Ottawa – toured Czechoslovakia. They were the first Canadian women’s club to go behind the Iron Curtain. The Invaders tied the Czechoslovak national team in their first outing and won their other six games. Crowds of 2,000-plus witnessed the action.
5) Yes, Officer
Meghan Agosta is one of the world’s best-known athletes who doubles as a police officer. The 2010 Olympic MVP joined the Vancouver police as a constable in 2015. But did you know there’s a long-standing tradition of law enforcement in women’s hockey?
Blueliner Teresa Hutchinson, who won gold with Canada at the 1990 Women’s Worlds, not only serves as an assistant coach with York University’s women’s hockey team, but has also been a police officer in Durham, Ontario for close to 30 years. Daniele Sauvageau, who coached the Canadians to Olympic gold in Salt Lake City in 2002, spent 24 years working with the Montreal police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). At the 1998 Olympics, Sauvageau was an assistant to Shannon Miller, who worked with the Calgary police in the ‘90s.
In January, the U.S.’s Kelli Stack, a two-time Olympic silver medalist and five-time Women’s Worlds champion, graduated from the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s police academy to become an officer in her native Cuyahoga County.
6) The Legend of Albertine Lapensee
More than 100 years ago, a teenager named Albertine Lapensee starred for the Cornwall Victorias in the briefly popular Eastern Ladies Hockey League (ELHL). Competing with clubs in Montreal, Ottawa, and Pittsburgh, the Victorias relied on Lapensee’s prolific scoring. In front of thousands of fans, she totalled a whopping 150 goals in 46 games in 1916 and 1917.
However, the “Miracle Maid” retired at age 20 when she asked for a share of the profits and the team owners refused. The end of World War I also saw the end of the ELHL.
7) Breaking Barriers Out West
In the country where hockey was invented, it seems strange that it took so long for a Western Hockey League (WHL) to hire a female coach. When Olivia Howe joined the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2019-20 as an assistant coach, the 26-year-old made history. Previously, this 2014 NCAA champion played with Team Canada stars like Loren Gabel, Renata Fast, and Erin Ambrose at Clarkson University.
8) From Gold Medals to Gorillas
At 18, Angela Ruggiero was the youngest member of the U.S. team that won the inaugural 1998 Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament in Nagano, Japan. Six years later, the Harvard graduate connected with Right to Play, a Toronto-based organization that helps children in developing countries benefit from sports and education.
In Uganda, Ruggiero handed out soccer balls and played HIV awareness games with kids in rural African villages. The future IIHF Hall of Famer (2015) and IOC member also came face to face with a giant silverback and 10 other endangered mountain gorillas on a Bwindi Impenetrable Forest tour.
It just shows how women’s hockey can take you places that you never even imagined.
9) The Definition of a Long Shot
At the 2002 Olympics, the host Americans got off to a roaring start with three straight wins and a 27-1 goal difference. Unsurprisingly, the lone goal that coach Ben Smith’s team gave up was to a country whose name starts with “C” and ends with “A.” Surprisingly, it was China, not Canada. And it was a wild and wacky goal.
Xiuqing Yang sent a bouncing shot from center ice past U.S. starter Sarah Tueting with under four minutes left in the second period. After the 12-1 American win, forward Katie King told reporters: “I don’t even know how that went through. A goalie doesn’t like to let in any goal, but we were kind of laughing. What can you do?”
Unlike Belarus defenceman Vladimir Kopat’s shocking center-ice winner against Swedish goalie Tommy Salo in the 2002 Olympic men’s quarter-final, this blooper wouldn’t significantly impact America’s fortunes. The Cammi Granato-captained squad earned the silver medal after losing 3-2 to Canada in the final. China finished seventh.
10) Citizen of the World
Alex Gowie puts the “International” into “International Ice Hockey Federation.”
The versatile 27-year-old skater was born in Durban, South Africa. She grew up in Canada, moving from her hometown of Vernon to attend Penticton’s Okanagan Hockey Academy. From 2011 to 2014, Gowie played at the University of Calgary with noteworthy teammates like Hayley Wickenheiser and Iya Gavrilova.
Then the kinesiology student took her talents to Europe. While her top-10 finish in the 2017 Slovak women’s league scoring race (HC Spisska Nova Ves) and 2018 Italian championship (Bolzano Eagles) were certainly highlights, Gowie has made her mark with the Hungarian national team for the past four years. She became a naturalized citizen after playing two seasons in Budapest.
Even though unfortunately fans won’t get to cheer on the world’s best in Halifax and Truro, Nova Scotia, these days, we still have the opportunity to spotlight women’s hockey players, teams, tournaments, and cities in North America.
And there are some strange stories to be told, both old and new. They help us to reflect on how far we’ve come with this sport – and on how far we still have to go.
Here are 10 unusual tales of women’s hockey.
1) Luck of the Irish
You might be surprised to learn that female hockey players appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1958. The TV variety show, which famously kickstarted the American careers of Elvis Presley and The Beatles, was putting together its St. Patrick’s Day lineup. Harold and Lila Ribson, who vigorously promoted women’s hockey as arena operators in southern Ontario, wrote to suggest that the Lucan Leprechauns – a peewee team based near London – would be the perfect fit.
Ed Sullivan agreed. The team included three girls, who were (Irishly) nicknamed “the Colleens.” In addition to their March 17 show biz debut in New York, the youngsters met Hollywood stars like Mitzi Gaynor (South Pacific) and Maureen O’Hara (Miracle on 34th Street), as well as legendary Montreal Canadiens defenceman Doug Harvey.
2) Salming Lends a Helping Hand
The Swedish women’s national team has struggled to get high-level domestic support over the years. Before the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, the Swedish Olympic Committee considered not icing a team at all due to weak pre-tournament results – although they ultimately showed up and won the bronze medal. In 2019, the 4 Nations Cup scheduled for Lulea was cancelled after the Damkronorna announced they’d boycott it in search of better pay and working conditions. Also here financial cuts from the Swedish Olympic Committee after the poor results in PyeongChang 2018 were one of the reasons leading to the boycott.
However, in 1987, when the first unofficial women’s world hockey championship was held in North York, Ontario, a famous Toronto Maple Leaf stepped up to help out. Defenceman Borje Salming sponsored the Swedish team, which finished fourth on North American ice. Defender Maria Hedlund told the Toronto Star: “That makes me proud. Everyone in our town knows of Salming. His brother Stig coaches for Brynas.”
In 2008, Salming was voted to the IIHF’s Centennial All-Star Team alongside Russian great Vyacheslav Fetisov.
3) Pink, Pink, and More Pink
Many people remember that Team Canada wore pink uniforms en route to gold at the inaugural 1990 Women’s Worlds in Ottawa. It was a publicity stunt that wouldn’t fly today. However, not many people recall that it went even further.
When the Canadians beat Finland 6-5 in the semi-finals on 24 March, Civic Centre employees sported pink shirts. The Zamboni driver wore a pink flamingo costume, and there were 10 pink plastic flamingos mounted on the Zamboni. And the crowd of 4,416 got pink and white pom-poms to wave.
4) Puck Pioneers Go to Europe
Before Canada won eight consecutive Women’s Worlds between 1990 and 2004, Canadian female players headed over to Europe in the 1980s to spread the hockey gospel under the radar.
Take the Huntsville Honeys. In 1983, the Ontario champions flew to Denmark (originally slated to make its elite Women’s Worlds return in 2020 after a 28-year absence) to play exhibition games. Their sniper was Gail Cummings, who later became the all-time NCAA Division I lacrosse scoring leader with Temple University. Rhonda Leeman Taylor’s memoir Offside: Challenges Faced by Women in Hockey notes: “Even upon their return to Canada, the Honeys were well-received in their hometown, where they were paraded around on firetrucks to celebrate their victories in Europe.”
In 1989, the world was transfixed as the Berlin Wall came down. Earlier that year, the Russell Invaders – featuring players aged 20 to 41 and hailing from a small town near Ottawa – toured Czechoslovakia. They were the first Canadian women’s club to go behind the Iron Curtain. The Invaders tied the Czechoslovak national team in their first outing and won their other six games. Crowds of 2,000-plus witnessed the action.
5) Yes, Officer
Meghan Agosta is one of the world’s best-known athletes who doubles as a police officer. The 2010 Olympic MVP joined the Vancouver police as a constable in 2015. But did you know there’s a long-standing tradition of law enforcement in women’s hockey?
Blueliner Teresa Hutchinson, who won gold with Canada at the 1990 Women’s Worlds, not only serves as an assistant coach with York University’s women’s hockey team, but has also been a police officer in Durham, Ontario for close to 30 years. Daniele Sauvageau, who coached the Canadians to Olympic gold in Salt Lake City in 2002, spent 24 years working with the Montreal police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). At the 1998 Olympics, Sauvageau was an assistant to Shannon Miller, who worked with the Calgary police in the ‘90s.
In January, the U.S.’s Kelli Stack, a two-time Olympic silver medalist and five-time Women’s Worlds champion, graduated from the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s police academy to become an officer in her native Cuyahoga County.
6) The Legend of Albertine Lapensee
More than 100 years ago, a teenager named Albertine Lapensee starred for the Cornwall Victorias in the briefly popular Eastern Ladies Hockey League (ELHL). Competing with clubs in Montreal, Ottawa, and Pittsburgh, the Victorias relied on Lapensee’s prolific scoring. In front of thousands of fans, she totalled a whopping 150 goals in 46 games in 1916 and 1917.
However, the “Miracle Maid” retired at age 20 when she asked for a share of the profits and the team owners refused. The end of World War I also saw the end of the ELHL.
7) Breaking Barriers Out West
In the country where hockey was invented, it seems strange that it took so long for a Western Hockey League (WHL) to hire a female coach. When Olivia Howe joined the Moose Jaw Warriors in 2019-20 as an assistant coach, the 26-year-old made history. Previously, this 2014 NCAA champion played with Team Canada stars like Loren Gabel, Renata Fast, and Erin Ambrose at Clarkson University.
8) From Gold Medals to Gorillas
At 18, Angela Ruggiero was the youngest member of the U.S. team that won the inaugural 1998 Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament in Nagano, Japan. Six years later, the Harvard graduate connected with Right to Play, a Toronto-based organization that helps children in developing countries benefit from sports and education.
In Uganda, Ruggiero handed out soccer balls and played HIV awareness games with kids in rural African villages. The future IIHF Hall of Famer (2015) and IOC member also came face to face with a giant silverback and 10 other endangered mountain gorillas on a Bwindi Impenetrable Forest tour.
It just shows how women’s hockey can take you places that you never even imagined.
9) The Definition of a Long Shot
At the 2002 Olympics, the host Americans got off to a roaring start with three straight wins and a 27-1 goal difference. Unsurprisingly, the lone goal that coach Ben Smith’s team gave up was to a country whose name starts with “C” and ends with “A.” Surprisingly, it was China, not Canada. And it was a wild and wacky goal.
Xiuqing Yang sent a bouncing shot from center ice past U.S. starter Sarah Tueting with under four minutes left in the second period. After the 12-1 American win, forward Katie King told reporters: “I don’t even know how that went through. A goalie doesn’t like to let in any goal, but we were kind of laughing. What can you do?”
Unlike Belarus defenceman Vladimir Kopat’s shocking center-ice winner against Swedish goalie Tommy Salo in the 2002 Olympic men’s quarter-final, this blooper wouldn’t significantly impact America’s fortunes. The Cammi Granato-captained squad earned the silver medal after losing 3-2 to Canada in the final. China finished seventh.
10) Citizen of the World
Alex Gowie puts the “International” into “International Ice Hockey Federation.”
The versatile 27-year-old skater was born in Durban, South Africa. She grew up in Canada, moving from her hometown of Vernon to attend Penticton’s Okanagan Hockey Academy. From 2011 to 2014, Gowie played at the University of Calgary with noteworthy teammates like Hayley Wickenheiser and Iya Gavrilova.
Then the kinesiology student took her talents to Europe. While her top-10 finish in the 2017 Slovak women’s league scoring race (HC Spisska Nova Ves) and 2018 Italian championship (Bolzano Eagles) were certainly highlights, Gowie has made her mark with the Hungarian national team for the past four years. She became a naturalized citizen after playing two seasons in Budapest.