As training camps finished up for the upcoming National Hockey League season, two new players made headlines. These players, Hilary Knight and Anne Schleper, two of the best female players in the world, joined the Anaheim Ducks and Tampa Bay Lightening, respectively, for practice. Their goal was to promote women’s hockey for the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Girls’ Hockey Weekend.
Knight practiced on Oct. 3, spending the morning on the ice with the team, and the rest of the day assisting in coaching the Ducks’ girls’ affiliate team. Schleper practiced on Oct. 13, also attending a panel on women’s hockey and participating in a scrimmage between two local teams. Both Schleper and Knight were on the U.S. women’s Olympic team that earned silver at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and Knight earned a silver medal in 2010 in Vancouver. Knight, in particular, is considered to be one of the best female American hockey players today.
Schleper, a defensive player, spent her college career playing at University of Minnesota and now plays for the Boston Blades of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. Knight, who also plays for the Blades, spent her college career playing for University of Wisconsin-Madison. Unlike men’s ice hockey, a woman who wants to play professionally has limited choices. While there are two professional leagues in North America, the CWHL and the Western Women’s Hockey League (WWHL), the CWHL only has five teams, and the WWHL only two. Men, on the other hand, can go the route of the NHL, AHL (American Hockey League) or ECHL (East Coast Hockey League). Just as well, many countries in Europe have popular professional leagues for men. While some women’s sports are a mainstay in our country, such as the Women’s National Basketball League, and even the quickly growing National Women’s Soccer League, women’s hockey is still very much developing.
So, if you’re a hockey fan, or even if you’re still trying to get into the sport, go check out some of the videos, interviews and photos from those two days. Historically, Knight and Schleper are believed to be the first two women to practice with a professional men’s team (other women have done it before, but as goalies), and even if it was mostly done as a publicity stunt, watching them keep up with their male counterparts is not only exciting, it’s inspiring. •
