Hockey+History

Hockey was assumed to be only for men and boys. In 1956, the Ontario Supreme Court ruled against Abby Hoffman, a nine-year-old girl who challenged the "boys only" policy in minor hockey. Hoffman had already played most of the season on a boys team, disguising her gender by dressing at home and cutting her hair short. She was kicked off the team.

Canadian intercollegiate women's hockey began in the 1980's and the NCAA added the game in 1993.

An international breakthrough came in 1990, when eight countries competed in the first Women's World Ice Hockey Championship.

Women's hockey made its debut in the 1998 Olympics.

In 2002, the Mission Bettys of California became the first all-girls team to enter the Quebec International Pee Wee Tournament, one of the world's largest youth competitions.

Manon Rheaume and Erin Whitten, goaltenders, were two of the few women who have played on a professional men's team at the minor level.

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