Shannon Szabados made history Saturday night when the two-time Olympic gold medalist led the Columbus Cottonmouths of the Southern Professional Hockey League onto the ice for their game against the Knoxville Ice Bears.
Szabados, who led Canada’s women’s team to the gold medal at the Sochi Olympics, stopped 27 shots but wound up losing when Knoxville overcame an early two-goal deficit for a 4-3 victory before 4,295 fans in Columbus, Ga.
“It was fun,” Szabados told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer after becoming the first female player in the SPHL’s 10-year history. “I saw a few Szabados shirts out there. It was definitely a great moment.”
The 27-year-old Edmonton native has played with men before, including four years of Junior A hockey in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. She also played with men side in college, most recently with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. Three Cottonmouths players were teammates of Szabados’ at NAIT.
The last time Szabados faced live action was in the gold medal game in Sochi, Russia, a 3-2 win over the United States on Feb. 20. She did take some shots while serving as a fill-in during an Edmonton Oilers practice earlier this month.
Cottonmouths coach Jerome Bechard was happy with her performance.
Olympic star Szabados makes debut in SPHL | Blog Hockey Fan Store
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