The recent start of the inaugural PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) got me thinking about women’s hockey, and one particular woman hockey player. Kate Macnamara. She’s not a professional hockey player. She’s a 42-year-old hockey player who plays with a group of competitive players every week. It’s not a league, it’s a weekly game of competitive players that face off against each other dressed in Montreal Canadiens whites or Toronto Maple Leafs blues. The group is called the Warriors. There are no weak players. It’s essentially the same players week in and week out with players brought in, from a waiting list, to sub for regular players that can’t make it to a game.
I happen to be one of those subs. I’ve been subbing for five years now, hoping, to crack the regular roster once someone quits or retires. When you look at many beer leagues or men’s leagues, you’ll often find weak players. Not here. This is competitive hockey with players who come out to play hard, and win. The players have all played a lot of hockey, some played junior, some college, many rep, but the common denominator is they’re all decent players. There’s no room for those without decent hockey skills.
Kate is the only woman who plays in these games. My first time playing I told myself she was by far the best woman hockey player I had ever played against or with. She easily holds her own against these guys, and she’s even better than some. I’m not trying to sound sexist. I know there are good women hockey players out there, the PWHL and the Canadian National Team is proof enough. I just don’t happen to have played against any. I’ve probably played with at least twenty decent women hockey players, not one of them could play with the Warriors. That’s why I was so impressed to see Kate play.
She’s a role model for younger women and young girls. I think of my 11-year-old granddaughter who is playing basketball and had to put up with boys thinking she couldn’t play when she first started. We males aren’t always the best at owning up to the possibility that a girl might be good enough to play at the same level as we boys can.
I play hockey for other teams during the week when I’m not subbing for the Warriors. In these arenas I see a lot of young girls playing hockey. Sometimes on mixed teams and sometimes on girls teams. They’re much better than the girl hockey players I used to see years ago. Hockey has come a long way in making the sport more inclusive for girls. It’s great to see.
Some of the greater inclusiveness has come to be because of players like Kate who paved the way for those playing today.
When Kate was a young girl, she played her minor hockey on boys teams right up until she reached bantam (14 year-olds), playing on house league and select teams. In bantam she also started playing for the Hamilton Hawks girls rep team. Later in high school she started playing for Brampton and Mississauga teams in the GTA competitive women’s league, travelling to Toronto four to six nights per week.
She then went on to play for Wilfred Laurier University, one of the top women’s hockey teams in Canada, where the Elite Prospects stats shows she averaged over a point per game centering their top line, and where she earned OUA All Star status. She was even called up to play for the National Women’s League.
Her athletic achievements aren’t limited to the ice rink. She was a dedicated elite runner, winning the prestigious Around the Bay Road Race in 2005 and 2006. She was also a professional roller hockey player in a short-lived roller hockey league and played on a team that won the World Championship.
Kate has been playing with the Warriors for twenty years now. She started subbing after university, and after five years joined the regular roster. She has a two-year old daughter and is currently limiting her playing time to every second week to allow for more time with her daughter.
Her days as a competitive elite athlete may be over, but the player I see on the ice still has a competitive spirit driving her to do her best. I didn’t know anything about Kate before wanting to write this piece. I sat down with her for a coffee after one of our Saturday morning games to learn a bit about her. I told her how impressed I was with her skill and the mere fact she played with this competitive group of men. She said she loves playing with them. “It’s lots of fun”. She loves the competitiveness and finds they’re a great group of guys who are quite supportive of her being there.
I can echo that everyone is supportive of her place with the Warriors. In my five years of subbing, I have not once heard a negative work uttered about Kate or her play. In talking to the players in the dressing room about me writing this piece I asked them what they thought of her playing with them. Every word was positive, and best summed up when one of the leading players said, we bow down to Kate. We’re not worthy. It was in gest, yet it was a genuine acknowledgement of her hockey abilities and her being a Warrior.
Kate, may you continue to inspire those of us who skate with you, but more importantly, may the player you are be an inspiration to young girls and women who follow.
