Insight: Goaltender Lesley Reddon

Talks About Making History

From ACTION, the publication of Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity Autumn 1995

"On weekends I was playing for a women's team in Moncton - I am doing my master's degree in physical education at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) - and I was looking for extra ice time during the week to keep sharp. That's how it all came about. I just wanted to practice in a more structured setting so I asked coach Danny Grant if I could go out for the men's team, the University of New Brunswick Reds. I made the team and became first woman goaltender to play in an Atlantic Universities' Hockey Conference game.

I've come all the way up through the women's hockey system, right from the age of six so certainly I appreciate what women's hockey has done for me. Being at the 1994 world championships at Lake Placid, where I was in the nets for two games, and we won the world title ... incredible.

What was it like playing with an all-male team? Once I got my feet wet, my confidence improved each day I was out there, although it was an adjustment, for them as well as for me. The men are faster and, in terms of lateral movement, maybe they get rid of the puck a bit faster on receiving a pass. You learn that when someone makes a pass to the front of the net, as soon as it's left their stick, you'd better get going. I found that out in the first couple of games. They also play rebounds a little faster There'd be someone right there on my doorstep, waiting.

The coaches were obviously very supportive in letting me come out in the first place. The players all accepted me pretty well, too. I knew five or six of them before I went out and the rest of them accepted me pretty well. I was one of the guys, almost. I'm sure some of them thought, 'What's she doing here?' but there was never anything verbal at all. They were all really great from the start.

I think awareness of the women's game helped. That's increased a bit especially since during the NHL player's strike, TSN kept running the finals of our world championship games. 1990 (when the first worlds were held in Ottawa and where Canada won the first of three world titles) was the jumping-off point for women's hockey. The 1998 Olympics in Japan will probably be the last step in creating total awareness of the game.

I'm not sure what attracted me to hockey; maybe watching it on TV. I remember my parents asking if I wanted to play and I said, 'sure'. It took off from there. Being in a place (Mississauga, Ont.) where it was available helped. My long-term goal is to go to the '98 Olympics in 1998 but there's also teams to make for the 1996 Pacific Rim Championship, and in 1997 the worlds will be in Kitchener. It's exciting."