Canadian Olympic Hockey Goalie Was Once a Tri-City American (Briefly)
The goalie who's taken care of the net for the Canadian National Women's team made a trip through the Tri-Cities 16 years ago, and to this day remains the first and only woman to appear in a Western Hockey League contest of any kind.
Shannon Szabados, who was beaten on that incredible penalty shot by Jocelyne Lamoreux-Davidson Wednesday night in the Gold Medal game, played in a pre-season game for the Tri-City Americans in 2002. Her appearance occurred September 22, 2002 according to whl.ca.
At the time, she was 16, and shared the net with current Montreal Canadien's netminder Carey Price, who appears to be headed for the Hall of Fame. Szabados was later released by Tri-City, but went on to serve as the goaltender for Canada in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, where the Canadians won three straight gold medals. According to sources, she replaced Price in an exhibition game with Tri-City after he let in four goals in the half he played, she let in three.
She also played professionally for the Southern Professional Hockey League, the first woman to ever do so. Prior to her being released by her team in 2016, there was a push to sign her as an emergency or backup goalie for the Edmonton Oilers.
She is known as a trail blazer for women goalies, as from midget through juniors, she was the first girl to be allowed to play on boys and men's teams because she was so good.
Not sure what her professional plans are for the future, but it's likely she will go down as one of, if not the greatest, women's goalie of all time.