Manon Rhéaume

Manon Rhéaume
Born (1972-02-24) February 24, 1972
Beauport, Quebec, Canada
Height 5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight 130 lb (59 kg; 9 st 4 lb)
Position Goaltender
Caught Left
Played for QMJHL
Trois-Rivières Draveurs
IHL
Atlanta Knights
Las Vegas Thunder
Flint Generals
Port Huron Icehawks
WWHL
Minnesota Whitecaps
Austria
VEU Feldkirch
RHI
Ottawa Loggers
Sacramento River Rats
ECHL
Knoxville Cherokees
Nashville Knights
Tallahassee Tiger Sharks
WCHL
Reno Renegades
NHL
Tampa Bay Lightning (preseason)
National team  Canada
Playing career 1991–2009
Medal record
Representing  Canada
Women's ice hockey
Olympic games
1998 Nagano Tournament
IIHF World Women's Championships
1992 Tournament
1994 Tournament

Manon Rhéaume (born February 24, 1972) is a Canadian retired ice hockey goaltender. An Olympic silver medalist, she achieved a number of historic firsts during her career, including becoming the first woman to play in any of the major North American pro sports leagues.[1]

In 1992, Rhéaume signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL, appearing in preseason exhibition games in 1992 and 1993. She spent five years in professional minor leagues, playing for a total of seven teams and appearing in 24 games. She also played on the Canada women's national ice hockey team, winning Gold Medals at the IIHF Women's World Championship in 1992 and 1994, and the Silver Medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Playing career

Rhéaume played for the Sherbrooke Jofa-Titan squad in the League Régionale du Hockey au Féminin in the province of Québec.[2] Rhéaume was signed to the Trois-Rivières Draveurs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, one of Canada's top junior ice hockey leagues, for the 1991-1992 season, becoming the first woman ever to play in a men's Major Junior hockey game.[3]

In 1992, Rhéaume tried out for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and was signed as a free agent. This was the first time a woman tried out for an NHL team. She played one period in an exhibition game against the St. Louis Blues, allowing two goals on nine shots, and played in another exhibition game against the Boston Bruins in 1993.[3]

Also in 1992, Rhéaume was selected for the Canada national women's ice hockey team. She won gold medals at the 1992 and 1994 IIHF Women's World Championships, and was named to the All-Star team both years. She won the Silver Medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.[3]

In 1992, Rhéaume was signed by the Atlanta Knights of the International Hockey League (IHL). Her first appearance against the Salt Lake Golden Eagles marked the first time a woman appeared in a regular season professional game. She played for seven different teams between 1992 and 1997, including Atlanta, the Knoxville Cherokees, Nashville Knights, the Las Vegas Aces, the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks, Las Vegas Thunder, and the Reno Renegades, appearing in a total of 24 games.[3] While in Atlanta, Rhéaume wrote her autobiography - Manon: Alone In Front Of The Net. She initially retired from professional hockey in 1997.[3]

Later life

For the 1999-2000 season, Rhéaume was the goaltending coach of the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs women's ice hockey program.[4] In 2000, she entered into the business world, serving as marketing director for Mission Hockey in Irvine, California, for three years, developing and promoting girls' hockey equipment. She later worked in marketing at the Powerade Iceport in Milwaukee and with the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.[3]

In October 2008, the IHL's Port Huron Icehawks announced plans to have Rhéaume take part in their training camp activities and will play for at least a period of the team's exhibition season opener.[5] On April 3, 2009, Rhéaume suited up for one game with the Flint Generals IHL team.[6] She had been with the practice team since January, filling in for their regular goalie. Rhéaume is the third woman to play for the Generals.

She played for the Minnesota Whitecaps in 2009, and helped lead them to the Clarkson Cup finals.[7] On March 19, the Whitecaps, with Rhéaume in net, beat the Montreal Stars in a playoff game by a score of 4-3 in overtime, with Kim St. Pierre in net for the Stars.[8] During the 2008-09 WWHL season, Rhéaume's Whitecaps took two of three games from the Calgary Oval X-Treme. Those losses snapped a string that saw the X-Treme go two years without tasting defeat in the regular season.[9]

In 2015, she dropped the puck in the ceremonial opening faceoff before the first ever National Women's Hockey League game.[10][11] As of 2017, Rhéaume resides in Michigan and coaches Detroit Little Caesar’s under-12 girls hockey team. [12]

Rhéaume guest-starred as herself in the made-for-TV movie A Beachcombers Christmas with Tiger Williams and Jyrki Lumme. At the height of her popularity, she was approached to pose for Playboy Magazine, which she refused.[3]

In 2011, she took part in the Quebec TV show Le défi des champions (Champions' Challenge), a show that trained eight Quebec athletes (such as Isabelle Charest, Bruny Surin, Marc Gagnon, Marie-Andrée Lessard, Étienne Boulay, Nathalie Lambert and Mathieu Dandenault) to the art of the circus. Rhéaume performed very well in each of her disciplines.

Personal life

Rhéaume was married to Gerry St. Cyr, a roller hockey player and minor league hockey player in June 1998, whom she later divorced. They have two sons, Dylan and Dokada.[13] In 1999, she was hired by Mission Hockey as head of global marketing for women's hockey. One of her projects was helping develop hockey skates for women. Rhéaume formed the Manon Rhéaume Foundation in 2008, which provides scholarships for young women.[14]

Rhéaume is the older sister of former NHL player Pascal Rhéaume.

Career Statistics

Women's Junior Leagues

Season Team League GP Mins W L T GA SO GAA Save%
? Sherbrooke Jofa-Titan LRHF ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Career Totals - - - - - - - - -

International Competition[15]

Season Team League GP Mins W L T GA SO GAA Save% Medal
1992 Team Canada IIHF WC 5 180 2 0 0.67 0.957 Gold
1994 Team Canada IIHF WC 4 209 6 0 1.72 0.864 Gold
1998 Team Canada Olympic Silver
Career Totals[16] 30 1531 20 5 0 42 0 1.65 0.903 -

Canadian Junior

Season Team League GP Mins W L T GA SO GAA Save%
1991-92 Trois-Rivières Draveurs QMJHL 1 10.65 0.750
Career Totals 1 - - - - - 0 10.65 0.750

Roller Hockey International

Season Team League GP Mins W L T GA SO GAA Save%
1994 New Jersey Rockin' Rollers RHI 4 60 1 0 0 7 0 7.00 0.744
1995 New Jersey Rockin' Rollers RHI 1 - - - - - - - -
1996 Sacramento River Rats[17] RHI 4 - - - - - - - -
1996 Ottawa Loggers RHI 1 - - - - - - - -

Women's Professional Leagues[18]

Season Team League GP Mins W L T GA SO GAA Save%
2007-08 Minnesota Whitecaps[19] WWHL 1 63 1 0 0 2 0 1.90 0.939
2008-09 Minnesota Whitecaps[19] WWHL 2 120 2 0 0 6 0 3.00 0.880

Men's Professional Leagues[20]

Season Team League GP Mins W L T GA SO GAA Save%
1992-93 Atlanta Knights IHL 2 66 0 1 0 7 0 6.36 0.806
1993-94 Knoxville Cherokees ECHL 4 187 2 0 1 13 0 4.17 0.870
1993-94 Nashville Knights ECHL 4 194 3 0 0 12 0 3.64 0.901
1994-95 Tallahassee Tiger Sharks ECHL 1 20 0 1 0 4 0 12.00 0.750
1994-95 Las Vegas Thunder IHL 2 52 0 1 0 3 0 3.41 0.824
1996-97 Reno Renegades WCHL 11 425 2 3 1 40 0 5.65 0.868
2008-09 Flint Generals IHL 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 60.00 --
2008-09 Port Huron Icehawks[21] IHL

Awards and honours

  • 1992 All-Star Team, Top Goaltender
  • 1994 All-Star Team, Top Goaltender

Notables

  • First girl to play at the International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament.
  • First woman to play in a major junior game [1991-1992 Trois-Rivières Draveurs (QMJHL)]
  • First woman to play in a National Hockey League game, which also made her the first woman to play in any of the major professional North American sports leagues (September 23, 1992).[22][23] [1992 Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL), played one exhibition game]
  • First woman to win a game in professional roller hockey
  • Played one game with Feldkirch.
  • 2000-2001 Montreal Wingstar (Forward)
  • 2007–2008 Little Caesars Senior Women's A Hockey Team (Playing as a Forward instead of Goaltender) [24]

References

  1. ↑ Kristina Rutherford. "Manon Rheaume realizes her NHL debut was 'not just another game'". Sportsnet. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  2. ↑ On the Edge: Women Making Hockey History, p.132, by Elizabeth Etue and Megan K. Williams, Second Story Press, Toronto, Ontario, 1996, ISBN 0-929005-79-1
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Whatever Happened To-- ?.
  4. ↑ Who's Who in Canadian Sport, Volume 5, p.372, Bob Ferguson, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd., Markham, ON and Allston, MA, ISBN 1-55041-855-6
  5. ↑ "Minnesota Whitecaps | MLive.com". Topics.mlive.com. 2008-10-02. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  6. ↑ "Flint Generals to welcome Manon Rheaume to the crease tonight vs. Muskegon Fury | MLive.com". Blog.mlive.com. 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  7. ↑ "Montreal wins first Clarkson Cup". Iihf.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-27. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  8. ↑ "CWHL - Canadian Women's Hockey League". Cwhl.ca. 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  9. ↑ "CANOE - SLAM! Sports - Hockey - Women: Manon-ing the pipes". Slam.canoe.ca. 2009-01-24. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  10. ↑ Clinton, Jared (October 7, 2015). "NWHL sells out inaugural game, Manon Rheaume to drop ceremonial puck in Buffalo". The Hockey News. Longueuil, PQ.
  11. ↑ Blinn, Michael (2015-09-23). "NWHL opens play: Meghan Duggan, players' have long-term focus - NHL". SI.com. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  12. ↑ Kennedy, Ryan. "There is a Hall of Fame case being made for Manon Rheaume | The Hockey News". The Hockey News. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  13. ↑ Krupa, Gregg (18 January 2017). "Son of NHL's first woman goalie has all angles covered". Detroit News. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  14. ↑ "The Manon Rheaume Foundation". The Manon Rheaume Foundation. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  15. ↑ "National Women's Team". www.hockeycanada.ca. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  16. ↑ "All-Time Goaltending". www.hockeycanada.ca. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  17. ↑ "Sacramento River Rats 1995-96 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  18. ↑ "Western Womens Hockey League - Powered By esportsdesk.com". www.esportsdesk.com. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
  19. 1 2 "2008–09 WWHL season". Wikipedia. 2017-06-18.
  20. ↑ "Manon Rheaume Stats and News". NHL.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
  21. ↑ Schiot, Molly (2016-10-18). Game Changers: The Unsung Heroines of Sports History. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781501137099.
  22. ↑ "Part 1: Manon Rhéaume shatters hockey's gender barrier". NHL.com.
  23. ↑ "Manon Rheaume". whockey.com. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
  24. ↑ "Detroit Little Caesars Hockey Club Hockey Website Software By GOALLINE.ca". Littlecaesarshockey.com. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
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