Manon RHEAUME

Women’s ice hockey pioneer Manon Rhéaume began playing at the age of five and her early career was full of firsts, including being the first female to play at the International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament. Her most important first, however, came in 1992 when she was a goaltender with the Trois-Rivières Draveurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. That year she signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning and became the first and, as of 2009, only woman to sign a contract with a professional hockey team. She played in one preseason exhibition game in 1992 against the St. Louis Blues and followed it with a second in 1993 against the Boston Bruins. She bounced around between minor league teams for many years, but found the most success at the international level, winning gold medals as a goaltender with Team Canada at the 1992 and 1994 World Championships. In 1998 she played in three matches at that year’s Winter Olympic ice hockey tournament and helped her team bring home a silver medal. She retired after the competition and married Gerry St. Cyr in June of that year. She started the Manon Rhéaume Foundation in 2008 to provide scholarships to women and currently skates with former NHL players in charity games. She has also written an autobiography entitled “Manon: Alone In Front Of The Net”. During her career she turned down offers from both Playboy and Penthouse Magazines to pose nude. Her brother Pascal, a professional hockey player, won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2003.