The PWHL Fantasy Camp brought lifelong hockey fans together to live a weekend like professional athletes. For Kim Shilson, it was a dream come true, one she'd long ago abandoned.

Kimberley Shilson does not remember a time in her childhood where she was not a hockey fan.

Growing up, she would help the boys in her neighbourhood flood the courtyard on her street; clamoring to play street hockey. She would sit on the side, hungry to get a chance to participate. She remembers cheering for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but not only could she not stand the level of aggression between the players, but she struggled to connect with the players.

One day, she asked her mother if she could join a neighbourhood hockey league.

She was told, “Kim, girls don’t play hockey.”

Just like that, her dreams of playing hockey vanished.

“After that I was like, ‘that is it,’” said Shilson.

She would still accompany her younger brother to the hockey rink to watch him play recreational hockey, which he quit after only playing in three games.

“I thought to myself ‘that could have been me,’” said Shilson. “So I just let that dream go away.”

Shoving her passion for the game deep into her mind, she did not watch hockey on her own for several years, but there was always one exception that brought that side of her back out.

“The women’s Olympic hockey teams, I always watched that,” said Shilson. “I would take time off work to watch that.”

What coaxed her back into the sport was when she learnt about the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL). Unfortunately, she was too late; as the only game she ever watched was the league’s last ever matchup between the Calgary Inferno and Les Canadiennes in 2019.

When the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) was announced in August 2023, Shilson knew she would immediately be “hooked.”

Now, Shilson is a Toronto Sceptres season ticket holder, has driven to Montrèal and Ottawa to watch the Sceptres play the Victorie and Charge games and has an ever growing shrine of jerseys, hockey cards, pucks and other merchandise displayed in a separate room in her home.

“I’m just really in awe of these players,” said Shilson.

It's why when the opportunity to attend the inaugural PWHL Fantasy Camp from Jan. 24-25 at the Ford Performance Centre in Toronto came up, Shilson couldn't pass it up. The PWHL's Fantasy Camp offered die hard fans “the unique opportunity to step into the life of a PWHL athlete.” Some of those opportunities included meeting PWHL players and coaches, participating in on-ice skills sessions, playing a game and attending the Battle on Bay Street matchup between the Sceptres and New York Sirens.

She attended the Fantasy Camp with friends from Alaska, Chicago and Newfoundland, people she had met through her connection to the PWHL. They were greeted on the first day with individual stalls set up in the locker room with name plates and personalized jerseys.

“When we went out to watch the Sceptres practice, they emptied our hockey bags and placed them all in the stalls like the players do,” said Shilson. “You would have never known that this was an inaugural event.”

One of many highlights for Shilson was when she was able to meet Sceptres coaching consultant Vicky Sunohara.

“I’ve had her card for two decades in my cabinet, so I brought it with me just in case and she was there and gave me a hug,” Shilson said.

One of the most impactful moment for Shilson was when she was able to meet Marie Philip-Poulin and Laura Stacey after scrimmages, where she was able to get a picture with the couple’s LezSpreadTheWord magazine cover in hand.

“I said ‘wow, two beautiful women,’ and Stacey responded with ‘three,’” said Shilson. “They are real people and so... good at what they do, how can you not support that?”

Shilson believes that interactions and efforts like this is what sets the women’s game vastly apart from the men's game.

“I don’t follow men’s hockey, but they don’t do these things, they don’t come out and talk to the fans,” she said. “The women love and are there for their fans, and it makes it real.”

When it was finally Shilson’s time to hop over the boards to play in the Fantasy Camp game, it was a moment that meant more than just simply participating.

She had joined a beginners hockey league this year and signed up for skating lessons, deciding that it was finally her time to get onto the ice and enjoy the game she loved.

“I’m just fifty-nine years old, and I decided... 'I am going to play hockey,’” Shilson said. “Stop me? No one can stop me now.”

After joining her own league this year, Shilson missed the first seven games due to a foot injury, then played in six consecutive games before sustaining a concussion. Despite this, she is determined to continue learning how to play.

“I’m not giving up,” she said. “I’ll get there one day.”

She is planning on attending next year’s Fantasy Camp with a group of friends, regardless of what city it will be hosted in, even if it is being held in her least favourite team’s market: Minnesota.

For Shilson, finally being able to get as close as she could to the league that she loves and experiencing what the life of a professional women's hockey player looks like, but also prove to her younger self that she does hold a space in hockey was an incredible moment. 

“I’m making my little Kim’s dreams come true,” she said with a smile.