Russian Players Continue To Eye North American Teams At All Levels Paving More Than A Path To The PWHL

Women have been playing hockey for more than 135 years globally. But not everywhere. The game emerged in Canada and then the USA, and it was played soon thereafter in Australia, France, and England. The game continued to find new homes globally, but it was roughly a century after Isobel Stanley was photographed playing hockey in Ottawa when women's hockey finally took its first strides in Russia.

The sport's main catalyst in Russia was the introduction of the 1989 IIHF European Women Championships, followed by the inaugural IIHF World Championships in 1990. 

There were mentions of hockey for women in Russia as early as the 1930s, but those mentions never came with concrete examples like they did in other nations like England, France, and Germany, where newspapers and images of women player hockey were documented.

As Mrytle Cook, one of the world's preeminent women's sports writers of the 20th century wrote in 1937 about discussion of getting women's hockey to the Olympics, "With England, France, Russia and Germany developing women’s hockey it will not be long before Canada and USA will be stepping into an international tournament to decide who’s who in women’s world hockey. If they ever get it on the Olympic games as a demonstration event, that will be the start.”

Following those mentions however, and with the onset of World War II, women's hockey, even as a concept in Russia, disappeared until the catalyzing events of the late 1980s and 1990s. Instead, most women who were on the ice in Russia in that long gap played bandy or entered figure skating.

For Russian men in hockey, coming to North American opened their eyes to women in hockey. That includes Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anatoli Semyonov who in 1992 saw Manon Rheaume join the Lightning for training camp in in NHL exhibition.

"A girl playing hockey? In Russia, no. I never heard of girl playing hockey anywhere. But, I think it is good thing. I wish her good. But, it would not happen in Russia. No girls," he told The Tampa Tribune on August 22, 1992.

Many likely assume Russia was a nation in the mix for international women's hockey from day one at the 1990 World Championships, but that wasn't the case. Russia did not play in their first international game until 1994, a pre-tournament exhibition game against Switzerland, which they lost 2-1. The following season in 1995, Russia a competed in their first European Championship tournament playing in Pool B where they beat France, Ukraine, and Czechia, winning the group to be promoted to Pool A alongside nations like Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, and Germany.

By the following year, the 1996 European Championships, Russia was ready for more. This time they fielded a team led by netminder Irina Gashennikova and forward Yekaterina Pashkevich, who were both named tournament All-Stars, and finished second, losing their only game to Sweden, and earning themselves a path to their first World Championships.

They advanced to the 1997 World Championships, with the goal of reaching the inaugural women's hockey tournament at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. With the top five teams earning a spot in the 1998 Olympics alongside host Japan, Russia missed the final spot finishing sixth after losing a placement game to Sweden, who claimed the final inaugural Olympic position. 

Four years later, Russia won bronze at the 2001 World Championships, their first ever medal, which also qualified the Russian team for the 2002 Olympics. Russia would also win bronze in 2013 and 2016, but has not participated internationally since the 2022 Olympics following the nation's invasion of Ukraine.

At the PWHL level, Ilona Markova was the first Russian ever drafted when Boston picked her in 2024. Markova, however, failed to make the Boston Fleet roster that season and returned to Russia before moving to the University of British Columbia last season. In 2025, Russian forwards Anna Shokhina and Fanuza Kadirova, a pair of long time national team standouts were drafted by the Ottawa Charge. Both made Ottawa's roster, which also included Russian Vita Poniatovskaia who played NCAA hockey at Yale as a reserve.

This season, that number could grow again with the Minnesota Frost signing Russian netminder Daria Gredzen who they selected in the 2026 PWHL Draft, and Russia's top defender Maria Batalova attending training camp with the Montreal Victoire. 

The number of Russian players in North America to play women's hockey, however, is on the rise beyond the PWHL this season as well. At the NCAA level, there's a record number of Russian players competing this season including Maria Polozkova (Mercyhurst), Maria Mikaelyan (St. Cloud State), Anna Sviridova (St. Cloud State), and Eva Filippova (Lindenwood).

There are other Russian players in North America this season as well including Sasha Khoroshilova, a 2011-born defender playing at the Ontario Hockey Academy. She's joined there by 2006-born forward Irina Mordanova. 

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