A nominee for the NHL's Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award, Karen Ota-O'Brien is helping to grow the game of hockey for women in South Florida.
A nominee for the NHL's Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award, Karen Ota-O'Brien is helping to grow the game of hockey for women in South Florida.
Professional hockey emerged in South Florida alongside the Florida Panthers in 1993, although hockey was played in the sport long before then. The Southcoast Suns were the first semi-professional team to call Florida home in 1971 playing in the Eastern Hockey League. Someday, with the constant growth of women’s hockey, perhaps a professional women’s team will also call Florida home. The interest for women’s hockey in Southern Florida already exists.
That interest is in large part thanks to Karen Ota-O'Brien, founder of the South Florida Women's Hockey Program, the Lucky Pucks Hockey Club and Girls Night Out League, and co-founder and current President of the Florida Women's Hockey League (FWHL). After starting the Lucky Pucks Hockey Club, Ota-O'Brien helped grow the FWHL to 14 teams with over 350 participants from across the state.
For her efforts in building the game of hockey, Ota-O'Brien earned a nomination for the 2023 Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award.
“If we didn’t have Karen, we wouldn’t have women’s hockey in South Florida, I truly believe that,” said Tonya Williams, a member of the Lucky Pucks Hockey Club in Ota-O'Brien’s community impact video.
“Karen has changed the lives of so many women, without her, I personally wouldn’t be playing hockey, I didn’’t have the confidence to play in a men’s league at the time, the fact that she came up with the Girls Night Out program, that allowed me to have a place to play, to feel safe, feel included,” Maria Law, another member of Lucky Pucks.
“I’ve always known who Willie O’Ree was just being an underdog and his challenges of what he came through, I can totally relate to,” said Ota-O’Brien.
Ota-O’Brien was the only woman nominated for the USA’s Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award. In Canada, Saroya Tinker was nominated for the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award presented by Hyundai. Tinker is a defender for the Isobel Cup champion Toronto Six and is the executive director of Black Girl Hockey Club Canada and founder of Saroya Strong. Both organizations aim to empower and support women and girls of color in hockey, and to join the game of hockey.