Manon Rheaume's Pro Hockey Journey Was Winding And Memorable

Manon Rheaume wanted to play hockey and go places women's hockey players had never been before. After begging her father to play on the team he coached at age five, Rheaume was hooked on the game. It would lead her to the men's professional ranks decades before she'd join the PWHL as general manager of PWHL Detroit.

How media and the hockey world treated Rheaume however, was far from professional. Mixed in with anecdotes and articles about her play, were quips and comments about her gender and appearance. 

In one of the first major features on Rheaume, while she was in camp with the QMJHL's Trois-Rivieres Draveurs, the Canadian Press described the netminder as "slender-faced" and clarified that "none of the players tried to flirt with her." They acknowledged she had outperformed other netminders and was there on her merits, but the article itself was filled with sexist and heternormative language that no other player in camp, or the QMJHL would have been subjected to in a profile.

At the time, women's hockey had just held the sport's first World Championship in 1990 in Ottawa. Rheaume wasn't part of Team Canada yet, and women's hockey, or the excellence of women's hockey players was still being treated by the hockey world and media as something other than athletic. 

That was made obvious by the Canadian Press who ranked Rheaume's appearance in the QMJHL as one of the top "oddities" of 1991.

Only two weeks after being labelled an "oddity" by dozens of newspapers across Canada, Rheaume's next major mention by media revolved around a Rheaume, then 19 years old, turning down interest from Playboy magazine to have her pose nude.

"For no amount of money, not even a million dollars, would I consider such an offer," Rheaume told the Canadian Press in January of 1992.

Rheaume was one of the best women's hockey players on the planet, one set to become an Olympian and two-time World Championship gold medalist and all-star. Her skills on the ice were evident, and they were what earned her a QMJHL invite in the first place. But it's not how media treated her at first.

The same month as media swarmed around Rheaume, she made Team Canada for the first time, cracking their roster for the 1992 World Championships. With the momentum, it didn't take long for the conversation of the NHL to arrive. For Rheaume, a professional women's league as a dream, but it remained far from reality in 1992.

"What is important to me is to develop female hockey," Rheaume told the Toronto Star in February 1992. "It we can create a semi-pro league for women, then one day maybe women can play with men in the NHL."

That statement caught like wildfire, and Rheaume had supporters including former NHL star Dave "Tiger" Williams who said "I'd rather see girls play real hockey than ringette. We're a little prehistoric in our attitudes about women." 

Ringette was a sport invented specifically to keep women and girls out of hockey, and keep them in a more "feminine" sport.

Rheaume and the rest of Team Canada at the time were changing that narrative. But it was Rheaume who was about to become the global face for women's hockey.

And while the Tampa Bay Lightning will go down as the team linked to Manon Rheaume's start in professional hockey, they weren't the only NHL team in the mix for Rheaume's services. 

In March of 1992, Rheaume attended practice with the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, working with then Habs superstar Patrick Roy.

"It was very exciting, I loved it," Rheaume told the Montreal Gazette. "I really appreciate Patrick Roy giving me good advice. Everything was exciting — being here, chatting with Patrick, having shots from NHL players... It was just great."

Only days later however, in the midst of the Canadian national championships, the Edmonton Sun ran a column speaking of Rheaume not for her skills, but as "a beauty in the crease," and "comely."

Ahead of the World Championships, The Toronto Star wrote that Rheaume had given women's hockey a face, "And her face is the main reason has received more national media coverage" than ever. As Mary Ormsby wrote for the Star, "The media, for the most part, have found Rheaume newsworthy because of her physical attractiveness; not because she is a good goaltender." 

The story went on to assert that regardless of the reasoning, women's hockey now had a star.

At the World Championships, only weeks after those words were published, Rheaume showed she wasn't just a good goalie, she was great. Rheaume backstopped Canada to gold and was named a tournament All-Star at the 1992 World Championships posting a 0.67 GAA, .957 save percentage, and two shutouts in the tournament. It included a 21-save shutout over the United States in the gold medal game.

Soon the NHL came calling again, a turn of events that would again skyrocket Rheaume's fame. The first team to publicly claim their interest in the netminder were the Ottawa Senators.

"If she hasn't already been taken in the draft, we'll invite her to our tryout camp. She could be a great addition to our training camp," said Ottawa Senators director of player personnel John Ferguson in June 1992.

Rheaume was interested, saying she would "like to test myself against the best."

Days after the Senators' invite, Rheaume was back alongside Patrick Roy handing him the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's Goaltender of the Year at the annual NHL Awards.

Less than a week later, news broke on June 22, 1992, that Rheaume had received another, more formal, invitation to an NHL camp. This invite came from Tampa Bay Lightning president, and Hockey Hall of Famer Phil Esposito. 

"It's true," Rheaume told the Canadian Press at the time confirming the invite. "I'm going to wait a few days before I make a decision. The idea of trying out at a pro camp is interesting."

She accepted, and soon, more invites would roll in, including from the ECHL's Richmond Renegades. But it was Tampa Bay for Rheaume.

"I watched her on tape. She isn't bad, and I really couldn't tell she was not a guy. That says something," said Esposito to the Tampa Bay Times. "Why not give her a chance? My wife says I'm pretty liberal. Who knows? Manon might make it as a backup in Atlanta," he added, referencing the Lightning's farm team the Atlanta Knights.

For Rheaume, she didn't care about being the first, just about capturing any opportunity she could to improve her game.

"I decided I didn't want to look back in 10 years and be sad that I didn't go to Tampa Bay," said Rheaume. "I didn't want to be the first. I would do this if I was the second or third or fourth. I always want to do things to make me go higher. It is good for me to try out with the best hockey players. It will make me better."

On September 12, 1992, Manon Rheaume stepped on the ice in Lakeland, Florida as one of 72 players competing for a roster spot with the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Finally, after a year of taunting Rheaume for her quest, and willingness to seize an opportunity, she let her play speak.

In her first time on the ice, Rheaume made 14 saves in a 20-minute scrimmage.

"She stoned us pretty good," Brent Gretzky, who was on the ice at the camp told the Orlando Sentinel. "She's quick with her feet and really stood out. She was great.

Still, her performance, which matched or exceeded any man on the ice, was met with Lightning president Phil Esposito saying he was "using it as publicity." But Rheaume's play spoke louder. And her play pushed a decision onto the Lightning.

"After what I saw today, I am seriously considering playing her in one of those games," Esposito told the Tampa Tribune of the team's upcoming exhibition schedule. "[A]s far as I'm concerned, I think she can handle it. She proved that today."

It's why her name didn't appear on the list of the first 15 players released from Tampa Bay's camp, and why her name did appear on Tampa Bay's roster for their first exhibition game. 

As the NHL preseason opened, Tampa Bay didn't dress Rheaume for their opening games. Rheaume had strained her groin in camp, and time seemed to be running out. But as the team approached their third preseason game, news broke that Rheaume would dress for the Lightning in their third contest, this time against the St. Louis Blues.

By this point, the Lightning had already made more plans for Rheaume, including the possibility of sending her to their minor league affiliate.

"I want her to be part of our organization," Esposito told USA Today on the day of Rheaume's first NHL action.

Rheaume had turned many into believers.

"I think she feels vindicated somewhat by her play," her agent Steve Bartlett told USA Today. "I think some felt this was a farce from day one. And she has (converted) some non-believers."

Rheaume played one period of action that night for the Tampa Bay Lightning stopping seven shots, while allowing a pair of goals. The game was 2-2 when she exited, and Tampa Bay ultimately fell 6-4.

Over the next several seasons, Rheaume would not just appear in preseason games, she would find her way into the crease for professional men's teams across the United States. It was a journey that took her to the IHL's Atlanta Knights that season, the farm team of the Tampa Bay Lightning, where Rheaume played in two games.

The following season she played eight games in the ECHL with the Knoxville Checkers and Nashville Knights. She also went back to Tampa Bay Lightning camp and again made an appearance in preseason action, this time not as successfully, allowing three goals on five shots in a 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins.

In 1994-95, Rheaume appeared in a game with the ECHL's Tallahassee Tiger Sharks, and also played a pair of games for the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder.

Her longest pro stretch came in 1996-97 in the lead up to the inaugural Olympic Games. That season Rheaume played 11 games for the WCHL's Reno Renegades.

Thirty years after her final pro campaign, Rheaume is back in professional hockey, but this time as the general manager for PWHL Detroit. Following her career, many other women skated with, and some played, professional men's hockey, all waiting for the opportunity that exists today for women in pro hockey, albeit this time women's hockey, in the PWHL.