It isn’t every day that a hockey team gets the chance to sign a two-time Olympic gold medalist, but that’s exactly what the Peoria Rivermen did on Tuesday as they agreed to terms with goaltender Shannon Szabados.
Szabados, who played for the last two seasons with the Columbus Cottonmouths, won gold medals in the women’s hockey tournament in both the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Games with Team Canada.
After that second tournament, Szabados became the first woman to ever play in the Southern Professional Hockey League and became the first woman to ever record a shutout in a men’s professional hockey league last year.
Now, she’s excited to continue her professional career and to join up with the Rivermen.
“It’ll be a lot nicer to play for them than it was to play against them,” she told the Peoria Journal-Star. “I’m pretty excited about this. I had a great talk with (Peoria head coach) Jean-Guy Trudel and we worked this out pretty well.”
During her career with the Cottonmouths, Szabados compiled a 20-22-6 record over three seasons, appearing in 49 games with the club. She also registered two assists in those games.
Szabados has practiced with an NHL team before, the Edmonton Oilers, but has never signed a contract with a team or appeared in a game at the highest level. Other women, including Hayley Wickenheiser (who played in men’s professional league in Finland) and Manon Rheaume (who played for seven different teams in the International Hockey League) have also appeared in men’s professional leagues in recent years.
