TAMPA, Fla. — In 1992, she became the first woman to play in the NHL. Manon Rhéaume was once a little girl in tights and a leotard but it didn’t take long for her to trade those in for some hockey gear.

“Every time I wanted to play with my brothers,” Rhéaume said. “They would dress me up as a goalie and use me as a target. So my dad used to make an ice rink in the back yard and that was the only way they let me play with them.” 

She recalled the first time playing on an all boys team with her dad as the coach. “He didn’t want anybody to see that I was a girl, he wanted people to judge me for what I was doing on the ice,” she said.

Her talent in the net quickly took center stage. “I never thought that I would make it at the highest level because I never saw a woman play in the NHL. So for me, I wanted to play at the highest level where I was.” And she made it, becoming the first woman to play in a men’s major junior jockey game, one of Canada’s top junior ice hockey leagues.

“When I made that highest level,” Rhéaume said. "I really thought that okay now they are accepting me and they don’t care if I’m a girl.”

She kept proving that a woman can play hockey just like a man can — maybe even better. She suited up with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992.

Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Manon Rheaume listens to the National Anthem prior to her professional debut against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1992 at the Tampa Fairgrounds in Tampa, Florida. The 20-year-old goaltender became the first woman to play in one of the four major pro sports leagues. (Chris O’Meara/AP)

“A lot of people said that to me, they are only inviting you because you are a girl and they want to promote the game. But I told myself so many times people said no to me because I’m a girl, so this time being a girl gets me, I’m still going to have to prove myself out there.” 

Rhéaume played an exhibition game with Tampa Bay, an experience she shares with her team today as the coach for a young girls hockey team in Michigan.

“I’m able to inspire the next generation and tell them if you are passionate about something and you work really hard, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to and most importantly you don’t need to fit a mold of what you should look like,” Rhéaume.