CANADA’S NET GAIN
Szabados returns to go for gold
Even now, after 25 years of sharing the same dressing room, Shannon Szabados still gets asked the same questions.
A reporter will come to a game in the Southern Professional Hockey League and ask the goalie with the dark curly hair spilling out of the back of her mask what it’s like to play with men. Is it strange? Does she get treated differently?
Szabados always laughs. On the surface, they might seem like valid questions. But for the Edmonton native, playing with men was never the strange part.
“I always get asked, ‘What’s it like playing with the boys?’ ” she said. “And my answer is, it would be more accurate if you’d ask me what’s it like playing with the girls, because that’s what I’m not used to.”
Szabados has spent her career playing on men’s teams, whether with the Western Hockey League’s Tri-City Americans or the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. Along the way, she won two Olympic gold medals with Canada’s women’s team.
After a three-year hiatus from the national team, during which time Szabados joined the Columbus Cottonmouths and became the first woman to play in the SPHL, the 30-year-old veteran is back for her fifth women’s world hockey championship and hopes to compete for a third consecutive Olympic gold medal in PyeongChang next year.
“With me being back here, it’s my way of letting them know I’d like to go to one more Olympics,” she said. “I’m just focused on playing well here first.”
In Tuesday’s quarter-final, Finland blanked Sweden 4-0 and will face Canada in Thursday’s semifinals. Germany will play the United States — the defending champions — in the semis after defeating Russia 2-1 in the late quarter-final on Tuesday. The medal games are Friday. Based on her performance at this year’s world championship — in two games, Szabados has allowed two goals on 44 shots — Canada’s net should belong to Szabados in South Korea.
“Having her back there provides us with that calmness,” head coach Laura Schuler said.
Szabados, whom teammate Meghan Agosta calls “the best goalie in the world,” started playing the position when she was five years old.
“No one wanted to go in net, but I just loved it,” she said.
“At that age, I don’t even think we had goalie gear. You just gave a player a stick and they wanted you to lie across the goal-line.”
Her style has improved significantly since. A smallish goalie by NHL standards — she’s five foot eight — Szabados relies on quick reflexes and technical precision to stop the puck. But there’s also a fearlessness to her game.
Szabados has always challenged herself, whether it’s playing against boys, playing up a level or playing in a southern part of the U.S. where hockey — never mind women’s hockey — is still a foreign concept.
It helps, of course, that she’s so darn good.
“She has that aura,” Team Canada forward Bailey Bram said.
“I remember saying to (teammate) Sarah (Davis), when I’m going down to shoot on Shannon I feel like the worst player because she’s so good in the net. You doubt yourself that you’re going to score. She gets in your head before you even shoot.”
Part of that is because of her resume. Szabados hasn’t just spent her life playing against men, she’s excelled against them. She was named the top goalie in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and set the record for shutouts in a season en route to a collegiate championship.
While most of Team Canada’s roster members play professionally in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League or the National Women’s Hockey League, Szabados followed in Hayley Wickenheiser’s footsteps by playing in a men’s league.
The SPHL might be three rungs below the NHL, but it is still a competitive league, having graduated Chicago Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling.
“My first two years, I had an absolute blast,” Szabados said. “The league was good and I got a lot of playing time and I think I developed a lot as a person and as a goalie there.”
Szabados went 15-9-1 with a 3.12 goals-against average in her first full season in Columbus. But she struggled the following year, posting a 5-11-5 record and a 3.63 goals-against average. She began this season with the Peoria Rivermen, but was soon released — along with the team’s other goalie — after the team was outscored 11-2 in the opening two games.
“I played like 40 minutes,” Szabados said. “I think it was probably the coaching. I don’t know what his thought process was, but it didn’t work out for whatever reason.”
Though being released after just one weekend was something Szabados is still struggling to understand, there is a positive to it. For the first time in a while, she’s able to devote her full attention to the women’s program — a fact not lost on her teammates.
“I tell her every day, ‘Thank you so much for coming back,’” Agosta said. “When she’s in the net, there’s not much to worry about.”