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Hockey history was made on Saturday. Taya Currie, 16, became the first woman selected in the Ontario Hockey League Draft when she was selected by the Sarnia Sting. Currie went as pick No. 267 in the draft, and didn’t play this past season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The goaltender recently wrapped up her minor league hockey career with the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs.
“It’s just awesome,” Currie told OHL TV after being drafted. “I can be a role model for so many young girls to follow their dreams.”
OHL director of central scouting Darrell Woodley noted that Currie’s butterfly style sets her apart from other goaltenders.
“Taya Currie is a very athletic goaltender,” OHL director of central scouting Darrell Woodley said regarding Currie. “Not the biggest goalie in the world at 5-foot-7, 145 pounds but I tell you, she makes up for it in her athleticism and her quickness. She does a great job of taking away the bottom of the net with her butterfly style.”
Currie is set to become the third woman to play in a Canadian hockey league. Goaltender Shannon Szabados played for the WHL’s Tri-City Americans during the 2003-04 season and Manon Rheaume played a single game for the QMJHL’s Trois-Riveres Draveurs during the 1991-92 campaign. Both Szabados and Rheaume were signed — not drafted.
Currie received plenty of congratulations from the hockey world. Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nick Foligno took to Twitter to share his excitement, as did Szabados and Rheaume.