A coach who has has been helping female goalies achieve their dreams will soon be able to fulfill her own.
“(The goalies) have crazy energy for one and, for two, they really want to win,” Marlene Boissonnault said. “They want to stop the puck like never before. So that’s always amazing to see.”
Boissonault, 26, is a goaltending coach for some of the elite female hockey programs in Calgary.
She will soon live out a dream of her own: playing professionally in the newly-formed Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).
“It’s your dream as a young girl, to be able to play on these teams and fight your way up,” she said.
“To be able to be there and get called up through whatever funnel of the draft and free agency and all that stuff.
“I think it was just overall a nerve wracking but very exciting experience.”
Boissonneault is an original member of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) that was formed in 2019. That organization was formed following the dissolution of Canadian Women’s Hockey League and advocated for a sustainable and viable women’s professional hockey league.
“It’s finally awesome to get it to see come to fruition,” said Boissonnault.
The Dundee, N.B., native was invited to Montreal’s training camp, set to begin Nov. 15. Even with the busy schedule of playing pro hockey, Boissonnault will continue to coach on the side.
“I’ll still be actively coaching while playing on my time off and then in the summer, I’ll be coming back here to coach actively as well.”
The PWHL is a six-team league based in eastern Canada, the eastern United States and the midwest city of Minneapolis, Minn. It’s inaugural season is set to start in January.