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Playing with the big boys

Broadcast Date: April 6, 1994

She's been described as the best woman hockey player on the planet. Dubbed the "female Wayne Gretzky," Hayley Wickenheiser makes history becoming the first woman ever to register a point in a men's pro hockey game in 2003. The 24-year-old forward scores a goal and sets up two assists while playing in the Finnish League for the Salamat team.

It's a feat Wickenheiser herself had a hard time imagining back in 1994. Then the 15-year-old rising hockey star tells CBC Midday how it would be "pretty tough" to break into professional hockey because she wouldn't be able to compete physically with the men. She also talks about being the youngest player to make the women's national hockey team.

Playing with the big boys

• Hayley Wickenheiser helped Canada win gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and was voted its Most Valuable Player.

• Wickenheiser was a member of the Canada's national softball team at the 2000 Sydney Games.

• She started playing hockey when she was five.

• Wickenheiser was born in August 12, 1978, in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan.

• If Wickenheiser is dubbed the Wayne Gretzky on ice, her teammate Cassie Campbell, the captain on the gold medal winning national team, is often called Wayne Gretzky off the ice.
Articulate, attractive and a tireless promoter of women's hockey, many credit Campbell for breaking the butchy stereotypes of female hockey players.

Playing with the big boys

Medium: Television

Program: Midday

Broadcast Date: April 6, 1994

Guest(s): Hayley Wickenheiser

Host: Kevin Newman, Tina Srebotnjak

Duration: 6:03

Last updated:
April 1, 2010