LOS ANGELES — Playing goal was as natural to Manon Rheaume as breathing.
She didn't intend to be the only girl on her youth teams, the first girl to play in the famed Quebec International Pee Wee tournament and the first girl to play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. There weren't many options for girls to play hockey in the 1980s and 1990s. She had to compete against boys if she wanted to play at all, and she was determined to play.
She also didn't intend to make history, but she couldn't say no when the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning invited her to their training camp after she had helped Canada win gold at the 1992 women's world championships. She played one period of an exhibition for Tampa Bay against St. Louis on Sept. 23, 1992, becoming the first — and still only — woman to suit up for an NHL game.
