This week’s article is brought to you by Kathleen Hanna.
"3 periods with 2 pads? Hockey can suck my left one."
Like a lot of kids growing up in Toronto, Abigail Hoffman took to the ice at age three and enjoyed the same game her older brothers played by taking up a hockey stick at age five.
An avid athlete, Abby would find a love in track, swimming, basketball, and also hockey. Four years later at age nine, Abby would ask her parents to play for the Little Toronto Hockey League, a junior A league. There was only one problem…
…this was the 1950′s.
Since her hair was cut short for swimming and all the boys showed up in hockey equipment at the rink, Abigail just took to the name of, “Ab” and handed in her birth certificate. It’s been rumored that Abby’s coach, Bob Bowden, was fully aware of her gender sometimes skating up to her parents saying with a wink, “My that’s some boy you’ve got out there on the ice.”
"With those long strides and a great first pass, I double dare yah to tell me she doesn't look comfortable on the ice with those boys."
what a shirt.
When Abigail joined the team, the Little Saint Catherine’s Tee-Pees went straight to the finals and Abby was named to the all star team. While she never tried to exorcise or levitate the Pentagon, Abby’s gender quickly raised some eyebrows when her birth certificate had to be resubmitted for the all-star tournament.
"Spike don't play with girls!"
When her gender was figured out, the story of the little girl wearing number six spread like wild fire throughout Canada and America capturing the imaginations of Time Magazine and Newsweek.
The league, however, was infuriated.
the identities of the league officials has yet to be revealed.
And while Abby was allowed to play in the tournament, her team lost and she gave up Junior A hockey. That’s not to say she went domestic at all.
“Right now she has a cupboard full of dresses that are never worn.” Mrs. Hoffman said “The tears flow when we do convince her, once in a long while, to wear a dress on Sunday. She wears jeans all the time. But last year she wanted to join the Brownies so badly that, to the surprise of us all, she agreed to wear their uniform.”
A true Rebel Grrrl.
Abigail would be a voice for young girls all over Canada that girls could bring a great progression to the game.
She would later help set up a girl’s hockey team, win silver in the Olympics, and then assisted the CAHA in hosting a women’s national championship.
The Abby Hoffman Trophy is awarded to the winner of the women's Senior A hockey championship.
Sadly there’s no video footage but I did manage to find a radio interview about her experience when she was 15 years old.
You can listen to it here.
