Penetanguishene girl had to enjoy hockey secretly
Posted By WAXY GREGOIRE
Updated 1 year ago
Abigail Hof fman, one of this country's outstanding track and field Olympians, made Canada-wide publicity a couple of years ago when it was revealed that she played hockey in a boys' league in Toronto.
But Penetanguishene also had its own secret trailblazer, Linda Duquette, a girl who covertly played using the name of "Les" in the Penetang Little NHL's AHL A' (Pee-Wee) division.
Eleven-year-old Duquette, daughter of Mr. andMrs. LeonardDuquetteof RR#3 Penetanguishene (at the time), not only played in the league against the boys but was one of the top players.
This hockey-playing drama could conceivably go unnoticed in larger rural towns or urban cities but in small-town Penetanguishene, the secret quickly unraveled.
It was a case of trailblazing at its finest.
"My dad worked out some kind of deal with some of the executives in town who would know (who I was)," Duquette explains these many years later.
"I was assigned to a team coached by Ralph Labatt but of course this was just house league.
"I would dress at home and arrive at the rink ready to play. I used the office to put my skates on and then to the ice," she recalled.
"I always wondered what my teammates were thinking," she said. "My mom would carefully pin up my long hair and carefully secure it under my toque.
"Things went very smoothly, surprisingly. But one day, one of the coaches from the rep team approached me and thought I should be moved up to the A' division but I politely declined.
"I did however play one all-star game with the permission of the executive but I am sure the opposition were not aware I was a girl," Duquette continues.
"The cat was out of the bag though soon after, when a strand of my hair came out from under my helmet during one of the games and one of the boys from the other team let every one know that I was a girl'.
"With the permission of the league I was allowed to complete the season but informed that I would not be allowed to come back next year," said Duquette.
To her credit, she never let the situation dampen her love of the sport and a few years later Linda joined a burgeoning girl's team from Port Mc-Nicoll and played locally for a few years.
She had found a niche, but girls' interest to play with the boys would not be dampened.
