Bonnie Shea’s Hockey Journey Paved The Way For Girls Today

In Minnesota, hockey isn’t just a sport. It’s part of who we are.

From backyard rinks all over the state to packed arenas during tournament season, kids grow up dreaming about their chance on the ice.

HOCKEY DREAMS SHOT DOWN AT AN EARLY AGE

But not that long ago, that dream didn’t belong to everyone. For girls like Bonnie Shea, that dream was shot down by the time she turned into a teenager. Bonnie's Jersey number? 44. For the very reason that she was born in 1944. That makes Bonnie 81 years old, and she's still playing!

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WHEN GIRLS SUPPOSEDLY COULDN'T PLAY HOCKEY, THIS ONE DID

Long before there were girls' high school teams and before sold-out state girls hockey tournaments, one young girl in Duluth stepped onto the ice anyway. Back in the early 1950s, she was the only girl playing organized hockey in her area. Her name was Bonnie Shea.

Back then, there was no girls' league. No support system for girls in hockey. There was no real roadmap. What DID exist was a young girl's love for the game and the determination to keep showing up.

BONNIE JUST KEPT GETTING BETTER AND BETTER

Bonnie didn’t even have proper gear. How could she? The gear was made for boys who played hockey. So while the boys of her era wore padded hockey pants, Bonnie skated in rolled-up jeans. Bonnie had to get creative.

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Bonnie Shea used what she could find to protect herself while playing hockey and wore her dad’s old gloves. She was pretty good, too. Actually...scratch that. She was doing more than keeping up with the boys. She was excelling and getting better and better! She had a love for the game that truly came from within.

NO MORE HOCKEY?

When Bonnie Shea turned 15, however, everything changed. She was told that she COULDN'T play hockey anymore. It didn't matter how much she loved it. It didn't matter how good she was. It was simply based on the fact that she was a girl, and girls didn't play hockey.

AND THEN...THE OPPORTUNITY CAME

That moment didn’t just end what could have been a hockey career for Bonnie. That moment represented an entire generation of girls who never got the chance to play. But years later, at the age of 40, she had a second chance. She saw an ad on television for a women's hockey club team, and she was invited to come out and play. She has now been playing hockey for the last 41 years with other talented women hockey players.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE

Even though Bonnie was shunned from hockey as a young girl, she never really skated away from the game completely. It was a part of her. It was in her DNA, and now, at 81 years old, she is still playing hockey!

Bonnie laces up her skates, steps onto the ice, and competes with players decades younger than her. She doesn't do it to prove anything. She does it because she STILL loves hockey, and she just wants to play. period. It's really all she has ever wanted from the game. A chance to play.

BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE BONNIE

Bonnie's story isn’t just about one player in Duluth. It’s about the foundation of what we see today across Central Minnesota. Every girls' team, every youth program, every early morning practice exists because people like Bonnie pushed forward, even when doors were closed.

MINNESOTA FROST?

I wonder what Bonnie thinks about The Minnesota Frost? Does she recognize that she was an early pioneer in showing people that women really can play hockey and excel at it? Today, girls are lucky that they don't even have to think about being told they can't play. Opportunities abound, and the dream of becoming an official professional hockey player? Yes! It exists for young women today.

You have to wonder. Would Bonnie Shea have been on a Minnesota women's hockey team had the barriers been taken down years ago? It's a question we will never have the answer to, but I'm sure Bonnie knows that she did her part to show future generations that they wouldn't have to ask that same question.