(Photo: Michael Levesque)
Goaltender Rhyah Stewart is poised to become the second female to play a regular season game in the Maritime Junior Hockey League (MHL).
The 17-year-old from Antigonish signed with West Kent Steamers last month and played in three exhibition games where she posted a 3.38 goals against average and an .867 save percentage. Stewart has also played in an exhibition game with the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles in each of the last two pre-seasons and spent the last two full seasons with the Cape Breton West Highlanders of the Nova Scotia U18 Major Hockey League.
Speaking with CBC New Brunswick, Stewart said, “Getting to play junior hockey might be challenging at times, but I think it will help push me to become better.”
“It was definitely good to get those games in and get them out of the way so I can get a feel for the league and a feel for the pace of the games and the play,” said Stewart. “I’m pretty excited to see what could happen this year.”
Steamers Head Coach and General Manager Olivier Filion told CBC, “I saw her play last year in a couple of tournaments so I knew that she was a good goalie. So I was comfortable in giving her the opportunity to play for us, and our fans are excited and we really can’t wait to see her in the net for a game.”
Filion said Stewart will begin the season as the team’s backup goaltender, but should see at least 18 to 22 games of junior A hockey action before she heads to the U.S. college ranks next year.
The first female to play in the MHL was goaltender Lisa Herritt with the Dartmouth Oland Exports in 1995-96. MHL Moe Bent Builders Award winner and Nova Scotia Hall of Fame member Jim Bottomley, the Head Coach and General Manager of the team, says Herritt played a handful of regular season games with Dartmouth that season.
