First female player selected in OHL draft

Taya Currie, a 16-year-old goalie, became the first female player to be chosen in the Ontario Hockey League draft when Sarnia selected her in the 14th round (No. 267) on Saturday.

Currie (5-foot-7, 143 pounds) has been playing AAA boys hockey for the Elgin-Middlesex minor hockey organization for seven seasons.
"It hasn't fully sunk in yet," Currie told the OHL website Sunday. "Just awesome. I can be a role model for so many young girls to follow your dreams and just do all you can."
Sarnia general manager Dylan Seca told The (Sarnia) Observer that Currie was drafted solely based on her skill.
"There's no secret this is obviously a barrier-breaking scenario, but this is not a one-off," he said. "This is a girl that's been seven years playing AAA with the boys. A starting goaltender on arguably the best team in the Alliance (Hockey League). This is a legit goaltender.
"The truth is, she's a great goaltender. That's the narrative. A great goaltender on a very good team who won games all on her own. She is dynamic, is fast, is agile. … We don't want the story to be about, 'Oh, look at this female goalie.' No, look at this great goalie."

Currie will have the chance to become the first female to play in the OHL next season. She also could switch to girls hockey and play on an AA team with her older sister, Tristan, and progress toward playing college hockey. Playing in the OHL would make her ineligible to play for an NCAA team.
If she does make it with Sarnia, Currie said she hopes to be seen as just another player.
"Treat me like a normal player, don't think of me as a girl, that I stand out," she said. "I want to be a normal teammate to the boys."
Currie said the strengths of her game are her determination and quick reflexes.
"I want to be the goalie everyone hates to play against but loves to have on the team," she told CTV News in a story published Tuesday.
One of the goalies Curry said she patterns her game after is Shannon Szabados, a two-time Olympic gold medal winner with Canada who became the first female to play in the Western Hockey League in 2002-03.

"Congrats Taya! Watching this live," Szabados posted on Twitter. "Can't wait to watch you on the world stage one day."
OHL Director of Central Scouting Darrell Woodley said Currie's athleticism made her one of the top goalies he saw this season.
"Taya Currie is a very athletic goaltender," he said. "Not the biggest goalie in the world but she makes up for it in her athleticism and quickness. She does a great job of taking away the bottom of the net with her butterfly style. She's athletic, she's known to be a good rugby player and a good soccer player and even a barrel racer. Those things prove how athletic she is. She challenges well, she moves well in her net. She's been playing with the boys at AAA since minor atom so she's been there for seven years so she's well accustomed to the speed of the game. She has no trouble keeping up or fitting in."