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winnipegsun.com - Hockey - Deaf player signs on with junior league
Like many a young girl before her, Danielle Nelson started out as a figure skater when she was just five.
But when she turned 12, Nelson decided to trade in her figure skates for hockey blades and she was not going to let the fact she is deaf stop her.
"My brother (Scott) was always a deaf hockey player and I looked up to him," the Vermilion Bay, Ont., native explained through a sign interpreter at a press conference held at the Western Canada Aviation Museum yesterday.
"It's a lot more fun to play hockey so, I decided to do the same."
Nelson played with a boys team until she was 14, then joined a high school women's team in Dryden, Ont. This year, she will be one of 120 players to compete in the Manitoba Women's Junior Hockey League as it embarks on its fourth campaign.
But switching to hockey does have its challenges.
"The most obvious is the communication but if some players know sign, we communicate that way," said Nelson, 18. "If not, we just use pen and paper."
Nelson added that many of her teammates learned to sign just so they could talk to her and she would be most willing to teach her new teammates once she is drafted later this week.
Hearing the whistle when a play is blown dead is another challenge.
"I just watch other players to see if they're stopping, or the goalie," Nelson said. "Sometimes, I miss the whistle and just keep playing but it doesn't happen often. And if I make an error, I know a penalty is going to be called."
And yes, the aggressive defenceman does get a lot of penalties, Nelson admitted with a malicious smile.
Lorette's Robin Bourke, an MWJHL defenceman who knows how to sign, will join the same team that drafts Nelson, who came to Winnipeg to attend a beauty school. Her brother, Scott, now plays for the Stonewall Jets of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League.
Nelson's favourite player is Team Canada's Hayley Wickenheiser and many of the current MWJHL players aspire to play for the national squad some day.
The Hon. John Harvard, Lt. Governor of Manitoba, was on hand to unveil the Lt. Governor's Trophy that will be presented to the winning team of the league's inaugural junior women's invitational tournament this February.
"This spring when Winnipeg hosted the world women's championship, we all saw and felt the passion and the excitement of women's hockey," Harvard said. "And for those of us who were at the MTS Centre for the sold-out Team Canada games will never forget the electricity in the air.
"For four years now, the Manitoba Junior Women's Hockey League has been quietly making hockey history by giving 120 young women the opportunity to compete and develop high-level skills in Canada's first women's junior hockey league. Some of those players will go on to a future Team Canada and many others will be able to play out through the sheer love of the national pastime here in Canada."
The MWJHL will kick off its season with a game between the Western Predators, the defending champs, and the Polar Ice Bears before a University of Manitoba Bisons women's game at the Max Bell Centre at 4:15 p.m. on Oct. 5.
Like many a young girl before her, Danielle Nelson started out as a figure skater when she was just five.
But when she turned 12, Nelson decided to trade in her figure skates for hockey blades and she was not going to let the fact she is deaf stop her.
"My brother (Scott) was always a deaf hockey player and I looked up to him," the Vermilion Bay, Ont., native explained through a sign interpreter at a press conference held at the Western Canada Aviation Museum yesterday.
"It's a lot more fun to play hockey so, I decided to do the same."
Nelson played with a boys team until she was 14, then joined a high school women's team in Dryden, Ont. This year, she will be one of 120 players to compete in the Manitoba Women's Junior Hockey League as it embarks on its fourth campaign.
But switching to hockey does have its challenges.
"The most obvious is the communication but if some players know sign, we communicate that way," said Nelson, 18. "If not, we just use pen and paper."
Nelson added that many of her teammates learned to sign just so they could talk to her and she would be most willing to teach her new teammates once she is drafted later this week.
Hearing the whistle when a play is blown dead is another challenge.
"I just watch other players to see if they're stopping, or the goalie," Nelson said. "Sometimes, I miss the whistle and just keep playing but it doesn't happen often. And if I make an error, I know a penalty is going to be called."
And yes, the aggressive defenceman does get a lot of penalties, Nelson admitted with a malicious smile.
Lorette's Robin Bourke, an MWJHL defenceman who knows how to sign, will join the same team that drafts Nelson, who came to Winnipeg to attend a beauty school. Her brother, Scott, now plays for the Stonewall Jets of the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League.
Nelson's favourite player is Team Canada's Hayley Wickenheiser and many of the current MWJHL players aspire to play for the national squad some day.
The Hon. John Harvard, Lt. Governor of Manitoba, was on hand to unveil the Lt. Governor's Trophy that will be presented to the winning team of the league's inaugural junior women's invitational tournament this February.
"This spring when Winnipeg hosted the world women's championship, we all saw and felt the passion and the excitement of women's hockey," Harvard said. "And for those of us who were at the MTS Centre for the sold-out Team Canada games will never forget the electricity in the air.
"For four years now, the Manitoba Junior Women's Hockey League has been quietly making hockey history by giving 120 young women the opportunity to compete and develop high-level skills in Canada's first women's junior hockey league. Some of those players will go on to a future Team Canada and many others will be able to play out through the sheer love of the national pastime here in Canada."
The MWJHL will kick off its season with a game between the Western Predators, the defending champs, and the Polar Ice Bears before a University of Manitoba Bisons women's game at the Max Bell Centre at 4:15 p.m. on Oct. 5.