Nicole Hensley played in two Olympics, six world championships and now the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
Nicole Hensley of Minnesota defends her net against Hilary Knight of Boston during the second overtime in Game Four of the 2024 PWHL Finals at Xcel Energy Center on May 26, 2024 in St Paul, Minnesota. Having just attained the strength to consistently lift the puck and aim for the top corners of the net, Pike was primed for roller-hockey glory in his Lakewood neighborhood.
After growing up competing against boys, first on asphalt and then on ice, Hensley transitioned to the girls game in high school. What followed were record-setting performances, two Olympics, six IIHF Women’s World Championships and now a spot in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. “But those two games in Denver, I was able to see what was possible for me as a female athlete at the time in different points in my life. That’s what’s unique and important about the league going to different markets, is to show girls like I was that it’s possible to live out your dream as a female hockey player and you have something to look forward to. You don’t have to dream about winning the Stanley Cup; you can dream about winning the Walter Cup.
Klee, who lives in Castle Rock, was Hensley’s first national team coach and has known the goalie since her days on theHensley played with boys on that club until her junior year at Green Mountain High School, when she migrated to a girls club with Colorado Select. The Lions didn’t win more than 10 games in a season during Hensley’s tenure as a four-year starter, but the lack of team success didn’t keep her from creating momentum. She got the attention of USA Hockey, earning her first invites to national team camps. That put her on a trajectory that led to her international debut in 2016.
“One of the first conversations I ever had with her was, ‘You’re not going to get 60 shots a game on the national team like you faced at Lindenwood,'” Klee said. “‘You’re going to get around 20, but I need you to be dialed-in, because you’re going to have to stop one or two point-blankers.’ She really took that challenge to heart.”
“She is not someone you want to see in the net when you’re playing against her — call the Canadians and ask them,” said Stecklein, who plays defense for the Frost and USA Hockey. “Playing on the national team for close to 10 years, that’s incredibly hard to do as a goalie, but there’s a reason she keeps coming back because she’s proved herself over and over again.”Nicole Hensley of Lakewood poses in her USA Hockey jersey on May 23, 2017, in Littleton.
Hensley had to juggle her hockey career with jobs in coaching, private instruction and delivering groceries when she played in those leagues. Now she and her PWHL peers are getting paid enough to avoid side gigs. The PWHL’s minimum salary is currently around $36,000, with the league’s highest-earning players making about $80,000 annually.
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