Szabados returns to Canadian women’s hockey team, but keeps a toe in men’s game

The two-time Olympic gold medallist has spent the majority of her hockey career playing with and against men. Szabados knows the adjustments she must make upon her return to women’s hockey.

“They’re pretty different games for a goalie,” she said Wednesday on a conference call.

“For the girls, I find they hold onto the puck a little bit more. It’s a little more puck possession. The guys never like it when I say this, but the girls play a little bit more of a smarter game. The men, it’s a little more run and gun. Where they would take a shot, maybe the girls would take a pass, so as a goalie, it’s a little bit more patience.

“One of the big things is tracking. The puck comes off the stick a little bit differently for a girl than it does the guys.”

She spent the last two seasons with the SPHL’s Columbus Cottonmouths. Her overall record was 20-20-6 and she carried a save percentage over .900 each year.

Szabados started this season with the Rivermen. She and another goaltender were released after Peoria’s opening weekend in October.

She played parts of two games with a goals-against average of 6.10 and a save percentage of .792.

Rivermen coach Jean-Guy Trudel told CBC Sports after releasing her that he signed Szabados in a “package deal” to get defenceman Chris Neilson to sign as well. Trudel called the two players’ relationship “cancerous” on the team.

“There’s a lot of things I would love to say,” Szabados said. “I don’t think they handled it the way it should have went. Maybe there will be a day I can kind of clear the air, but for now, I don’t want to get into a he-said, she-said type thing.

“I think I have enough ammunition for a whole book. I’d like to clear the air and say my part, but at the same time I think it’s more important to be professional about it.”

Szabados said Trudel’s comments hurt her chances of joining another SPHL team. She’s returned to Alberta to play for the Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs, a men’s senior triple-A team.

But Szabados also faced a deadline to return to the national women’s squad if she wants to play for Canada in the 2018 Winter Games. There are several women on the national team Szabados has yet to played behind.

For that reason, Hockey Canada’s general manager of national women’s team programs insisted Szabados make herself available for either the December series or November’s Four Nations Cup, regardless of where she was playing.

“We have coaches who have never coached her,” Melody Davidson said in September. “She needs to be a part of our group. If we’re a part of her life, she needs to be a part of our life.”

Szabados participated in a skills session Wednesday with the national-team players who are based in Calgary. She’d spent the previous day working with women’s team goaltending coach Brad Kirkwood.

Szabados expects to split her time between Calgary and Edmonton. She’ll supplement ice time with the Chiefs by skating with her former men’s college team in Edmonton.

The Chiefs are in the five-team Chinook League, which includes several former pro and university players.

“They had an opening, asked me if I wanted to come out skate,” Szabados said. “I figured it would be a good opportunity for me to get back on the ice, get into some game action and get prepared for the December series.”

Canada’s roster for the December series includes 14 players who won Olympic gold in Sochi. The Americans have won six of the last seven world titles.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Szabados returns to Canadian women’s hockey team, but keeps a toe in men’s game

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