Like many young hockey lovers, Ellie Mabardy got her start playing on her town’s boys’ hockey team. But no matter how seriously she took the sport, she felt she was always seen as “cute,” rather than someone who could keep up with her teammates. “You could tell the environment was different, especially being one or two of the only girls in the locker room,” Mabardy, now 21, tells Her Campus. “I think people saw a ponytail sticking out of my helmet [and were] like, ‘oh that little girl, she can skate.’” Today, Mabardy plays as a forward for Northeastern University’s Women’s Ice Hockey team, whose games are consistently attended by enthusiastic fans and whose players go on to have professional and Olympic-level careers. No one can call Mabardy — or her collegiate women’s hockey peers — just “cute girls who can skate” anymore.
As a whole, the sport of hockey is having a moment. Following the success of Team USA’s gold-medal wins during the 2026 Winter Olympics — and coupled with the success of BookTok faves-turned-onscreen adaptations like Heated Rivalry and Off Campus — hockey’s recent rise in popularity has brought new fans to the rink. For women who play hockey in college, this has meant an expansion in professional opportunities and their sport getting more attention. But while love for the game is growing, these student-athletes feel there’s still progress to be made in order for women’s hockey to get the respect it’s due.
“Women’s teams’ success[es] [aren’t] always enough to gain the respect of everybody,” Chloe Baker, 21, a goaltender for the University of Wisconsin, says. “The respect and recognition … doesn’t really align with the success of the teams.” According to Baker, this attitude toward college women’s hockey partially comes from the assumption that their version of the sport is less entertaining than men’s hockey. “[A huge myth] is that [women’s hockey] is not physical, because there’s no checking and no fighting,” Baker says. But while some might shrug off women’s hockey as boring because of the lack of physical contact and violence, this rule forces players to rely on speed and technical prowess, making for incredible entertainment. “I mean, the skill from these women is amazing,” Baker says. “It’s just underappreciated.”
But, as they say: The girls who get it, get it. Grace Outwater, 19, a forward for Pennsylvania State University, also started out by playing on a boys’ team, but it wasn’t until she began playing hockey with other girls that she discovered her love for the game. “After a few years of playing with the guys … I went to the women’s side. That’s when I completely fell in love with the game because I’m with all my friends. I made so many connections.”
At the same time, Outwater sensed a difference between the girls and the guys — namely, a lack of a future in the sport. “All my friends on the guys’ team, they were training to go to the NHL, and we were all thinking, ‘We love playing hockey, but at the same time, what are we training for?’”
Before the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) launched in 2024, women’s hockey players could play top-level hockey for the Premier Hockey Federation or the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association. These initial leagues paved the way for professional women’s hockey as we know it (the Premier Hockey Federation being the first to pay female hockey players salaries). But both professional leagues suffered from a lack of media attention and financial struggles. Both teams were acquired by the Mark Walter Group in 2023 to form the PWHL. The PWHL has since expanded to eight cities in the two years of its existence, providing collegiate women’s hockey players with future professional opportunities never seen before in the game’s history.
But there’s still a ways to go. Players want to see a real change in the recognition — and the compensation — they get for the work they do. “Being a college athlete, [it feels like many universities] make sure that the women’s and men’s teams are treated equally in any sense that they can,” says Katelyn Roberts, 22, a left winger for Pennsylvania State University. But while colleges and universities prioritize promoting their men’s and women’s teams equally, brand sponsors are only just starting to catch up. “I mean, obviously, NIL opportunities for players would be something that I think could really improve, especially on the women’s side,” Roberts says.
Looking ahead, Maggie Kime, 20, a defenseman for Merrimack College, dreams of playing professionally for Team USA. But, like many college players thinking about their future in the sport, she hopes to see fair compensation for players in women’s professional hockey first. “It would be great to see women being stable playing a sport and not having to work a second job,” Kime says.
The gap between the men’s professional hockey players’ earnings versus the women’s is wide. As of the 2025-2026 season, the minimum salary for the PWHL was just over $37,000, compared to the minimum salary of the National Hockey League (NHL, aka the men’s pro league), which is $775,000. This is partially due to the newness of the women’s league — when the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA) signed a collective bargaining agreement with the PWHL in 2023, the goal was to create a foundation for long-term success and growth of the league. “Our number-one goal was never about multimillion-dollar salaries, although that would be great in the future,” Canadian player Brianne Jenner told The Canadian Press at the time. “It’s about creating a professional environment for the best players in women’s hockey and a league that young girls can dream about playing in.” As time goes on, the hope is for these salaries to continue growing.
Though progress is still needed, the future of women’s hockey is looking bright; girls’ registration in youth hockey programs has increased exponentially, with over 100,000 new players registering on girls’ and women’s recreational teams since the 2026 Winter Olympics. Outwater, who hopes to get drafted into the PWHL after college, is ready to see what comes next. “When the PWHL first started out, I was playing junior hockey, and I was pretty nervous … and then I actually went to the first ever PWHL game … It was so incredible. The entire stadium was filled … everyone there, support[ing] women’s hockey,” she says. “I’m excited for it to keep growing.”