Nicole Hensley, as a goalie for the U.S. Women's National Team, represented the U.S. at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games...and brought home the gold!
Her path to this point was a bit unconventional but clearly driven by her love for hockey - a game typically not associated with women athletes. Her skill in the sport began on roller blades and eventually transitioned to the ice and playing with the boys.
"At around age 12 is when boys start ‘checking’ – the (very) physical act of disrupting the puck bearer – which created warranted apprehension with her mother, Leslie. The only way Hensley would be allowed to continue with the boys, Leslie said, was if Hensley shifted to goalie, the one position on the ice with the least physical contact yet with perhaps the most mental demand."