A five-goal game by one player helped the Toronto Furies defeat the Calgary Inferno 6-5 at the Olds Sportsplex on Dec. 6.
Four hundred attended the Canadian Women's Hockey League game.
The Inferno was the home team and received most of the crowd support. But Furies forward and assistant captain Natalie Spooner, who scored five of those six Furies goals, appreciated the turnout nonetheless.
“We had a great crowd out there. It's always fun to come to little communities where they don't get a lot of women's hockey. I think it was great to come out here and have an outreach game,” she said.
“The crowd today had lots of kids in it. They had a lot of energy so I think it really helped us.”
Spooner, a Canadian National Team player and Olympic gold medalist finished with six points and was named the game's first star.
Half the proceeds from the game will go to Olds College's women's hockey team.
Spooner, from Scarborough, Ont., herself played four seasons with the Ohio State University Buckeyes from 2008-12, graduating with a bachelor of science degree in food science and nutrition in the pre-med track.
“It's always great when you can do both at the same time. Obviously I had such a passion for hockey and wanted to continue ... but knowing women's hockey isn't really a career yet, knowing you have to get your education at the same time, it was great I could do both,” she said.
“I loved it. I would go back in a heartbeat. It was a lot of fun.”
She also foresees the Broncos having a big impact on minor hockey in Olds.
“It will be great. If the same people are going out to the women's hockey games here, it will keep a lot of young girls in the game and they'll have that dream of playing in college or that university. I think it will be huge for this little town.”
"It's always fun to come to little communities where they don't get a lot of women's hockey. I think it was great to come out here and have an outreach game." NATALIE SPOONER, Toronto Furies forward
