The Port Moody Panthers haven’t had much success. In fact they haven’t made it to the Pacific Junior Hockey League playoffs in six years.
But the team is hoping a new girl in town will change their misfortune.
That’s not a typo.
The Panthers have hired Jennifer Gilligan as its new goalie coach.
And while the 25-year-old from Maple Ridge comes with a long list of coaching credentials including being the manager and senior instructor at Pro Formance Goalie School and the female varsity assistant coach at Delta Hockey Academy, the Panthers — who opened their training camp on Monday — is her first assignment to an all-male junior team.
Gilligan admits her gender may present an additional challenge to winning her charges’ trust and confidence. But it’s not like she hasn’t infiltrated hockey’s old-boys club before.
Gilligan started her hockey career when she was nine-years-old, playing defence on a girls’ team. But when her team’s goalie moved up to the next age category, she became part of the contingent that rotated into net to take her place.
Gilligan got a shutout in her first game. Although, she recalled, she may have stopped only nine shots.
But that was enough to get her hooked.
“It came easy,” Gilligan said of her new position.
Two years later she stepped up to rep hockey, playing for a boys’ team.
The game was faster, Gilligan said, and as the league’s only female player she was constantly being challenged to prove her mettle.
“I definitely became more assertive and aggressive,” Gilligan said.
The experience served her well when Gilligan graduated to a spot on a junior women’s team even though she was at least four years younger than her 18 and 19-year-old teammates. The team was based in Richmond but played in a league with teams in far-flung locales like Boston, Vermont, Washington, D.C. and Alberta. That meant packing as many as five games into weekend road trips from Thursday to Sunday.
When Gilligan was 17, she signed with another junior team in Kitchener, Ont., then eventually played four years of college hockey at the University of New Hampshire and Syracuse University.
And that’s where it appeared her hockey journey would end.
Gilligan returned home to B.C. and got a job, first as a barista and then in sales. But, she quickly discovered, the 9-5 desk gig was not for her. So she reached out to one of her former coaches who was now working at the Delta Hockey Academy.
“I’ve always had a knack for the tactical aspect of hockey,” Gilligan said of her coaching inclinations. “I take what I know about the game and I put it all together from a goalie’s perspective.”
At the Academy and gigs at various other hockey schools and even some high school programs, Gilligan has worked with players from both genders, but she said she’s developed techniques specifically to win the trust of male players like pulling on her own gear and skating between the pipes to show them what she can do.
“It’s really cool to see all of a sudden the light bulb turns on,” Gilligan said. “They no longer see me as Jen, the female goalie coach.”
Gilligan said she’s excited about the opportunity to help turn around the fortunes of the Panthers. But she’s also acutely aware her gender might bring extra scrutiny.
“There’s so much room for improvement,” she said of the team that hasn’t finished any higher than fifth place in the PJHL standings. “But they’re kinda open to change.”
