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Manon Rhéaume was moved to tears watching the first Professional Women’s Hockey League draft in 2023, especially when Taylor Heise was picked first. “I was so interested to see how this whole thing’s going to unfold and I started having tears in my eyes,” Rhéaume said. “That moment when she got drafted, to me, that was real. That was not trying to make something happen. It was happening. That really made an impact on me at that moment.”
At 54, Rhéaume, from Lac-Beauport, Quebec, never imagined this moment as a child. She was the only girl playing hockey where she grew up and would wear her goalie helmet walking into the rink to avoid revealing she was a girl in goal.
Her recent appointment as the first general manager of the PWHL’s expansion team in Detroit marks a significant full circle. Having lived in Michigan for over 20 years, she spent 11 years as girls’ division director of the Little Caesars AAA Hockey Club in Detroit. Many players she developed are eligible for the upcoming PWHL draft in Detroit on June 17.
Rhéaume’s place in women’s hockey history is unique. She is the first and only woman to play in an NHL game, having participated in preseason games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992 and 1993. This breakthrough remains influential, with parents pointing their children to her story as inspiration.
“The kids would come up to me because their parents knew about me,” Rhéaume said. “I realize more now than back then that my story impacted people in different ways, especially when they came up to me and say ‘I remember seeing what you did and it inspired me to go after my dream.'”
Beyond that milestone, Rhéaume played in 24 men’s minor pro games and helped Canada win a silver medal at the 1998 Olympic Games, when women’s hockey made its debut. Reflecting on her journey, she said, “When I got invited to the Tampa Bay training camp, it was all about I wanted to push myself at the highest level that I can and that’s why I did that. I never thought that moment would absolutely change my life… I would probably still be in Quebec. I would have gone to university and been a school teacher if I would have not taken that opportunity.”
Her connection to Michigan runs deeper through her two sons, Dylan St. Cyr and Dakoda Rhéaume-Mullen. Dylan, born a year after the 1998 Olympics, was a college and minor pro goalie, while Dakoda plays defense at the University of Michigan. Both came through USA Hockey’s national team development program.
Rhéaume’s recent career includes four years as a hockey operations and development advisor for the Los Angeles Kings before accepting the PWHL role. The PWHL plans to expand to 12 teams in the 2026-27 season, adding Detroit, Las Vegas, Hamilton, and San Jose.
“When this opportunity came about in Detroit, it’s almost like everything I did in my entire life led to this,” Rhéaume said. “Hockey brought me so much along the way. It’s really cool today to be part of this.”
