The Ottawa Charge take the ice tonight for the start of the PWHL Finals against the Minnesota Frost, so of course I’m covering the queer mom angle. The Charge captain is a queer mom, and one of their goalies, also a queer mom, has unveiled an amazing new mask depicting her own family.
Team captain and forward Brianne Jenner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and one-time silver medalist with Team Canada, has played for her country at 10 World Championships, winning 4 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze medal, and was MVP in the 2022 and 2023 gold medal games. In addition to captaining the Charge, she’s been an assistant captain for Team Canada since 2015.
Jenner led the Charge, ranked third in the regular season, to an unexpected victory over the number one Montreal Victoire in this year’s Walter Cup semifinals. They now face the Frost, ranked fourth in the regular season, but who are defending champions of last year’s Walter Cup.
Jenner and her spouse, Hayleigh Cudmore (a lawyer and former pro player), have three children, and were featured with their eldest in this sweet and funny Hyundai commercial last year.
Goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer, also an Olympic gold medalist with Team Canada, has played for her country in seven World Championships, winning three gold, three silver, and 1 bronze medal. She and her spouse Geneviève Lacasse had their first son last September. Lacasse is herself a former Olympian and Team Canada goalie, now working on the business side of the PWHL.
Maschmeyer was injured this past March, however, just after her 1000th career regular season save. She has not played since, and is not scheduled to do so in the Finals—but in the couple’s First Mother’s Day Reflections, posted on Instagram, she observed how having time with Lacasse and their son has been the “silver lining” of her rehab journey.
She also recently revealed her new, custom-painted goalie mask, which was completed just a couple of days after her injury, as luck would have it. She and Lacasse had brainstormed ideas for the mask, she explained on Instagram. They decided on a theme inspired by the Pixar film The Incredibles, because the colors of the superheroes’ uniforms match those of the Charge. The mask depicts the family clad as superheroes in the style of the film. Lacasse is on one side of the mask, wielding an energy ball, while Maschmeyer is on the other side with their son, who is shooting lasers out of his eyes. It’s hilarious and wonderful.
She explained in a second video that the design on the top of her mask was modeled after the helmet of Canadian hockey legend Manon Rhéaume, the first woman to play in the NHL (back in 1992). “She pushed the boundaries,” Maschmeyer said. “I think she pushed women’s hockey in a really cool way.”
The PWHL is, however, set to begin its first expansion draft next month, which will see some players from the six current teams moved to the two expansion teams in Seattle and Vancouver. That means there is a chance that Maschmeyer could end up on another team next season and never get to wear the mask in competition. Let’s hope she finds a way to celebrate her family on her mask no matter whose logo ends up on it. Regardless, her Charge mask deserves recognition as (to the best of my knowledge) the first goalie mask in professional hockey to depict a queer family.
The Charge also put out a video for Women’s Empowerment Month in March, featuring both Jenner and Maschmeyer talking about motherhood and hockey. I love that they didn’t hesitate to feature two queer moms discussing motherhood in general. Our similarities outweigh our differences.
The Minnesota Frost, the Charge’s opponents in the Finals, do not have any queer parents on the team (yet?), but Captain Kendall Coyne Schofield (who is straight, as far as I’m aware) has not only worked with Billie Jean King and spouse Ilana Kloss to bring the league to life, but returned to play after her own pregnancy and has been a strong advocate for all mothers in the league. She deserves our kudos for that.
I must add, however: I am a die-hard Boston Fleet fan, and am crushed that the Fleet, led by Captain Hilary Knight (queer, though not a mom), narrowly missed the playoffs this year. And yes, the Fleet have queer mom cred, too: forward and U.S. Olympic gold medalist Amanda Pelkey and her spouse Venla Hovi, a two-time Olympic medalist with Finland and now a coach, had their first child last September, while forward and Canadian Olympic gold medalist Jamie Lee Rattray and spouse Whitney are expecting a child next month. But for the moment, I’m rooting for the Charge in the Finals, since their opponent, the Minnesota Frost, beat the Fleet in last year’s Walter Cup finals and knocked them out of playoff contention this year.
Still, at the end of the day, I am here for all the queer mom athletes. Jenner and Maschmeyer are among a growing number of them in professional sports, showing that it is possible to integrate and celebrate all of those identities while thriving as a family.
If you haven’t yet discovered the fast pace, enthusiastic crowds, and queer vibe of the PWHL (four of the six current team captains happen to be queer, along with many other players), I encourage you to tune into the best-of-five PWHL Finals this week, free on the PWHL’s YouTube channel.