Hensley Feeling A Mile High About Opportunity To Play In Denver

There's only one player from the State of Colorado in the PWHL, and that player is Minnesota Frost netminder Nicole Hensley. It's why the opportunity for the Frost to play at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado is a mile high opportunity for Hensley.

"I attended a lot of Avs games growing up in Ball Arena," said Hensley of her experience.

"It's going to be really special, I'm not going to lie, I've been looking forward to it for a while when I heard that might be our game," Hensley continued. "I have a lot of friends and family coming, so just looking forward to them getting to see me play in my hometown."

When Hensley started playing hockey there was only one girls hockey organization in Colorado, and her parents had yet to hear of it, so she started playing boys' hockey. Later she'd move into the Junior Women's Hockey League as a member of the Colorado Select 19-U team.

This summer Hensley took the Walter Cup back to Colorado this summer, and the word of potential expansion for the PWHL had reached the city and state prompting excitement among women's hockey enthusiasts.

"That was after the news of expansion so all of them kept asking if Colorado was an option,"Hensley recalled. "It's definitely grown a lot since I was a kid and continues to grow...it's an exciting time for girls hockey in Colorado."

Nicole Hensley's status for the game is currently in question after the netminder left warm ups prior to a January 4 loss to New York with an injury. Neither the team nor league has provided an update on her status.

The game between the Montreal Victoire and Minnesota Frost at Ball Arena in Denver takes place January 12 at 1pm MST.