Shannon Szabados released by Peoria two games into season

Goalie Shannon Szabados made history in the Southern Professional Hockey League two years ago when she broke the gender barrier, becoming the first woman to ever play in the minor hockey league.

The two-time Team Canada gold medalist spent two seasons with the Columbus Cottonmouths, who decided to let her test free agency last summer. On Sept. 20, she signed a team with the Peoria Rivermen, who won the SPHL’s regular-season points title two years running. “We want her here and it’s exciting to get her. The way we play defense in Peoria, and the types of players we have, I think she’s going to look a lot better with our team in front of her. I’m anxious to get her into camp and see how it goes,” said coach Jean-Guy Trudel.

Just over a month later, Trudel released her.

Opening their season with a pair of blowout losses by a combined score of 11-2 – and with Szabados posting a 6.10 goals-against and .792 save percentage – Trudel announced that goalies Storm Phaneuf and Szabados had been released. “We had no preseason games, so essentially those acted as that test and we found out some things just weren’t going to be the way we needed,” said Trudel. “I thought our goaltending wasn’t good enough to compete, took the morale out of our team a bit and changes had to be made.”

An interesting twist on this story is that defenseman Carl Nielsen was placed on “indefinite suspension” by the team. He was retired before last season, but ended up returning to play 58 games for ECHL Orlando. He joined Peoria on a PTO, and made the team. But according to Dave Eminian of PJStar.com, he quit the team after learning that Szabados was cut.

“He wants to play wherever Shannon plays. So both are gone,” said Trudel.

While this turn of events is a shocker and could impact Szabados’s pro career, her schedule is now clear to rejoin Team Canada for the Four Nations Cup in November and a series against the U.S. women in December, with a push for the 2018 Team Canada Olympic job and the chance to win a third gold medal.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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