Stolen Game: How discriminatory rules ran one 9-year-old girl out of the game

Michele Emerson was only nine years old. She had driven over twelve hours through the snow with her team, the Waukegan Shields, from Illinois to Sarnia, Ontario to play in the 1978 International Silver Stick tournament. When she arrived, the only goaltender for her team, Emerson was told she couldn't play.

The girl was referred to as "the girl" in initial news reports. The Ontario Minor Hockey Association, which is in charge of the Silver Stick, banned Emerson from competing. According to OMHA executive John Slobodnik, "the OMHA provides hockey for boys only." Tournament director Hugh Sutherland told the Canadian Press that, "to the OMHA, she is an illegal player..."

The team entered the Atom B division and attempted to move their opening game across the St. Clair River into Port Huron, Michigan.

We asked if we could move the game to the United States," said Waukegan manager Ron Williams. "We thought since all the Little League cases had already set a precedent, but they told us that the OMHA rules would still apply in Port Huron.

The team attempted to relocate cities, they attempted to relocate countries, but they couldn't move mountains. As Port Huron's The Times Herald stated, there was only one reason Michele Emerson was being kept off the ice, "because she's a girl."

The referees were told not to drop the puck if Emerson was on the ice, so she went through warm-up and then went to the dressing room to watch her team play the first game of the tournament without her. The Waukegan Shields, who are 9-year-olds, lost 6-4 to Coniston, Ontario, playing with six skaters and no goalie.

"When I first heard I couldn't play, I was really upset, but then when I saw the game, I just got really angry. We all worked hard and wanted to win," the 9-year-old Emerson told The Times Herald.

“Honestly, I'm not trying to be a hero or anything, but this situation is pretty absurd,” said Williams. “She's one of our top performers. The only thing that sets her apart from the other players is that she washes her hair after the game.”

It was Emerson's third year with the Waukegan team.

“My daughter's hard work is being unfairly penalized,” David Emerson said. “She's practiced six days a week and traveled 11 hours to get here. The fact that her goalie can't participate because she's a girl is unbelievable. I'm seriously considering taking legal action if my daughter is not allowed to play. As a member of the Amateur Hockey Association of the U.S., which governs Silver Stick competitions in the country, she's entitled to participate. They were aware of her participation and the rules permit it. I'm extremely disappointed in this situation.”

The story made headlines across North America, with the Chicago Sun-Times reporting that Emerson learned upon arriving in Canada, "all her hockey trophies, hours of practice and youthful skill don't count, because she's a girl."

I just don't understand," Emerson said to the Sun Times. "Why can't I play because I'm a girl? I've won many trophies playing hockey, you know. I don't see why a girl can't have the same opportunities.

The city council in Sarnia agreed with Emerson, passing a motion just a few days later, calling the rule "discriminatory and outdated," and stating in the Canadian Press that it should be updated.

The Waukegan Shields returned home, unable to showcase their skills against top competition in their age group during the trip to Illinois, but upon their return to the United States, they faced further discriminatory treatment from Canada, specifically directed at Michele Emerson.

Playing in another game, this time in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Shields were set to face an opponent from Kitchener, Ontario. Meanwhile, in Ontario, a rule was being debated that would take a decade to settle in court and spark heated disputes, prompting Canadian teams to take the issue outside their jurisdiction.

"We've told our team just to skate off the ice and wait for the next game," Kitchener coach Pat Doherty said about what to tell the 9-year-old team if Emerson was on the ice. But by then, Emerson was already prepared.

I've been preparing for this for a long time, and I'm going to be ready to face them," Emerson said to the Associated Press. "If they decide to walk out, that's their problem.

Not all the boys' teams acted like the Canadian teams, though - like the Chicago Saints, who played the Waukegan Shields, showed kindness by bringing flowers onto the ice for Emerson, and the players all wished her good luck to let her know she belonged.

The games were part of a "friendship" series between American and Canadian teams, but as the Wisconsin Times-Herald-Reporter reported in their headline, "Friendship" is unfriendly. No game took place between Waukegan and Kitchener, and instead Waukegan practiced, got dressed, and left the rink. The continued discrimination by Canadian teams against Emerson was causing her love for the game to fade away.

I don't think it's fair," Emerson said. "I understand that I can't play up there because of their rules, but why should they get to stop me from playing here?

“She doesn't want this to happen every year," she said to the Associated Press. "It's just not worth it to her."

It seems her words were proven to be true, as following that season, there was no further mention of Emerson in the newspapers. Ontario's rules offered no protection, instead they deprived a young girl of the game.