Books on Women’s Hockey

This is not the first list of books on women’s hockey. Indeed, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) published this list back in 2019. But since then, women’s hockey continues to rise, most recently with the overtime victory of Team USA over Team Canada in the 2026. Each of these books tells both a fantastic story of perseverance, but also one of shame, where women had to fight their way to equal treatment in the world of sports.

Ice in Their Veins: Women’s Relentless Pursuit of the Puck by Ian Kennedy

Best Quote: “But I’ll tell you what sport did for her. It gave her the chance to hear the shouts and cheers of the thousands; it enabled her to see her name in headlines across the very pages prepared by those who scoffed; it gave her ‘a place in the sun’ that most humans cherish and few attain.”

This book gives a detailed history of women’s hockey that goes back well over 100 years. Like other sports, women’s hockey rose and fell during the First and Second World Wars, as male hockey players deployed to Europe. More than a simple history of the game, the book further details the continued struggle for equality in women’s sports. Indeed, the success of the Women’s Team USA is due to Title IX, just as it is for soccer and other sports where women compete on the international stage. Perhaps most surprising in this book (or in a way least surprising), is how the Canadian hockey community strongly resisted opening their arms to girls and women’s hockey.

The detailed history of women in hockey goes back well over a century, and includes the Eastern Ladies Hockey League (ELHL), founded in Montreal in 1915, and of course the rise of women’s leagues in both World Wars. But much like women’s baseball in America, the end of WWII saw the end of not just professional women’s hockey for a long time, but the end of women’s sports journalism. Over the last number of decades, women’s hockey has seen the rise of new leagues and teams, culminating in today’s ever expanding PWHL.

Crashing the Net: The U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team and the Road to Gold by Mary Turco

Best Quote: "They were a family forged by shared exclusion. Every player in that locker room knew exactly what it felt like to be the only girl at the rink, and that collective memory bound them tighter than any tactical system ever could."

Summary: The author of this books spent months embedded with the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team through training camps to the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics and the team’s gold medal run. The general theme of this book is Tuco’s portrait of the players, and how each of them overcame adversity since their youth to achieve their dreams. Some of this adversity includes a general hostility towards girls and women playing hockey (a few had to sign up for youth leagues using a boys name), or endless searches for properly fitting equipment, with the dearth of women’s hockey gear.

The author also explores the team’s dynamics, including some divides such as the older players and the younger players, and the drama that comes with a coach the team having to select a team, meaning players that made the team had to see their close friends and former teammates get cut. A reminder that in the end, even team sports are individual sports in some manner or another.

A Miracle of Their Own: A Team, A Stunning Gold Medal and Newfound Dreams for American Girls by Keith Gave

Best Quote: “Leadership isn't about being the loudest voice in the room; it's about making sure everyone around you believes that victory is not just possible, but inevitable.”

Summary: This book chronicles the 1998 U.S. Women’s Hockey Team’s journey to their Olympic Gold Medal in Nagano, Japan. The book examines the rise of the U.S. team, and how the players overcame obstacles to not only their own athletic careers, but to hostility to women’s hockey in general. Gave provides backgrounds to each member of the team to build a broader narrative of the team’s intrapersonal dynamics and internal chemistry. Indeed, the book contains powerful personal profiles, and of Cammi Granato in particular, that can serve as an inspiration to its readers. Gave also covers the intense rivalry between Team USA and Team Canada, and how the U.S. team continually fought to bring themselves to higher and higher levels of performance.

Break Away: The PWHL and the Women Who Changed the Game by Karissa Donkin

Best Quote: “"Professional sports don't run on good intentions; they run on capital, infrastructure, and television deals. The breakthrough wasn't just getting people to care about women's hockey—it was getting investors to treat it like a serious business asset."

Summary: This is story of the efforts of woman hockey players to create their own professional hockey league. The author walks the reader through the PWHL’s founding, the first draft, and the formation of teams before the first season began. More than the simple history however, the author covers the broader modern era of sports activism, including the moment when more than 200 woman acted collectively to sit out of their existing leagues. In many ways the the story of the success of the PWHL is the story of a successful labor movement.

As Fast As Her: Dream Big, Break Barriers, Achieve Success by Kendall Coyne

Best Quote: "People love to tell you what you can’t do based on what they can see. They saw my height, but they couldn't see my motor, my work ethic, or my speed. Never let someone else’s tape measure define your potential."

Summary: The fastest woman to ever lace up a pair of hockey skates uses her performance in the 2019 NHL All-Star Skills Competition as a backdrop to tell her life story. The book is motivational, and Coyne uses her stature (5’2”) as a way to document her ability to overcome adversity. She was able to use what is perceived as a weakness as a strength, leading to a hockey career where she dominated the college ranks, and earned an Olympic Gold Medal at PyeongChang in 2018. The structure of the book lends itself more towards young readers looking for inspiration from a generational athlete, with the ultimate lesson that one must capitalize on the opportunities one is given.

Dare to Make History: Chasing a Dream and Fighting for Equity by Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando

Best Quote: "If we defined success by gold medals and winning hockey games, what a shortsighted view of what this journey can all be about."

Summary: This book is a dual biography / dual memoir of the legendary twin sisters who played to Team USA for well over a decade. The authors begin the book in their childhoods, playing pond hockey and walk the reader through their time playing in the 1998 PyeongChang Winter Olympics where the team defeated Team Canada to earn a gold medal. More than a focus on hockey, the book looks at the obstacles the women’s team overcame, and the turbulent time in 2017 where the team threatened to boycott USA Hockey. Indeed, just prior to the World Championships, the women’s team drew a hard line, demanding livable wages, better marketing, and more funding for girls youth hockey development. The book is a reminder that the greatest success doesn’t occur on the ice, but rather thorough standing up for one’s principles and values.

On the Edge: Women Making Hockey History by Elizabeth Etue and Megan K. Williams

Best Quote: “When she was seven, after several years of playing street hockey and shinny on outdoor rinks with neighborhood kids, [Angela] James joined a boys' hockey team. Before long she had won the high-scorer award, much to the annoyance of some teammates and a few parents. 'The boys weren't too excited about that. They loved it when we won the games, but not when they didn't win the awards.’”

Summary: This book looks at the state of women’s hockey in the mid-1990s. Published in 1996, two years before women’s hockey became an official event in the 1998 Winter Olympics, the book examines the history of women’s hockey throughout the 20th Century. It’s a troubled history, one where the women’s game virtually disappeared by the 1940s, but then experienced a rebirth in the 1970s, a rapid ascent following the ban of body-checking in the 1980s, and the first official World Championship in 1990. The authors chronicle the troubled past and the barriers women faced such as inadequate funding, resources, and poor ice-times. By 2026, the book can feel a little outdated, but it also serves as a reminder the uncertainty on the future of the sport at the time, and of how far women’s hockey has advanced over the past 30 years.

Over the Boards: Lessons from the Ice by Hayley Wickenheiser

Best Quote: “Pressure is a privilege.”

Summary: Haylay Wickenheiser, arguably one of the greatest players to lace up a pair of skates, takes the lessons she learned as a four-time Olympic Gold Medalist and hockey hall of famer to impart leadership and life lessons to the reader. More than lessons learned from her hockey career, Wickenheiser leverages her gained wisdom as a medical doctor, and combines the two to describe how to succeed under pressure. Hayley’s writing is authentic, and she breaks down her wisdom using the structure of a hockey rink, using the defensive zone as a way to describe building foundations (discipline, routines), the neutral zone to present a way to become comfortable with being uncomfortable, and dealing with uncertainty, and the offensive zone to describe ways to take advantages of opportunity, challenge the status quo, and to leave behind a legacy. More than a book on how to win, Hayley stresses the importance of overcoming failure, and the importance of failure for the growth of an athlete. A terrific book for athletes, coaches, and anyone looking to learn some lessons on building mental toughness.

MANON RHÉAUME BIOGRAPHY: From Making History as the First Woman in the NHL to Paving the Way for Future Generations in Sports by William Charles Joshua

Summary: A concise biography of Manon Rheaume, detailing her life and the legacy she brought to women’s sports. The book describes her life growing up, playing on outdoor rinks through her short time with the Tampa Bay Lightning, to her time with the 1998 Canadian Women’s Hockey Team that earned a Silver Medal in the Nagano Olympics. The book is a broad overview, and not a detailed or intimate biography.

Breaking the Ice: The True Story of the First Woman to Play in the National Hockey League by Angie Bullaro

Summary: This picture book biography is the story of Manon Rheaume’s life, from her youth in Lac-Beauport, Quebec to her moment when she became the first woman to play in an NHL pre-season game with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The book, like many others on female athletes is at its core about overcoming adversity. Indeed, Manon’s grew up in a time when hockey at all levels was not only dominated by the men’s game, but was hostile to girls and women playing the sport. The book is aimed at young readers, generally at the elementary school level, and is a great book to give young children to motivate them to work to achieve their dreams.