Canberra woman ice hockey player trailblazes her way into legend status

August 17, 2019

CANBERRA.-- Australian ice hockey's first women's national team captain -- Canberra school teacher Stephanie ("Steph") Boxall -- will be formally inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame Australia (HHOFA) Saturday as the AIHL reigning champion Canberra Brave host Newcastle Northstars for their final regular season match.

Boxall, who first laced up the blades as a nine-year-old with the Woden Grizzlies, went on to revolutionise women's ice hockey in Australia at a time when administrators were grappling with multiple challenges: a sudden growth in ice rinks, a surge in juniors, a demand for equality between genders, and a fear of potential litigation should the intense body contact which is an essential element of the sport cause serious injury in mixed-gender competitions.

"How many of us have taken on a sport's ruling fathers at 14 and won," says HHOFA chairman Ross Carpenter, "and how many of us are revered, let alone for trail-blazing a path through barriers reserved only for girls? 

"How many have captained Australia at anything, let alone a game played in an all-male citadel? Who among us has scored six goals in one game? A hat-trick of goals against Great Britain?"

The answers to all those questions are of course Stephanie Boxall, who was born in Canberra in 1973, and was the only girl to represent the ACT in the inaugural President's Cup (U13) in 1983, and again in '84 and '85. 

"Only a handful of girls played state ice hockey back then, and the national association decided the game was too dangerous for us," Steph recalls. "But it wasn't me who was scared."

With her coach's support, she took on the sport's ruling fathers and won, opening the way for her, as well as two girls from Western Australia and Victoria to participate in national championships with the boys, and she has never looked back.

Her induction ceremony at the Brave Cave before the reigning national champions, presided over by ACT Ice Sports Federation (ACTISF) president Tony Prescott, will formalise her name and deeds in the Legends of Australian Ice roll call of champions. The ACTISF is currently working with the ACT government in support of an expression of interest process for a new twin-sheet ice sports centre in the national capital.

At age 25, Steph first captained the Australian national women's ice hockey team as it entered IIHF world championship play for the first time, and aside from the national team's tour of New Zealand in 1998, Steph also captained Australia at two world championship qualifiers in Hungary & Slovenia, and the nation's first two women's world championships in Slovenia and Italy. At the 2003 world championships, she led Australia to the top of the standings and its first women's IIHF gold medal. She scored an average three points a game, and set team records for goals, assists and points (her points record went unbroken for 13 years).

A first child was born, then in 2007, Steph returned to the game as assistant captain of the national team at the world championships in Sheffield, England where Australia won gold. At 37, she won another national women's ice hockey league championship playing with the Melbourne Ice, and in 2011 she was once again assistant captain of the national team at home in Newcastle. Steph is a multi-sport champion, having represented Australia at the World Triathlon Championships in Laussane, played cricket for the Weston Creek Cricket Club, and played Australian Rules football, including winning back-to-back premierships. She boundary umpired in the inaugural Women's Australian Football League in 2017, and still plays competitive ice hockey for the Canberra Senators. In 26 international games of ice hockey for Australia, Steph scored 22 goals and 14 assists for an average 1.4 points a game. It is said Steph is "the best Australian women's ice hockey athlete of her time" while others argue "she is the best female ice hockey player Australia has ever had".  There is no argument Steph Boxall is a trailblazer of the women's game in Australia, a model player who could out-score a boy and win against men. She is a home-grown symbol for young women who felt marginalised in male-dominated, male-controlled sports that were prejudiced against them. 

Of interest is to note there are 280 players in Canada's Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, of whom only six are women. In 2019, Steph Boxall becomes Australia's first in our very own Hockey Hall of Fame Australia.

Note for media: Steph will be in attendance at the #CBR Brave AIHL game 5:30pm on Saturday (17 August) at Phillip Ice Rink, Canberra. Further information, interviews and requests to Steph Boxall or Tony Prescott on  0421 463 711.