Women’s hockey has grown—as the game itself has grown.

The National Women’s Hockey League is finally getting the hard fought attention they deserve and the spotlight has finally shifted over. 

The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association have brought representation to women of all ages, playing the game of hockey.

Former Olympic gold medalist, and the captain of the first women’s U.S. gold medal team in Olympic history, Cammi Granato has made significant strides for women at the NHL level.

At the beginning of the season, Granato was a scout for the Seattle Kraken, where her role in the draft was “to get as many players for our (Seattle’s) database,” Granato said.

“We wrote scouting reports that go into a database where our management team can read them… During the first year, that was my job, just to fill in my team I was covering, and then obviously meeting with Ron [Francis].”

To Granato, every day she was in Seattle, was just another day at the office.

“Getting a job as a pro scout, I didn’t even realize when I took the job that it was going to be big news, and I felt like it was such a natural fit but I didn’t really realize the media would get behind the fact that there was a woman doing professional scouting,” Granato said. 

“The first time we were in Seattle, I went to an event and there was a little girl at the end who asked how she becomes a pro scout, and at that moment, that’s when it hit me. Like ‘Wow. What we are doing is influencing the younger generations to understand there’s opportunity.'”

On Feb. 10, Granato was named Assistant General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks, sharing the title with Émilie Castonguay, the first female AGM in franchise history.

“I never thought I would be in this position… I just commend Jim [Rutherford] for having the foresight to open up his scope of who he interviews, and to hire the people he thinks are most qualified, and I don’t believe that Jim was doing it to make sure he filled a quota. He was doing it to give opportunity to other people with different backgrounds, and he opened the scope up for women to be here and I think to have two of us—it’s really great,” Granato said.

Before the end of the interview, Northeast Valley News asked Granato what she would say to the younger girls— in all aspects of the game, whether scout, player or front office.

“Listen to the things that you really love, listen to yourself and think of what do you love, and do that. No matter how unconventional it is, no matter what you think your skill level is in that, if you feel a passion and love towards something, you should definitely just go for it, and get involved,” Granato said.

“I think it’s that belief in yourself, and that you’re enough and that you don’t have to be the best to start something. For me it’s about dreaming big, and dreaming big doesn’t mean you have to win gold medals and it doesn’t mean you have to make it to the pros. Dreaming big is just finding your happy place.”