Why Keeping Records Matters

I spent more time than I probably should have in searching for information that shouldn't be this hard to find. As we know, Manitoba Bisons goalie Emily Shippam was credited with a goal last night in the Bisons' quarterfinal game against the Alberta Pandas in Edmonton, and I had put my stake in the ground that she may have been the first U SPORTS women's hockey netminder to have that honour. Both U SPORTS and Canada West have zero history of goalie goals posted anywhere, so I took a leap of faith that Shippam's goal made her the first woman to do so. I am here today to say that she was not first, but she's now part of a very small group of goalies.

That brings me to the goalie pictured above. Seen in the image is former Toronto Varsity Blues netminder Nicole Kesteris who suited up for the Varsity Blues from 2010-2015 in the OUA. Kesteris was recruited by former Varsity Blues head coach Karen Hughes to join the team where she showed she was ready for the university game by being named to both the OUA and CIS all-rookie teams in 2010-11 after going 8-8-0 with a 2.13 GAA and a .933 save percentage.

Kesteris would add a number of accolades to her résumé in her university career including graduating with a major in human geography and a double minor in sociology and environmental geography, but we're going to focus on a game on October 20, 2012 when the Varsity Blues were hosting the the Windsor Lancers. It was in this game where Nicole Kesteris made U SPORTS history.

According to the recap from that game, "with the score 3-3 in the second, Windsor pulled their goalie on a delayed penalty call, setting the stage for Kesteris’ goal. The Blues goaltender was credited with the goal after she made a pad save on a Windsor forward in the slot. The Windsor player then fired a pass back to the point, where it missed its’ intended target and travelled the length of the ice into the Lancers net." Apostrophe catastophe aside in that final sentence, Kesteris would score Toronto's first-ever goalie goal and, from what I've read, U SPORTS' first women's hockey goal by a goaltender.

As you can see, Kesteris was credited with an unassisted goal to make it 4-3 at 14:33 of the second period with Brittany Kirby being the Varsity Blues player who had committed a tripping penalty.

According to Kesteris' biography on the Varsity Blues website, that first Toronto goal was upgraded to "became the first female goalie in the CIS to be credited with a goal versus Windsor on Oct. 20". Again, I take no issue with this claim being made because there is simply no record of any other goaltender having scored a goal, but that's more of a function of U SPORTS and its conferences not having records online for people to read and reference. Which is all sorts of wrong.

This only makes things worse for everyone in hockey because, during my wee-hours-of-the-morning research, I stumbled across the player biography for Shanley Peters who suited up for the University of Wisconsin-Superior in the NCAA. The Manitoba-born, former Pembina Valley Hawks netminder played from 2010-14 with the Yellow Jackets, and her biography reads, "Made history on November 15 when she was credited with a goal in a 2-2 tie with UW-Eau Claire, making her the first goaltender in women's hockey history to score a goal".

Except she wasn't the first as I showed above. Nicole Kesteris scored on October 20, 2012 while Peters scored her goal on November 15, 2013, nearly 13 months after Kesteris had achieved the feat. Was she the first Yellow Jacket netminder to be credited with a goal? I'm sure she was and I won't debate that. Was she the "first goaltender in women's hockey history" to score? Absolutely not by all measures.

If we want to make things even more murky in the women's hockey goalie goals category, the goal by Peters erases the history made by Manitoba-born, former Pembina Valley Hawks goalie Corinne Schroeder as well. Schroeder was credited with a goal on September 25, 2021 with the Quinnipiac Bobcats as she scored against the Maine Black Bears. At the time, I had written that Schroeder was "the first female goalie in NCAA history to be credited with a goal of any kind" which we now know is not accurate thanks to Shanley Peters.

NCAA goals aside, this is why keeping accurate records in women's hockey is important. In just this article, I've debunked several statements and claims made by teams and organizations because the information is not accurate in any way nor is it easily accessible. The point is that no one should have to spend time hunting down simple stats like I did last night-slash-this morning. And the fact that me doing this work has now affected other records in other leagues is why accurate and accessible record-keeping is vitally important.

Because none of U SPORTS or its respective conferences make this information available, I guess I'll have to step in to fill the void despite me not being on those organizations' payrolls and despite me not having any association with those organizations or their respective teams. Here is the list of goalies who have been credited with goals in U SPORTS women's hockey that I have found:

• Nicole Kesteris (TOR) vs. Windsor Lancers - October 20, 2012
• Emily Shippam (MAN) at Alberta Pandas - February 20, 2026

If you know of other U SPORTS women's hockey goalies who have accomplished the feat, please let me know either by emailing me or posting in the comments, but you must provide a date and evidence that it happened. As much fun as it may sound, I don't really want to spend hours at night hunting down information that U SPORTS and the four conferences should already be making available to everyone.

Congratulations to all of Nicole Kesteris, Emily Shippam, Shanley Peters, and Corinne Schroeder for being part of a very exclusive club! Based on the four goalies who were mentioned in this article, it seems that Manitoba has a firm grasp on the unviersity-level women's hockey goalie goals, but membership is always open to anyone goalie who can accomplish the feat! Goalie goals are awesome!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!