Shannon Szabados took a demotion on Thursday.
The gold medal-winning goaltender of the Canadian women's national hockey team was seen Wednesday practicing with the Edmonton Oilers, according to the Los Angeles Times. But on Thursday, she signed with the Columbus Cottonmouths of the Southern Professional Hockey League.
The Canadian website Sportsnet reported that Szabados appeared on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and talked about her opportunity with the men's minor league hockey team.
"I haven't told anyone this yet but I got a call today from a team in the Southern Professional Hockey League to go play there for the rest of the season," Szabados told Jeff Sammut and George Rusic Thursday on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. "It's been an exciting time and again I'm just trying to enjoy it all."
According to Sportsnet, Szabados already became the first woman to play in the Western Hockey League and is following in the footsteps of fellow Canadian female players Manon Rhéaume, the first woman to play in a regular-season men's hockey game, and Hayley Wickenheiser, the first woman to score in a professional men's league.
The Edmonton Oilers called her on Wednesday because they had traded backup goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to the Minnesota Wild, and were still waiting for the arrival of Viktor Fasth, whom they acquired from the Anaheim Ducks.
That left the Oilers with only starter Ben Scrivens to participate in practice on Wednesday. To prevent Scrivens from wearing down during practice, the Oilers called Szabados to practice with the team for the day.
She got the call, thanks to a Twitter campaign calling for the Oilers to reach out to her, Bleacher Report stated.
"She's pretty good," Oilers right winger Jordan Eberle told Chris Purdy of the Canadian Press, as the Los Angeles Times reported. "Once you figure that out, you try and score and put in as many as you can.
"It's great that she could step in and help us out."
No woman has ever played in a regular-season NHL game.
"If I was the last resort, then maybe," Szabados said, according to the Times. "As a hockey player, you just want to play the highest level possible, and playing in Sochi, winning a gold medal, was fun. And taking part in an NHL practice was pretty cool."
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