Sarah Nurse greets fans before a Toronto-Montreal game in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, a new forum where the Olympic gold medalist and other athletes are able to build a community of fans.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
When she was a little girl playing on a boys’ competitive hockey team, Sarah Nurse asked her coach if she could wear dresses to games.
He said no. Her teammates would be wearing shirts and ties, and the coach expected her to as well. Ms. Nurse responded by arriving to the rink in a pink dress shirt with a Toronto Maple Leafs tie.
The Canadian hockey star, who is biracial-Black, has been breaking the mould for most of her life. Ms. Nurse, now 29, smiled while recounting that anecdote for a video shoot this past November in a Toronto studio, where she looked as camera-ready as the models in the headshots on the walls.
The Olympic gold medalist traversed wardrobe changes and different looks, from designer jeans to a shimmery black business suit, street sneakers to heels, peach lip gloss to bombshell red lipstick, posing as comfortably with a Fendi handbag as with a hockey stick.
“I want to transcend sport and be seen in different spaces,” Ms. Nurse said. “And show people you can be unique, and that’s okay.”
Ms. Nurse has built a reputation for bold fashion off the ice, like this green pregame outfit at a March 17 match in Pittsburgh.Justin Berl/Getty Images
In a sport that shields faces, Ms. Nurse has burst out from under the helmet. The Hamilton native is a powerhouse on the ice and is becoming a massive name off it, helping widen the spotlight for women’s hockey. That November shoot was for her own personal website she launched later in the inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, which kicked off Jan. 1.
The PWHL is off to a promising start since its launch five months ago. Successes include 2.9 million Canadians tuning in for the debut game on CBC, Sportsnet and TSN; a pair of sellout games at big NHL rinks in Toronto and Montreal, and fans buying up all the available PWHL merchandise.
As the PWHL ramps up to its first playoffs, Ms. Nurse isn’t the league’s only star, but she’s arguably becoming its most recognizable face. She is also a tireless advocate for the sport, with multiple irons in the fire. She is vice-president of the PWHL players’ association, but also plays for Canada’s national team, which won a seven-game rivalry series with…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at "ice hockey" – Google News…