Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Four years after making history as the first female player selected in the Ontario Hockey League draft, Taya Currie is coming to MacEwan.
The Parkhill, Ont. goaltender has signed with the Griffins women's hockey team for 2025-26, transferring from Providence College in the NCAA where she spent the past two seasons.
In an interview with Ron MacLean after she was picked in the 14th round, 267th overall by the Sarnia Sting in the 2021 OHL Draft, Currie mentioned she'd received a text from fellow female goalie trailblazer Shannon Szabados.
Now, she will play for the same university as Szabados did – (the former Team Canada goaltender suited up for the Griffins men's hockey team for three seasons – from 2007-09 and in 2010-11).
Currie comes to MacEwan with a sterling resume that includes playing U16AAA boys hockey with the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs – where she was a teammate of Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick Easton Cowan – and two seasons in the OWHL U22 league before attending Providence from 2023-25.
"Despite limited playing time the past two years, partly due to injury, Taya's mindset and resilience really impressed me as she demonstrated an unwavering commitment to her craft through her competitiveness and love for the game to get back to playing with confidence," said Griffins head coach Chris Leeming.
"We were looking for a goalie who would best fit into the culture of our team and goalie group – someone who will compete to earn playing time and help push our current goalies – and that's what I believe Taya brings. She has the ability to be an elite starting goalie in Canada West as she possesses poise, athleticism and a highly competitive nature on and off the ice – which is exactly what we want."
With program career minutes and saves leader Brianna Sank graduated, Currie will come in and compete for immediate playing time with fourth-year Lindsey Johnson and second-year Mikayla Christmann.
"She's not expecting to just come in and be the starting goalie, she wants to earn her opportunities," said Leeming. "That's part of the mindset that really impressed me about her.
"The two returning goalies that we have, she's going to come into that and they're all willing to work together to make each other better. I think it's going to be a really good situation to have, and maybe create a couple difficult decisions for me, but that's never a bad thing."
Currie and her mom came to MacEwan on a recruiting visit and the fit for both the player and the team was perfect, said Leeming.
"I know she toured a couple other schools and ultimately decided on us," he said. "We checked as many boxes as we could for each other, and I think that was the deciding factor. The opportunity is here to come in and play and get a little bit of a fresh start in a different league, and she was interested in coming out west as well.
"It's exciting to have Taya come in and we're really looking forward to see what she can do as a Griffin."
