Taya Currie drafted OHL Sarnia Sting
(Photo Credit: @CTVNews/ Twitter)

There’s been a groundbreaking development in the OHL.

Goaltender Taya Currie of the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs made history Saturday as the first ever female selected in the OHL Draft. She was drafted in the 14th round at 267th overall by the Sarnia Sting.

Currie is 5’7″ and 140 pounds. The 16-year-old is one of Alliance Hockey’s top goaltenders, tending the net for the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs triple-A boys’ under-16 team. She didn’t get to play in the 2020-21 season due to the pandemic.

Only one female has ever played in the NHL. Manon Rheaume played goalie in exhibition games for the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992 and 1993. She also played one game in the QMJHL during the 1991-92 season.

Rheaume congratulated Currie with a tweet Saturday. “Congrats Taya!”, she tweeted.

The Sting finished with the worst record in the Western Conference and dealt with some goaltending issues. They allowed 299 goals against in 62 games, which was the most out of any team in the conference. The hope is Currie can solve some of those issues.

Currie spent nine years playing Triple-A hockey. Her long-term goal is playing for the Canadian Olympic team.

The Sting are one of the better junior teams at producing NHL talent. Trevor Letowski, Matt Martin, Steven Stamkos, Alex Galchenyuk, Travis Konecny and Jordan Kyrou are among the players that have gone through Sarnia before playing in the show.

More to come.