This article is featured in Issue 1 of Crease Periodical.

This photo essay is about a group of powerful young women that, against all odds, have dedicated themselves to something completely outside conventional gender expectations, while still maintaining their femininity as much as they choose. 

Girls are six times more likely then boys to drop out of a sport as they approach puberty. When hockey players who had made it past the age of typical female dropout were asked why others had left the game, a number of possibilities were given, but there were some common themes: peer pressure from other girls (to be skinny instead of strong, or to be more feminine and focus on attracting boys); pressure from boyfriends to quit (because hockey takes up so much time (and it's not a viable career choice anyway); girls being more sensitive to criticism than boys who don't take upsets home with them after the rink (another way you could say this is that hockey coaching is tailored specifically to boys' and men's reactions to authority, discipline and criticism); but above all and something every locker room said was a factor—there was no financial future for women in hockey.

 Despite all this, the top 11 Olympic medal earning hockey players in Canada are female. and these women often have to balance working jobs, raising families and being on the ice everyday of the week. They might earn just 25k annually from hockey, while their male counterparts are buying mansions and driving porches.

The top-earning female hockey player takes home a salary of just $25,000 USD. Compare that to the top-earning male hockey player, 14 million, and you may just be looking at the largest pay gap in the world. Additionally, U.S. adolescent male hockey receives more than 3.5 million in government funding annually, while women remain without funding. This is despite the fact that women’s hockey has grown more then 1000% in the last 20 years.

Women’s hockey is a story of a fast fledging league of incredible athletes, who have achieved unimaginable progress. It is also a story of shocking disparity, chronic underfunding and heart-wrenching neglect.