Seattle Torrent forward Hannah Bilka can check off an accomplishment she hardly could have dreamed of as a kid: playing pro hockey in her hometown.
Pro women’s hockey appeared an impossible dream for all young girls a decade ago, but when your hometown is Dallas, Texas, that seemed like stretching imagination beyond its breaking point. Yet there Hannah was Sunday, on the ice at American Airlines Center. She and her Torrent teammates lost 4-3 to the New York Sirens in a PWHL “Takeover Tour” game.
(The Torrent’s next game will also be part of the “Takeover Tour.” Seattle faces the Toronto Scepters in Hamilton, Ontario on Saturday at 11 am Pacific time.)
Bilka and Sirens forward Allyson Simpson, who also hails from the Metroplex, dropped the ceremonial puck last Saturday before the Stars-Blackhawks NHL game.
Bilka was even further south in Texas with her family in Corpus Christi, when she first broached the subject of playing hockey. I asked her to recall that memory in an interview before the game.