Boxall (Wheaton), Stephanie

THE YOUNG WOMAN looking back from the Woman's Day magazine did not look to be a fighter...the pink watch band, the matching pink table-tennis-bat earrings, the unseen Wham! posters. But, if she ever owned a Barbie, it probably held a cricket bat or a hockey stick, and this was probably a bad omen for Ken. The table on which she rests her elbows is littered with championship pennants, and a wild array of junior trophies each capped with shiny boys. The smile above the clasped hands on which she rests her chin seems older than her 14 years. The tilt of the eyelids, the laconic body language, welcome the unwary in. "So, you think I play like a girl?"

Born in Canberra, Stephanie Wheaton, known just as Steph, entered the world on January 31st 1973, a winger at 9 or 10 for the Woden Grizzlies under-13s, with brother Simon at the Central Cougars. There was no ice rink in Canberra until 1980, but her arrival in the sport coincided with the first significant moment in women's hockey worldwide—the formation of the Canada Nationals in 1982.

The only girl to represent the Australian Capital Territory in the inaugural President's Cup (U13) in 1983, Steph repeated the feat in '84 and '85, then at 12 joined Canberra's Mumma Bears women's team where she trained against boys up to 16 years-old. Defeating New South Wales at Phillip in Australia's first organised year of women's ice hockey, the Canberra girl continued to represent the ACT in the Defris Under-15 tournaments, popping in goals in a scoring race with the top boys, while blasting a path through barriers reserved only for girls.

A handful of females played state ice hockey back then, and the national association, concerned they could be sued if hurt, decided the game was too dangerous for them. In a memorable comeback, Steph pointedly told Martin Bailleul of Woman's Day magazine "It wasn't me who was scared". She and coach Lance Thewlis took on the sport's ruling fathers and won, opening the way for two girls from Western Australia and Victoria to make the championships. She was third in the Canberra Colts points tally that year with more than 30 goals, and just one loss, with the season still to finish.

At the inaugural National Women's Championship in 1995, the McKowen Trophy, Steph was Tournament MVP and Top Point Scorer with a spot on the First All-Star Line. She did it all again the next year and, the year after that, she was Best Forward.

Women's hockey became an official World Championship in Ottawa in 1990, then an official Olympic sport in Nagano in 1998, the year Steph turned 25. She was a founding member of Australia's first National Women's Team that year, in the exhibition match in Sydney coached by Heather Linstad from the North Eastern University, Massachusetts, USA. Next year she joined Coach Berg from the University of Calgary at a selection camp for Australia's first campaign to qualify for the Worlds. She made the cut alright, becoming the first women's Captain of Australia in ice hockey for its first qualifying event in 2000.

Aside from the National Team's tour of New Zealand in the Olympic year, Steph captained Australia at two Worlds qualifiers in Hungary and Slovenia, and the nation's first two Women's Worlds in Slovenia and Italy. At the 2003 Division III Worlds, she led Australia to the top of the standings and its first Women's IIHF gold medal. She scored an average 3 points a game, and set team records for goals, assists and points, her Points record unbroken for 13 years until Alivia DelBasso scored 19 in 2016. In 2004, Steph scored a hat-trick of goals against Great Britain at the Worlds in Italy, and won the Joan McKowen Trophy women's national.

A first child was born, then in 2007 Steph returned to the game as Alternate Captain of the National Team at the Division II World's in Sheffield England where Australia won gold. At 37, she won another McKowen with the Melbourne Ice in the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League, and in 2011 she was once again Alternate Captain of the National Team at home in Newcastle.

Steph represented Australia at the World Triathlon Championships in Laussane, played cricket for the Weston Creek Cricket Club, and played Australian Rules football, winning back-to-back Premierships. She boundary umpired in the inaugural Women's Australian Football League League in 2017, and still plays Masters Hockey for the Canberra Senators. In twenty-six international games of ice hockey for Australia, Steph scored 22 goals 14 assists for an average 1.4 points a game.

You might have heard it said that Steph Boxhall is "The best Australian women's ice hockey athlete of her time". Elle Jones goes one step further: "she is the best female ice hockey player Australia has ever had". Wendy Ovenden, Australia's first women's international ice hockey player, agrees. Steph was the best she ever played against, or within Australia. "Best hands and rarely missed the net. I remember one game against her, she shot and missed the net. My defence partner and I looked at each other in shock that she missed. Meanwhile, Steph gets the rebound off the boards and scores! We lost that game 5-0! Yep Steph got all 5 goals". Canberra versus Macquarie at Newcastle, circa 1999. That's only happened once or twice in the AIHL.

A trailblazer of the women's game in Australia, Steph was a model player who could out-score a boy and win against men. A home-grown symbol for dozens of young women who felt marginalised in male-dominated, male-controlled sports that were prejudiced against them. According to worldwide research, much still needs to change in the boardrooms, on the ice, and in the broadcast boxes of women's sport, but it has slowly improved since the pioneers.

The road to the top in women's ice hockey in the Eighties was no walk in the park, more like those impossibly difficult obstacle courses at Boot Camp. Yet, there was little complaining from the young pioneers, just fight and character. Steven Lee says: "Steph more than held her own in the 35s league at oldtimer tournaments, a league that has a mix of former and current AIHL players and Australian reps". Coach Berg, whose fear of Australian spiders and insects Steph still likes to test, describes her former Captain as "A leader, role model and a legend. You are still rocking it".

Of the 280 players in the Hockey Hall of Fame Toronto, only 6 are women. In 2019, Steph Boxall became Australia's first.