The Women’s Hockey Association of Minnesota appears to be for women in name only.
The league, which touts itself as the largest women’s hockey league in the world, follows USA Hockey guidelines, which allow for the participation of men.
‘Pretending it’s OK for men to play in a women’s league insults women’s sports.’
USA Hockey allows athletes to “participate on a team that is consistent with their gender identity” in order to allegedly “help maintain a fair and safe environment.”
The policy, issued in 2021, adds that “gender identity” refers to one’s “internal psychological identification as a male or female, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum.”
Adhering to these guidelines, the WHAM has allowed at least seven different males to play among its teams, including four on a single squad.
According to Reduxx, a team in the league’s A-division called the Robins had four active male players in 2024. Kayley (Kody) Misialek, Rhea (Brady) Turner, Diana (Chris) Sulmone, and Paige (Dylan) Rainer were all listed on the team’s official roster. The team finished in second place in their division last season.
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Reduxx further reported on the playing history of each of the four players, alleging that last year marked Turner’s first season competing as a female; at six feet tall, he has also played on a transgender hockey team.
Misialek has reportedly been playing women’s hockey since 2022, as has Sulmone.
Rainer allegedly played for a boys’ high school team before transitioning to co-ed teams. He also reportedly switched to the women’s league for the 2024-2025 season.
In cooperation with HeCheated.Org, the report named three more men playing in the women’s hockey league under girls’ names. This included one male who was alleged to run a venue that is labeled a “dyke and queer” bar.
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Two women have spoken out against WHAM’s inclusion of male players. Kelley Grotting said in February that playing against the men “feels unsafe” and is “not fun.”
“I am not a transphobe. To each his or her own, but pretending it’s OK for men to play in a women’s league insults women’s sports and creates safety issues,” she added, per Alpha News.
In October, a former college women’s hockey player said she was leaving hockey forever because men are allowed in the league in which she has played for 20 years.
“I am left to believe they do not care about my safety or the sanctity of the sport,” she explained. “I can no longer participate in a league that does not care about me.”
In response to criticisms about the league, a petition was filed in support of men in women’s athletics, started by a sports bar that exclusively shows women’s sports on its screens.
The petition said that the “safe and inclusive nature” of the league was being challenged, and therefore the community must “rally behind each individual’s right to sport, regardless of gender identity.”
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Fearless, Transgenderism, Hockey, Minnesota, Women’s sports, Nonbinary, Sports