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26 From there Lynn shifted focus back to her daugh- ters and grassroots. She helped orchestrate the USA Hockey Girls & Women's National Championships in 1988 which eventually earned her a seat at the then all-boys table as the first woman on the USA Hockey Board of Directors in 1989. "Lynn was the only woman in the good-old-boys club at the time," said Shawna Davidson, who played with Lynn in the senior rec league and was a direct beneficiary of hers as a member of countless U.S. women's national teams. "She was doing all of this work behind closed doors to pioneer for us to be able to compete locally and internationally." Lynn's sights then moved from associations to high school. Her two daughters were a part of the first-ever sanctioned varsity girls' high school game on Nov. 14, 1994 between the Academy of Holy Angels and South St. Paul, a game in which, of course, Lynn didn't miss, as coach of her daughters and Holy Angels. While that same season an unofficial state tournament was played between eight teams representing 11 different schools, it wasn't until Feb. 24, 1995 that the first-ev- er MSHSL girls' hockey tournament was berthed at Aldrich Arena. "It was absolutely fantastic," recalled Lynn of the four-team tournament which featured Stillwater, Apple Valley, South St. Paul and Henry Sibley. "People were waiting in line to get into the arena, and the 3,500-seated Aldrich sold out immediately. The excite- ment was just so high. Everybody was ready for this." Davidson remembers driving down from Duluth with her mom to witness history. Having been cut from her boys' varsity team and with no girls' outlet, Davidson admits tears of pride welled in her eyes. "It was just absolutely incredible," said Davidson. "You have rosters full of seventh graders because they were finally given the opportunity to play on an all-girls team. They were these rock stars out there. And you had that for awhile, a few teams of young dominant players completely dominating. But now, you see the depth of these programs. Healthy youth programs, too, from the bottom up. It's amazing to see how the numbers have grown." With grassroots blossoming, Lynn focused on the national scale. She worked tirelessly alongside Walter Bush to get women's hockey into the Olympic Games. "The International Ice Hockey Federation finally agreed to it in 1998 after the '94 Olympics in Norway," Lynn recalls. "It was everything we worked so hard for 25 years in Minnesota was finally coming about, so it was really exciting to me." Two Olympic golds, three silvers and a bronze since, "Every little girl who dreams of being an Olympian some day has Lynn to thank," Davidson said. …BEING A SUPPORTER Lynn has taken a significant step back in recent years, passing the baton on to others who are ready for the pioneering task. Now, she gets to watch any of her four granddaugh- ters skate in plump-full girls' associations. She gets to watch them dream and live in a world where girls' hockey is alive and well. "My daughter, Livia, had tryouts this past weekend and it's just remarkable to know that mom had some- thing to do with that," said Lynn's daughter, Becky. "It's so cool to me that now girls can be selected for develop- ment camps, for Division I college, for really many of the same opportunities the boys have had for so long." When you remind Lynn of what she's done, she points to all the support she had around her. And for her, the reward is in seeing the skill and registration numbers continue to grow. That's thank you enough. "Skill levels have increased, girls are getting phe- nomenal coaching and moving on to these high school programs and college and it's off the charts exciting," she says. "You're seeing the highest numbers for registration on the girls' side of programs around the nation. That means more female volunteers, girls participating and just being involved. "Not to mention you have the National Women's Hockey League and I can't wait to see that become a full-fledged program where women can play hockey as a true profession. "It's just amazing to witness it continue to grow and I know that it will only go up from here. I am just as honored to have been a small part of it all." M H J O N L I N E . C O M | N O V. / D E C . 2 0 2 0 LYNN Thank you for fighting our battles for us. I don't think we realized that when we were in our late-teens, early-20s. You really were the only woman going to fight for us. You were tremendous, breaking down barriers in a room full of men because, when you looked around, it was always guys, never women in there with you. You were probably told 'No' more than we'll ever know, and you probably rocked the boat more than many would. But because of you, we've all been empowered to be stronger. You mentored women of all ages and abilities and passed the torch on to us to keep fighting the battles for the good and growth of the game. Thanks for being our champion! Your friend, Shawna Davidson LYNN'S LINE AGE IN GIRLS'/WOMEN'S HOCKEY IN MINNESOTA 1980: Lynn is approached by a broomball teammate about playing hockey. 1984: Working as a paralegal, Lynn begins drafting operating rules for the league she was playing, Minnesota Women's Hockey League (now WHAM). 1986: Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association (now Minnesota Hockey) accepts WHAM as an official affiliate. 1986: Lynn is named the Women's Hockey Director in MAHA (position she held until 2007). 1988: WHAM hosts USA Hockey Girls & Women's National Championships. 1989: Lynn was elected as the girl's/women's section director, the first woman on the USA Hockey Board of Directors. She represented the Minnkota District (MN, ND, SD) until 2010. 1990: Helped establish USA Hockey Girls' Development Camps. 1990-94: Serves as GM for the USA Hockey Women's National Team (three silver medals at the IIHF World Championships). 1992: Received the President's Award from Minnesota Hockey. Nov. 14, 1994: The first official Minnesota girls' high school hockey game is played between Holy Angels and South St. Paul. 2001: Special Merit Award Winner by National Girls and Women in Sports-Minnesota. 2013: Don Clark Award by Minnesota Hockey. 2020: NHL's Lester Patrick Trophy winner. Photo / Shawna Davidson