THUNDER BAY – Michela Cava’s achievements were celebrated Thursday morning as the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame raised the Professional Women’s Hockey League flag in her honour.
She and her Minnesota Frost teammates won their second consecutive Walter Cup, the PWHL’s championship trophy, in late May. She lifted the Frost with three goals and two assists in eight playoff games this year, and recorded eight points in 10 playoff games last year.
Cava, 31, signed a two-year contract with the expansion team PWHL Vancouver in June.
“Michela is a great role model for our young female hockey players and for just hockey in general,” Diane Imrie, the hall’s executive director, told reporters after the flag was raised.
“We have a tradition — we’ve had it for years — for raising flags when people (win) the Stanley Cup,” Imrie continued. “So … we are raising it for the Walter Cup.”
She said hall officials wanted to raise the PWHL flag for Cava last year, “but there was no PWHL flag. So we got one made this year and we’re probably going to fly it for a month here in front of the Sports Hall of Fame.”
For her part, Cava said being honoured like NHL players before her was “obviously a pretty incredible experience.”
Being part of the PWHL’s success has been “such a cool experience,” the Thunder Bay native said.
And going to a new franchise in the growing league should also be “really cool,” she added.
“There’s not a lot of women’s sports out that way, so I think between Vancouver and Seattle (which also has a new franchise) we’re going to have really good fan bases, and it’ll always be fun for people to travel out west and be able to see games out there.
“And yeah, I’m just really proud of the way that everyone’s come together, the community and fans, and it’s a pretty remarkable experience.”