Blake Alexis Bolden (born March 10, 1991) is an American former

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player, and

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

for the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL). On October 11, 2015, she became the first African-American player to compete in the

National Women's Hockey League The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...

(NWHL; rebranded Premier Hockey League (PHF) in 2021). She won the 2015 Clarkson Cup with the

Boston Blades Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a ...

of the

Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; ) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's Senior ice hockey, senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league expanded into Alberta (2011) and ...

(CWHL). In 2016, she won the

Isobel Cup The Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Cup, often shortened to Isobel Cup, is the championship trophy that was awarded annually to the now defunct Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) playoff winner. The trophy is named after Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy, th ...

with the

Boston Pride The Boston Pride was a professional women's ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the four charter franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). The Pride played at Warrior Ice Arena, which is also the practice fac ...

of the NWHL. Bolden is also a contributor and rinkside reporter for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

Early life and education

Raised in

Stow, Ohio Stow is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 34,483 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community within the Akron metropolitan area. History Stow is named for Joshua Stow, its original proprietor. Joshua Stow w ...

, Bolden began following the

Cleveland Lumberjacks The Cleveland Lumberjacks were an International Hockey League (IHL) team based in Cleveland, Ohio. Facts :Owner: Larry Gordon :Logo design: "Buzz"- A beaver wearing overalls holding a homemade hockey stick framed by a circular saw blade :Divis ...

of the International Hockey League (IHL). Her father worked for the team and facilitated her meeting many of the players. She attended Northwood School, known for its top ice hockey programs, in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. In 2020, its population was 2,205. The village of Lake Placid ...

, where she captained the team during her senior year and played with

Kelley Steadman Kelley Steadman (born July 17, 1990) is an American retired ice hockey player, currently serving as an ice hockey development ambassador for Lightning Made, the community hockey department of the Tampa Bay Lightning. As a member of the United St ...

. She attended

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, where she played for the

Boston College Eagles women's ice hockey The Boston College Eagles women's ice hockey team represent Boston College in the NCAA and participate in Hockey East. The Eagles are coached by former Olympic gold medallist Katie King-Crowley and play their home games at Conte Forum. They have ...

team from 2009 to 2013.

Playing career

NCAA

In 2009–10, Bolden led all Hockey East freshmen defenders in scoring with four goals and nine assists for 13 points. Her first collegiate point was a goal in a 1–1 tie against Clarkson on October 3, 2009. Her first assist was also earned in a tie in a 1–1 draw with the Quinnipiac Bobcats on October 16, 2009. On October 24, 2010, in a 5–2 victory over Brown, Bolden was one of three BC players who scored their first goals of the 2010–11 season. In addition to the goal, Bolden tallied two assists in the win against Brown. It was a career high for most points in one game in her BC career. On December 9, 2010, she was invited to try out for the United States national women's ice hockey team. In her first three seasons at BC, Bolden appeared in 102 contests. Her 21 points during the 2011–12 campaign ranked second among defenders during Hockey East conference play. Statistically, she amassed 20 goals and 33 assists. She was part of the USA Hockey evaluation camp for the 2012 IIHF World Championship, and was a 2012 nominee for the

Patty Kazmaier Award The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is given to the top female college ice hockey player in the United States. The award is presented during the women's annual ice hockey championship, the Frozen Four. The award was first presented in 1998. The ...

. On August 21, 2012, Bolden was appointed team captain for the 2012–13 NCAA Division I women's ice hockey season. AS A SENIOR (2012–13): Appeared in all 37 games as captain ... totaled 29 points (6G, 23A) ... +38 rating ... seven multi-point games ... ranked second all-time for BC defensemen for points, goals, and assists ... career-high four assists at Boston University (10/31) ... career-high two goals and 13 shots versus Boston University (11/3) ... tallied three assists against Yale in the Nutmeg Classic Championship game (11/24) ... game-winning overtime goal at St. Lawrence (1/4) ... Hockey East Defenseman of the Year ... First Team Hockey East All-Star ... New England All-Star ... Second Team All-American ... Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week (11/5 and 1/7) ... earned Athletic Director's Award for Academic Achievement honors.

Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL)

Prior to being drafted, Bolden contemplated retiring from hockey after not making the 2014 Olympic roster. Selected in the first round, fifth overall by the

in the 2013 CWHL Draft, Bolden became the first woman of color to play professional hockey. For this reason many consider her to be the Jackie Robinson of women’s hockey. Bolden competed in the

1st Canadian Women's Hockey League All-Star Game The 1st Canadian Women's Hockey League All-Star Game, took place on December 13, 2014 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Admission was free, and 6,850 people attended the game. The game aired live on Sportsnet One in Canada, ...

, held on December 13, 2014, at Toronto's

Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena (SBA), formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and t ...

. In March 2015, Bolden helped the Boston Blades win the

Clarkson Cup The Clarkson Cup () is an ice hockey trophy awarded to Canada's national women's champions. Commissioned by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, the trophy was first unveiled in July 2006 when Clarkson ceremoniously presented it to the Ca ...

National Women's Hockey League (NWHL)

The National Women's Hockey League, the first women's hockey league to pay a salary, announced to play its inaugural season for 2015–16. On October 11, 2015, Bolden joined the NWHL's

, thus becoming the first woman of color to compete in the NWHL. On December 31, 2015, Bolden and the Pride participated in an outdoor women's ice hockey game against the CWHL's

Les Canadiennes de Montreal LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental S ...

, known as the

2016 Outdoor Women's Classic The 2016 Outdoor Women's Classic presented by Scotiabank was an ice hockey game played on December 31, 2015, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, between the Boston Pride of the National Women's Hockey League and Les Canadiennes of t ...

and was the first professional women's ice hockey outdoor game. Bolden would score Boston's first and only goal of the game. In 2016, she helped the team win the inaugural

. Bolden was selected as a player for the 2nd NWHL All-Star Game, in which she won the fastest shot skills game with a shot of 87 mph. In May 2017, Bolden left the NWHL and signed on to play for the HC Lugano women's team in Switzerland. On August 15, 2018, Bolden signed a contract with the NWHL's

Buffalo Beauts The Buffalo Beauts were a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). They played in Amherst, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, at the Northtown Center. The Beauts were established in 2015 as one of the four founding f ...

and finishing her playing career in May 2019.

Overseas

During the 2017–18 season, Bolden competed in the Swiss Women's Hockey League for HC Lugano, where she competed in 20 games. She led all defenders on the team with 27 points (16 goals, 11 assists), pacing fourth overall in team scoring with 27 points.

PWHPA

Bolden participated in the #ForTheGame movement in connection with the

PWHPA The Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for the promotion of professional women's ice hockey. It was founded in May 2019 following the dissolution of the Canadian Women's Hoc ...

, which began May 2019. She played for Team Keller against Team Decker in PWHPA's Dream Gap Tour stop in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Post-retirement

National Hockey League (NHL)

In February 2020, Blake Bolden was hired as a scout for the

, the first woman of color to ever scout in professional men's hockey and just the second-ever female to scout in the NHL.

Broadcasting

In April 2024, Canadian NHL broadcast rightsholder

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

announced that it had struck a deal to shift a portion of its rightsspecifically the Monday night games played in Canadafrom its own ''

NHL on Sportsnet National Hockey League broadcasts are held by Canadian media corporation Rogers Communications, showing on its television channel Sportsnet and other networks owned by or affiliated with its Rogers Sports & Media division, as well as the Sports ...

'' broadcast to

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

for the and regular seasons. In September, it was announced that Bolden would provide pre-game, intermissions, and post-game analysis on '' Prime Monday Night Hockey'', which launched with a game in Montreal on October 14, 2024.

Awards and honors

*2011 Hockey East All-Tournament team *2015 CWHL All-Star Game *1st NWHL All-Star Game (2016) *2nd NWHL All-Star Game (2017) Hardest Shot Winner 87 mph *3rd NWHL All-Star Game (2019) Hardest Shot Winner 80 mph *Clarkson Cup: 2015 *Isobel Cup: 2016 *NWHL Defensive Player of the Year (2019)

References

External links

*
Blake Bolden
at

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolden, Blake 1991 births Living people 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century African-American sportswomen American women's ice hockey defensemen African-American ice hockey players Boston Blades players Boston College Eagles women's ice hockey players Boston Pride players Clarkson Cup champions Ice hockey players from Ohio Isobel Cup champions Los Angeles Kings scouts