Janine Weber (born 19 June 1991) is an Austrian professional

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 member of the Austrian national team who mostly recently played in the now defunct

Premier Hockey Federation 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 ...

(PHF) with the Connecticut Whale. She previously played 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 ...

and the

New York Riveters The Metropolitan Riveters (originally the New York Riveters) were a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink. They were one of the four charter franchi ...

of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL; rebranded as PHF in 2021), 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), and the EHV Sabres Wien and Ravens Salzburg of the

Elite Women's Hockey League The European Women's Hockey League, abbreviated EWHL, is an international ice hockey league. Created as the Elite Women's Hockey League in 2004 by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the EWHL comprises clubs from several countries in ...

(EWHL). With the Blades, Weber scored the game-winning goal of the

2015 Clarkson Cup The 2015 Clarkson Cup was a women's ice hockey tournament that was contested in Markham, Ontario to determine the champion of the Canadian Women's Hockey League from March 4 to March 7, 2014. The Boston Blades defeated the Montreal Stars by a 3-2 ...

Playing career

Weber was born and raised in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, the capital city of

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

in the

Austrian Alps The Central Eastern Alps (), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps () or just Central Alps, comprise the Main chain of the Alps, main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent regions of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and Slov ...

. She began playing ice hockey at 8 years old and developed in the

youth ice hockey Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Youth ...

department of

HC Innsbruck HC Tiroler Wasserkraft Innsbruck is an Austrian professional ice hockey team in the ICE Hockey League (ICEHL). They play their home games at OlympiaWorld Innsbruck complex in Innsbruck. History The club was founded in 1994 as HC Innsbruck and i ...

, playing on the club's boys' teams until turning 17. She made her senior women's club debut at age 14 with the DEHC Red Angels Innsbruck in the Women's Ice Hockey Bundesliga (DEBL) and the . With the Red Angels, she won the DEBL Championship in the 2005–06 season. She played most of the 2006–07 season with EC The Ravens Salzburg in the Elite Women's Hockey League, finishing fourth in team scoring, but also appeared in a small number of DEBL and Austrian Championship games with the Red Angels. The 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons were played entirely with The Ravens in the EWHL and Austrian Championship. In the 2009–10 season, she moved to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and joined the EHV Sabres Wien of the EWHL and Austrian Championship. She played with the Sabres for four seasons, winning the Austrian Championship four consecutive times and claiming the EWHL Championship in 2011 and 2012. The 2011–12 season was the most productive of her career – across 18 games played, she topped EWHL statistics charts with 29 goals, 46 points, and a +31 plus-minus.

NCAA

As a teen, Weber had dreamed of playing

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

in the United States, so when an American teammate from the Sabres put her in touch with the

Providence Friars women's ice hockey The Providence Friars women's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the Providence College. The Friars are a member of Hockey East. They play at the 3,030-seat ...

program, she jumped at the opportunity. With her undergraduate studies already completed in Austria, she was eligible to play one year in the NCAA as a graduate student and joined the Friars for the 2013–14 season. She made her NCAA debut on 4 October 2013 against

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

, and logged her first point in the same game. Weber scored the game-winning overtime goal for Providence in the 19th Annual Mayors Cup, a yearly ice hockey match between the two Providence-based NCAA programs, the Providence Friars and the

Brown Bears The Brown Bears are the sports teams that represent Brown University, an American university located in Providence, Rhode Island. The Bears are part of the Ivy League conference. Brown's mascot is Bruno. Both the men's and women's teams share th ...

CWHL

Selected by the Boston Blades in the

2014 CWHL Draft The 2014 CWHL Draft was held on August 19, 2014. With the first pick overall, the Brampton Thunder selected Laura Fortino from the Canadian National Women's Team. The defending Clarkson Cup champion Toronto Furies had the second pick overall, and ...

, Weber made her CWHL debut on 15 November 2014, logging her first career goal in a 6–2 win against the

Toronto Furies The Toronto Furies were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in Toronto, Ontario, as members of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. The Toronto Furies played their home games at the Mastercard Centre in Toronto. The team was establish ...

. Most of the season was spent skating on the third line with fellow rookies

Corinne Buie Corinne Buie (born March 7, 1992) is an American ice hockey forward, currently playing for the Minnesota Whitecaps in the NWHL. She has won the Clarkson Cup once and the Isobel Cup twice. Career As a high school player, she was a finalist ...

(a former Friars teammate) and Jordan Smelker. Scoring the Clarkson Cup-winning goal in 2015, Weber became the first European player to accomplish the feat and the second European player to win the Clarkson Cup, following Katka Mrázová who won with the Blades in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. The stick with which she scored the Cup-winning goal was donated to the

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame () is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and National Hockey Le ...

NWHL

In the spring of 2015, Weber attended the training camp of the Connecticut Whale, part of the newly established National Women's Hockey League. She ultimately signed with the

, making her not just the first player in to sign with the club in franchise history, but the first player in the history of the NWHL to be signed to a contract. Weber was selected to the

1st NWHL All-Star Game The 1st NWHL All-Star Game took place on January 24, 2016, at HarborCenter in Buffalo, New York. The event featured two 20-minute periods in a 4-on-4 format and a Skills Competition. Team Pfalzer entered the game with a 4-0 lead having won all e ...

, becoming the first European to compete in the All-Star Game. She would score a goal in a 4-0 win on 20 November 2016, against the Connecticut Whale, which was the first shutout in Riveters history. Following two seasons with the Riveters, Weber signed with the

for the 2017–18 season as a free agent. After sitting out the 2019–20 season Weber signed with the Connecticut Whale in January 2020. She was named an

alternate captain In ice hockey, the captain is the player designated by a team as the only person authorized to speak with the game officials regarding rule interpretations when the captain is on the ice. At most levels of play each team must designate one captai ...

in the 2021–22 season.

International play

Weber made her international debut with the Austrian national team at the

2008 IIHF Women's World Championship Division II 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. Etymology English ''eight'', from Old English '', æhta'', Proto-Germanic ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of Proto-Indo-European '' *oḱtṓ(w)-'', and as such cognate wi ...

, contributing an assist to Austria’s promotion to Division I. The following season, she made her international

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

debut with the Austrian national under-18 team at the inaugural

IIHF U18 Women's World Championship The IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, officially the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship, is an annual ice hockey tournament for national women's under-18 (U18) ice hockey teams, administered by the International Ice Hockey Federa ...

tournament: the 2008 U18 Women's World Championship. She served as team captain and led the team in scoring with 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points in four games. At the 2013 IIHF Women's World Championship Division I Group A tournament, Weber led all skaters in scoring, notching 4 goals and 7

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

Personal life

Weber earned her

Matura or its translated terms (''mature'', ''matur'', , , , , ', ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

at the Reithmann Gymnasium in her home city of Innsbruck in 2009. She completed undergraduate studies while living in Vienna during 2009 to 2013 and holds a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum an ...

from

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. She and her husband, Bruce Messier, reside in

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. In 2022, she began working as development coach with the

Warwick, Rhode Island Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States, and is the third-largest city in the state, with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Warwick is located approximately south of downtown Pr ...

–based

junior ice hockey Junior ice hockey is amateur-level ice hockey for 16 to 20 year-old players. National Junior teams compete annually for the IIHF World Junior Championship. The United States men's national junior ice hockey team are the defending champions from ...

team HC Rhode Island of the

Eastern Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart ...

(EHL).

Career stats

Regular season and playoffs

Sources:

Awards and honors

*2011 EWHL All-Star Team *2012 EWHL All-Star Team *NWHL Player of the Week (Awarded 22 February 2017)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Janine 1991 births Living people Austrian expatriate ice hockey people Austrian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Austrian ice hockey forwards Austrian women's ice hockey players Boston Blades players Boston Pride players Clarkson Cup champions Connecticut Whale (PHF) players European Women's Hockey League players New York Riveters players Providence Friars women's ice hockey players Ice hockey people from Innsbruck 21st-century Austrian sportswomen