Madison Packer

Madison Packer (born June 25, 1991) is an American professional ice hockey forward, currently serving as captain of the Metropolitan Riveters of the Premier Hockey Federation. One of the longest tenured players in PHF history, she is the league's second leading all-time scorer, has played in four All-Star Games, and won the Isobel Cup in 2018 with the Riveters.

Early life

Raised in Birmingham, Michigan, Packer began playing ice hockey at age five and played on a boys team as a youth. She was the second of four children born to Gregory (a hockey coach) and Laura Packer (an Ironman athlete). Packer is a graduate of private Roman Catholic Marian High School in Bloomfield, Michigan in Metro Detroit. While at high school, she played minor hockey for Little Caesar’s AAA team in Detroit, winning four Michigan State championships. Packer is an inductee of the Marian and Catholic League Hall of Fame. While at high school, the death of friend and team-mate Kelly Scheuer led to Packer joining "Common Ground", a suicide prevention awareness center. Packer led a walk in Scheur's name, raising money for the center.

Career

College

Packer earned a scholarship to and played ice hockey for, the University of Wisconsin while majoring in journalism. Before playing for the Badgers, Packer had to recover from reconstructive surgery on her right knee, performed in May 2010. She was able to return to ice hockey five months later. In her first season, she helped the club win the 2011 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Tournament.

During her tenure at Wisconsin, the team would also win one WCHA Championship, and two WCHA league championships. Packer earned rookie honours and player-of-the-week honors during her tenure. During her final season, Packer was an alternate captain for her college team. Packer played 146 games for Wisconsin, scoring 46 goals and 58 assists for a total of 104 points. After her fourth year, Packer retained a connection to hockey, as the radio announcer for Badgers games during the 2014–15 season.

NWHL

The second
women's professional hockey league, the NWHL was launched in 2015. After college, Packer was interning at a law firm in preparation for law school when she learned about the NWHL. She travelled to New York for tryouts and was signed by the New York Riveters: "I think for a lot of us, we’re just excited to get back on the ice again,” Packer said. “For me, to have this opportunity when I thought my career was over, it’s definitely a humbling experience and it’s something we’re really excited about. You only get to be part of the first time for something once." She described the experience to ''Agence France-Presse'' of pioneering the women's game as "the first time that we've really gotten interest, gotten people interested in the game, people wanting to come out and support us, and the first opportunity in the States at least to be professional athletes and get paid for what we're doing, so it's pretty special". In her first season, Packer played 16 games, scoring 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points, but the team finished last.

In early 2016, Packer became one of the first players to re-sign with the New York Riveters for the 2016/17 NWHL season alongside Morgan Fritz-Ward, signing a $15,000 one-year contract. Packer was named alternate captain for the Riveters. In August 2016, Packer was announced as the team's official ambassador to the You Can Play program to eradicate homophobia in sports. Packer had previously held an online campaign against bullying, inspired by the suicide of her friend Scheuer, the same incident during her minor hockey days that inspired her to write. The team cleaned house and Packer was one of the few retained from the previous season: "We went through a lot together. It’s tough to come to the rink and get your ass kicked every night and that’s kind of what we did last. A lot of respect for that group, but we kind knew we needed to clean house and a different dynamic… Speed is definitely going to be our advantage this year. We want to use it." The Riveters would improve to 8–7–1 in 2016–17, for second place in the NWHL.

Packer was selected to play in two league All-Star Games, having played in the 2016 All-Star Game and voted in by fans for the 2017 All-Star Game in February 2017. Playing for Team Steadman, Packer scored twice at the 2nd NWHL All-Star Game. Packer served as an alternate captain for the Riveters for the franchise's first two seasons (2015–2017) before retiring.

During the 2016-17 season, the NWHL announced salary cuts to the players, sparking a statement from Packer and the other NWHL players to the league over health insurance, an audit of league finances, naming the league investors and further determinations about the league's viability. After suffering a torn labrum in the 2016-17 season, she announced her retirement from professional ice hockey on 19 March 2017. However, in September 2017 Packer announced that she would continue with the New York Riveters (now renamed the Metropolitan Riveters) for the 2017–18 season.

She was named to the rosters for the 2019 NWHL All-Star Game in Nashville.

She was named Riveters captain ahead of the 2019–20 season, going into the year as one of eight players from the league's original season still active and tied for the league's all-time points record with Jillian Dempsey. She scored 34 points in 24 games during the season, leading the Riveters in points and good for fifth in total league scoring. She was named captain of one of the teams at the 2020 NWHL All-Star Game, the team being named Team Packer in her honour, and picked up an assist during the game.

International career

Packer attended Team USA National Development Camps in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Packer was a team member of the U.S. Women's U-18 Team in 2008 and 2009, serving as alternate captain in 2009. She was two-time International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's U18 Championships participant in 2009 in Fussen, Germany and 2008 in Calgary, Alberta, capturing Gold medals both times.

After her junior year of college, Packer was cut from the US Women's team prior to Olympic tryouts. She described the experience in a panel session with the Brooklyn Historical Society:

"It became clear that that Olympic dream wasn't going to happen. I was prepared to graduate, and retire following my senior year, and I did. When I finished my senior year, I trained for an Ironman, walked away from hockey as a player, and began coaching while I finished my final semester of college. The mentality then was that if you weren't in your respective national program, it was basically graduate and play in a pick up league, or move to Canada or Boston if you could make a team in the CWHL and play for free."

Style of play

Packer has been described as a power forward, one of the most physical players in the NWHL, and has been noted for her leadership talents. She has also been noted for being able to contribute both offensively and defensively, often playing prominent roles in the Riveters' penalty-killing units and blocking a high number of shots. She led the NWHL in penalty minutes in the 2018–19 and 2019-20 seasons, and is second all-time in career PIM.

Personal life

On July 22, 2018, she became engaged to fellow NWHL athlete Anya Battaglino. They were married on August 16, 2019 in Newport, Rhode Island. In September 2020, their son was born. She has twelve tattoos.

While playing, Packer has also coached the under-16 team of the New Jersey Rockets minor hockey program. In 2017, she added coaching of the under-19 team and general manager of the entire girls’ program to her duties.

Career Statistics

Awards and honors

*NWHL All-Star Game, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020
*NWHL Co-Player of the Week, Awarded March 12, 2018

References

External links

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Wisconsin Badgers player profile
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, Madison
1991 births
Living people
American LGBT sportspeople
LGBT ice hockey players
New York Riveters players
American women's ice hockey forwards
People from Birmingham, Michigan
Ice hockey players from Michigan
Wisconsin Badgers women's ice hockey players
Metropolitan Riveters players
Lesbian sportswomen
Isobel Cup champions