84-year-old legend Linda Sinrod retires as oldest female ice hockey player in the world
On 7 April, octogenarian Linda Sinrod (USA) hung up her skates for the last time, as the oldest hockey player (female) in the world.
At 84 years and 198 days old, she played her last game for the Capitals Women’s Hockey League in Arlington, Virginia, on team Gray, when they sadly lost 5 - 2. But as always, it wasn’t about the score for Linda – it was about making meaningful experiences through sport.
“It was bittersweet,” she said to GWR. “It felt like it was an end of an era for me, as I loved playing hockey for so long.”
Despite her record-breaking career, Linda picked up the sport at the age of 35.
She was a figure skater in college, but gave it up after graduation, until one fateful winter day when she was skating on a frozen lake near her house and someone asked if she wanted to try ice hockey.
In 1975, women didn’t have a professional league for the sport, nor was there Olympic recognition for female players. Talented girls were able to play at some Ivy League universities, yet the vast majority of skaters didn’t have high-level teams to join.
Nevertheless, Linda had such a blast playing that she signed up to become one of the founding members of the first women’s ice hockey team in the Washington DC area, the Redcoats, where she skated for 10 years.
By her mid-forties, Linda thought she was too old to play – and she made her first retirement from the sport. But nearly two decades later, she found herself googling some of her old teammates, and wondering what they were up to now.
Turns out, one of them was coaching the Prince William Wildcats team, so at the age of 67, she decided to join!
Most of the league was at least 20 years younger than her, but Linda was undaunted. The thrill of the game, and the camaraderie of her team, was enough to keep her going for another eight years.
She even shared an anecdote that she never received a penalty the first time she played, but the second time, she got two in one game – a call which confused her so much that she sat in the wrong team’s penalty box!
Then came her second retirement, when the league asked her to step down. At 75 years old, they said she wasn’t competitive enough. But Linda didn’t mind – if she couldn’t skate there, she would find another place to play. That’s when she joined the Capitals.
“I guess I would tell others that you are never too old to start playing,” said Linda. “I actually quit when I was 45 thinking I was too old to play, but came back to playing again at age 67.
“Also, women's hockey is not like men's hockey. There is no checking and women from all walks of life play and have fun – in fact, almost all are college grads. And it is a lot of fun!”
Read more stories about amazing female athletes in our dedicated Sports and Fitness section!
Throughout her career, Linda had a lot of incredible moments, but one clearly stands out. After winning her first Guinness World Records title, she was invited to participate in a ceremonial puck drop at the Women in Hockey Night at the Capital One Arena alongside other female players of different ages.
“The whole arena erupted in applause and cheers as I stepped on to the ice and it was announced that I was the oldest female hockey player,” she recalled. And after the drop, Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin – and record holder for the most goals in NHL history – handed her the puck!
Even though Linda doesn’t watch much hockey on TV, she does read about the Washington Capitals in the Washington Post, and she plans on keeping updated with the sport through the news.
And thanks to the efforts of determined women like herself, there are generations of professional female ice hockey players now making the headlines for their contributions to the PWHL or the Olympics, where they finally have a place to play.
So we’re sure she’ll always look back fondly on her time as an ice hockey player – though perhaps she may not miss the bruises!
Congratulations on your incredible career, Linda, you are Officially Amazing.