Woods Loving Second Season In CWHL

She left home in 2008 to further her hockey skills and hasn't looked back since.

"I just love playing hockey," said Taylor Woods of Morden.

Woods grew up playing hockey in Morden and has since played with Team Canada, at Cornell University, and most recently with the Markham Thunder in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL).

"Getting paid to do it (play hockey), one it's unthinkable," said Woods. "When I was growing up there wasn't even a female team in my area. Now, just getting paid is like icing on top of the cake."

With this being the first year the CWHL has been paying their players, Woods said each player has been signed to a two-year contract and the break down for each team is different. She added each player gets paid between $2,000-$10,000.

"It's a good start for women, but everyone else has jobs on top of that," said Woods.

During a typical season in the CWHL, each team will play 30 games; through 21 games this year Woods has four assists and is a plus 5.

"Right now I'm just trying to play the best I can every game," said Woods. "Currently I'm playing defence and a few weekends ago I was playing forward. Wherever they need me I'll play and I'm just trying to enjoy the experience."

The Thunder won a pair of games over the weekend and improved their record to 9-7-4 (25pts) record this year, which is good enough for a tie for fourth place.

"We've been coming together as a team a little bit more. I think we noticed that right at the new year," said Woods.

The top four teams make the playoffs to compete for the Clarkson Cup at the end of the regular season and Woods said they have their work cut out for them in order to make the playoffs.

Teams in the league are the Les Canadiennes Montreal, Kunlun Red Star, Calgary Inferno, Vanke Rays, Toronto Furies, Boston Blades, and the Markham Thunder. Teams are located in Canada, U.S.A., and China.

Woods said her team flew to China back in November for 10 days and were able to play both of the teams twice. She added they were also able to do a little bit of touring on their days off. Woods said if it wasn't for playing hockey she probably wouldn't have gone to China so it was a really cool experience.

Forward Laura Stacey and Defence Jocelyne Larocque and Laura Fortino, who play on the same team as Woods, are off to compete with Team Canada at the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea.

"It's pretty unreal. Even some of the players we have now are pretty unreal. You just have to make sure they don't embarrass you to bad on the ice during practice," said Woods.

She added their knowledge of the game is impressive and they are great people in general.

"It's a cool experience," said Woods.

Coming from Morden, a City of just over 8,500, Woods would like to encourage all the younger girls playing the sport to keep striving for their goals.

"Female hockey keeps growing and it's going to be something," said Woods. "The fact that we have two leagues that are getting paid means a lot. It's not all about pay, but it's about growth, exposure, and having fun."