Hometown hero Loren Gabel inspiring the next generation of players on PWHL stage

When Kitchener’s Loren Gabel takes the ice Wednesday night in Boston, young hockey players in her hometown will be among the fans cheering her on.

It will be Gabel’s first game in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), which kicked off its inaugural season on Monday.

“I'm going to be really looking for Loren Gabel,” Brooklyn Thompson, a 10-year-old Kitchener player with the Lady Rangers, said. “I just love Loren Gabel -- it does motivate me.”

In December, Gabel skated with Waterloo Region players while representing Team Canada in the Rivalry Series.

At the time, she said she was excited to give young players some motivation.

"Just promoting women's hockey, growing the game and doing it for those little girls so they have something to look up to," she told CTV News on Dec. 12.

Across the board, the PWHL is bringing a new level of excitement to women’s hockey.

"Now they have another step in which they can go, so it's quite exciting for everyone," said Waterloo Girls Hockey Association President Sandra Hanmer.

Kitchener Lady Rangers player Brooklyn Thompson, 10, travelled to Toronto with her dad to take in the inaugural PWHL game on Monday. "The women are really inspiring to me, my team, and all the other girls and women who love the sport. I'm really excited this is a thing now," she told CTV Kitchener.

Brooklyn and her dad took in the league’s very first game in Toronto on Monday.

"It was just a really good experience," Brooklyn said.

"The women are really inspiring to me, my team, and all the other girls and women who love the sport. I'm really excited this is a thing now,” she said, adding she also wants to have a professional hockey career one day.

The dad and daughter duo both said the memory will last a lifetime.

"It's great to see that parity in sports come full circle and to see the women get their opportunity and their platform that they've worked so hard and earned over the years," dad Bobby Thompson said.

Having a hometown hero like Gabel makes the dream of going pro a little more realistic.

"Anytime that a young, amateur player can see someone who's been through their shoes, knowing where they can [go] is truly an inspiration for them, and a motivator for them to keep playing the sport that they love," Hanmer said.