Curley had major impact on women's hockey en route to Hall of Fame

The 2026 Hockey Hall of Fame induction is Nov. 9. This year's class includes Patrice Bergeron, Cindy Curley, Carey Price, Pekka Rinne and Keith Tkachuk in the Players category, and Brian Burke in the Builders category. Here, NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers profiles Curley.

For Cindy Curley, hockey has been the gift that keeps on giving. 

The 62-year-old who grew up in Stow, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, loves all the things that hockey brought her, not vice versa. 

"I never thought hockey owed me anything," she said. "I feel like it'll take me the rest of my life to pay back hockey for all the great opportunities and memories. It's a little surreal, honestly."

Curley was one of the pioneers of the women's game, a forward who was part of those first world championship teams from the unofficial tournament in 1987 to the IIHF-sanctioned ones in the 1990s. It's why she is being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Nov. 9. 

Curley won silver with the United States at the IIHF Women's World Championship in 1990, 1992 and 1994. Prior to that, she had 225 points (110 goals, 115 assists) in four seasons at Providence College, leading the Friars to Eastern College Athletic Conference championships in 1984 and 1985. She was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013.

A self-avowed Boston Bruins fan, Curley said this year she was wondering about former Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron getting into the Hall of Fame more than her own chance at it.

"I never thought in a million years that I would be (inducted)," she said. "It was such an unexpected surprise and I'm just extremely grateful. I kind of went down memory lane of all the different teams I've played on, all the great people I've played with and lifelong friends."

Laura Halldorson, who played against Curley in college while at Princeton, and with her on the 1987 U.S. team, said Curley's induction is well-deserved.

"I'm glad that the committee is looking back at some of the earlier players who helped pave the way for the current wave of superstars," Halldorson said. "We usually lost to Providence. I think we may have always lost to Providence. I never remember beating them and Cindy was the best player on that team. She stood out and she did it all. Looking back and having her be recognized is so great because I really admired her for those four years and beyond."

Curley's love of hockey began on Lake Boon, which sits between Stow, her hometown, and Hudson.

"It was coed and you developed all the bad habits of just scoring, no backchecking," she said. "Among the boys, they were studying whose stick was whose. Of course, my first role model was (retired Bruins defenseman and Hockey Hall of Famer) Bobby Orr. 

"That tells you more about how old I am," Curley said with a laugh.

Those lake hockey sessions eventually led Curley to Providence, where she had two 60-plus point seasons, finishing with 63 points (28 goals, 35 assists) in 1981-82 and 62 points (33 goals, 29 assists) in 1984-85.

"She was without question one of the top players and we had an excellent women's program at Providence," said former NHL general manager Lou Lamoriello, who was men's hockey coach (1968-83) and athletic director (1983-87) during Curley's time at Providence.

"I took pride in the women's program there. If you look back, they won a lot of championships there, they have a lot of famous names that played there and Cindy was the driving force. She was the player. When you talk to her teammates, you'll get the same thing. Her commitment, she wanted to be good, and she was good with humility."

Two years after graduating from Providence, Curley represented the U.S. in the 1987 World Women's Hockey Tournament, the first albeit unofficial tournament to feature women in international competition.

"She had all the skill and her hands were fantastic, which meant she was a great passer and shooter as well and she had other good players around her, so she made them better," Halldorson said. "She was crafty and she was a great skater. She didn't have this imposing stature physically. She wasn't a real big player, but she moved really well. She knew what to do with the puck and she put it in the net many, many times."

In 1990, the IIHF held its inaugural women's world championship. Curley made the most of it, finishing with 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists), a record for the most points and assists by a woman in one championship. She's tied for the most goals in a single championship with former Canadian star Angela James, who also had 11 in 1990.

Curley, captain of the 1990 team, also holds the IIHF women's record for most points in a game (nine) and goals (five), each coming in a 17-0 win against Norway on March 21, 1990.

Don MacLeod, who coached the 1990 U.S. women's team, saw what Curley brought while he was women's hockey coach at Northeastern University (1981-93) and knew what a force she would be internationally.

"She didn't play with me at Northeastern, but she did play against us, and she was definitely the best in her time," MacLeod said. "She's got all the skills. She was that good. The top women's players today are dazzling and so skilled, and she was that good back in the day. Back in the day was mid-1980s to early 90s and offensively, nobody around was like her."

Cammi Granato, who played hockey at Providence and ended up breaking some of Curley's records there, played on a line with Curley in the 1990 tournament. Granato, one of the first women inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame when she was given the honor in 2010, said playing with Curley was pretty surreal.

"She and Angela James were the two dominant players, Angela for Canada and Cindy for the U.S.," Granato said. "I think the difference with Angela was there was so much more knowledge of hockey in Canada and people paid attention. When we went to Ottawa that year, it was sold out for the first women's world championship, and that's where Cindy and Angela were at as well.

"Cindy just didn't really get the recognition because I don't think women's hockey exploded in the U.S. until we won (gold) at the Nagano Olympics in 1998. She was the product of no one knowing who she was, but she was just so dominant, so good."

James won gold with Canada in four world championships (1990, 1992, 1994 and 1997) and was inducted into the Hockey Hall with the Class of 2010. She remembers having to deal with Curley at several world championships. 

"It was her finesse and her ability to read the game, face-offs, plays and she was shifty," James said. "She was pretty shifty out there. She'd always get behind you and then at the last minute before you knew she was there, the puck was in the net.

"Funny enough, I've played in the USA (Adult) Nationals in Florida for the last couple of years. I ran into Cindy and she was playing in the 60s (age division) and in her little Boston accent, she asked me, 'You're not playing in the '60s, are you?'" James said with a laugh. "I said, 'No, but now that I know you're playing there, I'm going to play there, too.'"

The humility that Lamoriello talked of with Curley carries on to this day. She was at the forefront of women's hockey. Without her and other players of her day, including Granato and James, who's to say where the women's game is today? Who knows if there would be a Professional Women's Hockey League, which was established in 2023 with six teams and now has 12? 

Curley doesn't see it that way, but there's no doubt she made an incredible mark on the sport.

"I really can't take any credit for it," Curley said. "I loved playing and every time I played it was a gift. I just think it's more the people at Massachusetts hockey, USA Hockey, the leadership there, the people who kept pushing and pushing to get the world championships going, to push it to the Olympic level, that have worked so hard on making this professional women's league. Really, the credit goes to those guys for having the vision for it.

"We players, the next opportunity opened up, and we were thrilled to jump in and then to watch and see it take off from there."