McCallion is one of the most important builders in the history of women's hockey. She has been playing hockey since the 1920s, including as a professional player with the Montreal Kik (named after a carbonated beverage). She has been instrumental in the growth of girls' and women's hockey especially in Ontario.She is also one of the game's great characters, as this past weekend suggested.
This is how hockey researcher and writer Dennis Gibbons described the weekend appearance to members of the Society For International Hockey Research:
"The Chinese women's Olympic team lost 4-1 to the Mississauga (Ont.) Chiefs in an exhibition game in Mississauga, near Toronto, last night. Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, who is 88, welcomed the Chinese team in an on-ice speech before the game before a packed crowd, made up mostly of Chinese-Canadians who live in Mississauga. When the game was over, it was announced that there would be a special shootout. Amazingly, the 88-year-old McCallion skated on to the ice wearing an old pair of black skates, dating back to the 1940s, a hockey stick and wearing a helmet. The crowd went wild. Chinese goalie Shi Yao was told privately that McCallion was going to take a shot on her and for her to let it in. McCallion wound up at centre and
skated in while the crowd cheered. She let go a very weak shot which beat Shi Yao on the left side!"
McCallion, who is a friend of Don Cherry, is the long time mayor of Mississauga,
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