A Canadian hockey legend who helped pave the way for the Professional Women’s Hockey League says she’s proud of and envious of the league’s success so far.

The nearly two-month-old league is off to a booming start with sell-out crowds and fast-paced, physical hockey.

Caroline Ouellette, a four-time Olympic gold medalist and a six-time IIHF World Women’s Championship gold medalist with Team Canada, is one of the players who laid the groundwork for the PWHL’s success.

She believes a standard has now been set in women’s hockey and is thrilled that, at last, young girls have a league to which to aspire.

Ouellette says female hockey players can now focus on the dream of reaching the PWHL, a dream she never had.

She salutes all the athletes who stuck together over the last few years; it was not easy, but they worked through it to create something unprecedented: a professional women’s league with the right foundation.

Ouellette says the PWHL creates more opportunities at all levels.

She says there are now opportunities for both women and men in coaching, public relations, management, and every aspect of a professional sports team roles that have never been part of the women’s game before.