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“I’d love to go to a training camp, play well and maybe earn a few games there (ECHL). I’ve been talking to them (Gladiators), but nothing for sure yet,” Szabados said following a session at Perry Pearn’s 3-on-3 summer pro camp, at which she’s been a regular for years.

“As a player, you just want to go somewhere, either Atlanta or Columbus.”

Szabados has been a girl playing against boys for years, of course. She had a one-game look in Tri-City in the Western Hockey League and spent time in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and in college at Grand MacEwan and at NAIT.

She went to play pro in Columbus after a strong scouting report from the Cottonmouths captain Kyle Johnson, also from Edmonton. And she was an instant hit, becoming the first women to get a shutout in a men’s pro league, 3-0 against the Huntsville Havoc. She played 25 games her first full SPHL season in 2014-15 with a .907 save percentage and 22 last year when he damaged her MCL in a game. She had a .910 save percentage.

If she gets any ECHL action, it’ll be a huge achievement.

Szabados has always been an attraction, under the microscope.

“I think that’s died down in Columbus, people were coming to watch our games like I was a regular goalie,” said Szabados. “It’s definitely fun, though, when you get to go places and have fans in opposing arenas cheering for you. That’s kind of cool. Little girls waiting after the games for you.

“Hockey’s getting bigger down south. We were averaging around 3,500 to 4,500 in our league. It’s like the AJHL around here, with the small towns…what else are you going to do on a Friday night but watch hockey?”