Photo courtesy of Twitter/@JenScrivs

When the NWHL’s New York Riveters signed Jenny Scrivens, a Cornell graduate, to complete their trio in net, she brought immediate attention to the new league. Scrivens was a netminder for the women’s team, and later married the men’s team’s goaltender, Ben Scrivens. Some might recognize her husband for his current work as leading goalie for the Edmonton Oilers.

And while her husband’s career as a pro athlete has often necessitated her moving, this time, Scrivens is moving from Alberta, Canada, to Brooklyn to start a new chapter in her own career, this time, as a pro athlete herself.

What will she bring to the team? Scrivens, who is hitting the ice and running stairs regularly to condition for the season, focused on her intangibles.

“I guess I just try and be a good team player and give my team a chance to win,” Scrivens said in a phone interview. “I try and be as vocal as I can back there. It wasn’t something that came easy to me. I’ve always been pretty shy. But I learned quickly if I was very vocal and talked to my defensemen it really helps the team out and helps them see the puck and the ice better when they’re under pressure.”

Scrivens played only three — strong — seasons at Cornell. As there wasn’t a future as a pro player for her at the time, she wanted to give all she could to her degree and enjoy her senior year of college. But with the inception of the NWHL, she felt compelled to reach out and involve herself.

She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to play, but at the very least Scrivens wanted to help grow the women’s side of the game.

Though she signed a player’s contract, suiting up in navy blue pads and a Riveters jersey each game won’t be all Scrivens will do for the NWHL. She is also joining their PR and Communications team, building on her experience as Director of Communications for the Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton, Alberta.

It will prove to be a challenge for Scrivens, but she’s up to the job.

“This is a big step in my career and I think it’s challenging and quite frankly, scares me a little bit,” Scrivens said. “But I think that’s the whole point. If I’m not doing something that scares me then I’m too complacent. I’m going to be moving to a new city . . . starting a new career as a professional athlete, and then helping the league develop their communications as my day job. That scares me too, but it’s a challenge that I welcome and sought out.

“A lot of the other women are going to have to uproot their lives and change the course of their paths a little bit. I don’t think everyone saw this league coming, so I think there will be a few of us scrambling to find a place to live, and figure out how we can make everything work. But that’s the point of this. We love it, and we want to be a part of this whole movement.”

After all, for a child who wanted to be the Mighty Ducks goaltender Julie “The Cat” Gaffney or NHL goaltender Kelly Hrudey (so much so that she wore a bandana and instructed teammates to call her Kelly Hrudey), this is the ultimate win.

Scrivens at one point saw no reason to continue playing at a level as demanding as that of a college athlete.

Now, she’s someone girls and young women will be able to point to as inspiration. And maybe some of them will pull on a pair of pads and demand their teammates call them Jenny Scrivens.

Scrivens has been around the community-building side of hockey since she first pulled on a pair of pads, and looks at this new chapter in her life as an opportunity to do good.

“My parents taught me that community service was important, and I grew up that way,” Scrivens said. “There was no other way. And then when I got to Cornell the women’s team had a great reputation for getting involved in the community.

“Every step of my journey has been influenced by community service. Moving to Brooklyn’s not going to be an exception.”

Scrivens mentored local hockey players while at Cornell, coached for a season in Etobicoke, outside of Toronto, and coached the L.A. Junior Kings women’s team while her husband played for the Kings.

Her unique perspective as someone who contributes to the NHL’s community foundation side has influenced the way she views the NWHL and the potential it has in the hockey community. Scrivens sees the NWHL as a way to build and influence the community, from raising money to fight cancer to simply involving more children in sports.

“Being able to follow Ben and the NHL has really made me appreciate so much more the potential and the great opportunity we have with the NWHL. I’ve been able to see how not just Ben, but his teammates and organization can make an impact in the community, and that’s what I’m really looking (forward) to.

“When I move to New York this fall and I join a team, I’m very much looking forward to being a team player and to pushing our team to be the best, but I’m also looking to bring that experience that I’ve had in the past five years with Ben and his team, and getting involved in the community and making a difference,” Scrivens continued. “(I want to) reach out to fans and be accessible instead of someone they can’t relate to.”

The NWHL’s mission to improve access to girls’ hockey as well as their themed game nights that will generate revenue and publicity for local charities seems to be a perfect match for the league’s newest netminder.