Forward Mikyla Grant-Mentis has become the first female hockey player to sign a contract worth US$80,000 with the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).
The 23-year-old Canadian got the one-year contract with the Buffalo Beauts. The club made the announcement on its social networks on Monday. The agreement also includes a 10% bonus, which is the maximum allowed by the PHF.
Grant-Mentis is thus the first athlete to benefit from the circuit’s decision to significantly increase her salary cap. This has increased to US$750,000 per training, compared to US$300,000 last year.
Playing for the Toronto Six in 2021, the Brampton native scored 13 goals and provided 17 assists for 30 points in 19 games. She thus ended the season in second place in the ranking of the best scorers of the PHF. She had also won the titles of player par excellence and rookie of the year in 2020-2021.
Before making the jump to professional hockey, Grant-Mentis dominated in the NCAA. She amassed 117 points in 137 games in a Merrimack College uniform. This is the record for this team.
The PHF is, for the moment, the only professional women’s hockey circuit in North America. She recently announced that the league will grow from six to eight teams for the 2022-23 campaign. One training will be set up in Montreal, while another will see the light of day in the United States, in a market that has not yet been disclosed.