Harris/Dayley Honored as Heroes of the Deep
- Womens Pro Hockey Seattle
- Apr 18
- 8 min read
March 14, 2005, Women’s Pro Hockey Seattle founder, Zoë Harris, and campaign advisor, Cindy Dayley, received one of the highest local honors in ice hockey when they were named “Heroes of the Deep” by the Seattle Kraken and the One Roof Foundation during the team’s Women in Hockey Night celebration.
The special theme night at Climate Pledge Arena was part of the Kraken Common Thread initiative, which is focused on promoting diversity and inclusion both within hockey and the broader Seattle community. The evening is designed to spotlight the impact of women in hockey—from grassroots to the pro ranks, and featured a stunning, limited-edition jersey designed by local artist Marisol Ortega, blending bold floral motifs and Pacific Northwest iconography with Kraken branding to reflect the strength, resilience, and vibrance of women in hockey.
As part of the night’s celebration, Harris and Dayley were introduced to the packed arena and recognized for their decades of tireless work growing the game in Washington State and their current mission to bring a professional women’s hockey team to Seattle.
Harris and Dayley were selected for their pioneering roles in hockey, their unwavering advocacy for equal opportunity and gender equity in the sport of ice hockey, from coaching the men’s University of Washington team, to their achievements of helping girls secure the first NCAA scholarships in the Northwest of North American, to growing the game for players—from the first Girls’ Try Hockey for Free event to all-girl Learn to Play programs, and all the way to college hockey. Their current campaign to establish a women’s pro team in Seattle was highlighted as a forward-looking continuation of their legacy.
As Harris and Dayley stood in the stands of Climate Pledge Arena to receive the Heroes of the Deep recognition, they were received by a standing ovation from the hockey fans in the arena, and celebrated by generations of players they’ve coached, mentored, and inspired. For them, the moment was more than just an award, it was a celebration of history and manifestation of what is to come.
To cap off the moment, Harris and Dayley selected the girls’ division of the Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association (PNAHA), USA Hockey’s governing body for Washington state, as the non-profit recipient of a $32,000 Kraken Unity Fund donation. The monies will go toward expanding programs and resources for girls who play ice hockey in Washington.
VIDEO OF THE PRESENTATION
About the “Heroes of the Deep” Honor
The Heroes of the Deep initiative honors individuals in the Pacific Northwest who demonstrate extraordinary dedication to uplifting their community through compassion, leadership, and service. Whether they're educators, health care workers, volunteers, sports forerunners, honorees exemplify what it means to give back and create meaningful change.
The Kraken Unity Fund was created by the Seattle Kraken, One Roof Foundation, and funding from our ownership group, led by David Bonderman and Samantha Holloway. The purpose of the Fund is to honor inspiring individuals who are doing outstanding work to transform lives, enable resiliency, and uplift and unite our community across the Pacific Northwest.
For more information, visit The One Roof Foundation, Heroes of the Deep – Unity Fund https://onerooffoundation.org/get-involved/kraken-unity-fund/
PHOTOS FROM THE EVENING
ABOUT ZOE HARRIS AND CINDY DAYLEY
For more than five decades, the Pacific Northwest’s hockey scene has been shaped, strengthened, and elevated by two women: Cindy Dayley and Zoë Harris. Their parallel journeys, rooted in passion and perseverance, intertwine to form the backbone of women's hockey in Seattle and beyond.
The Roots of a Pioneer: Cindy Dayley – Seattle, WA
Cindy Dayley’s love affair with hockey began in July 1961—virtually from birth. At just three months old, she attended her first Seattle Totems game and grew up as a dedicated season ticket holder alongside her family, supporting the Totems, the Breakers, and eventually the Thunderbirds. Her early years were shaped on the ice at Highland Ice Arena, where she trained under Olympic silver medalist figure skater John Lettengarver. Despite being turned away from boys’ hockey teams because of her refined skating abilities, she channeled her energy into becoming a skater reminiscent of her hero, Bobby Orr.
In the 1970s, Dayley joined the first women’s team in Seattle and played there for a decade. When opportunities in the U.S. were limited, she drove across the northern border to play elite-level women’s hockey in Canada. Though ineligible for national championships due to her American citizenship, her talent made waves with the Newton Voyagers and Surrey Flyers AAA teams.
A Later Start, But No Less Fierce: Zoë Harris – Barrington, RI
Zoë Harris, born in May 1970 in Rhode Island, was a multi-sport standout in soccer, basketball, softball, and nationally ranked sailing. Despite playing soccer at an elite level, she didn’t pick up hockey until college. Teaching herself to skate at the University of Maine with help from a teammate and coaches, she quickly rose to become captain of the women's team and earned national recognition with an invite to the NCAA Senior All-Star game.
The Meeting That Changed Everything
In 1993, Dayley and Harris met on a co-ed summer hockey team. What followed was a decades-long partnership that would fundamentally reshape their lives on and off the ice.
By 1995, the duo was coaching the first girls’ 19U AAA team in the region—Seattle Junior Hockey’s NW Admirals. Under their leadership, the team made history as the first American team to win the Lower Mainland Female Hockey Association championship in British Columbia. Their roster included trailblazing players like Brooke Whitney, who would go on to win the prestigious NCAA Patty Kazmaier Award at Northeastern played for the U.S. National team in the in IIHF Four Nations Cup, and professionally for the Brampton Thunder, Lauren Trottier that captained a Dartmouth team, Monell Schroeder who captained Findlay.
Innovators and Architects of Change and 1st Women to Coach Men's College Hockey
From 1997 onward, Dayley and Harris were relentless in expanding opportunities for women and girls in the sport. They co-founded Seattle’s first women’s inline league in Seattle and took a team to win a national title. That same year they created the 49th Parallel Program with a colleague in Canada to connect elite U.S. and Canadian players. The team, camps, and clinics attracted college scouts to the West Coast for the first time, placing numerous players in NCAA programs with scholarships – a first for the US northwest and Canadian southwest, and included such players as Whitney, and Delaney Collins who as a Canadian National Team player in IIHF World Championships, winning three Golds and two Silver Medals.
In an unprecedented move, from 1998 to 2004, Dayley and Harris were recruited to coach the University of Washington’s men’s non-varsity hockey team and brought the team out of ‘beer league’ status to play in the PAC8 Conference and the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) DII – West Region. Dayley and Harris became the first women to coach of a men’s collegiate team—a feat honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame—with their coaching memorabilia in the Hall. Their record: an astonishing 140-42-1, breaking records for the team. The accolades poured in: ACHA West Coast Coach of the Year, PAC-8 Coach of the Year (twice), and recognition from Virginia Mason and the Seattle Mariners as Woman of the Year.
Building National Women’s Collegiate Division
In 2000, while still coaching the UW Huskies, Harris proposed and co-founded the ACHA Women’s Division, with Dayley. After recruiting teams across the country via a women’s hockey email list-server group and direct emails, the first game was held in October 2000, and by March 2001, the inaugural National Championship had taken place in St. Louis, MO. Harris continued to service at the Vice President and grew the league by 30% in just four years. Today, the Zoë M. Harris Award honors the top players in both Division I and II, and in 2014, she was inducted into the ACHA Hall of Fame. Later, she earned the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA), which represents American hockey coaches participating in college hockey, with the Joe Burke Award, recognizing people who grow the game.
A Local Legacy: Community Growth
From 2009 to 2018, both women poured their passion into the Western Washington Female Hockey Association (WWFHA) Washington Wild. Dayley served as president and coaching director, while Harris, first as a coach, then board member, and later as Executive Director, propelled exponential growth along with a dedicated board, coaches, and parents—introducing new programs, increasing membership by 133%, and launching the state's first all-girls Try Hockey for Fee sessions, Beginners classes, and in-house league. She also established the first-ever professional program where the student athletes worked with leaders in their industry from sports nutritionists, hockey conditioning experts, to college admissions experts and school counselors, as well as introduced Olympians and other leaders in the community so players could have direct contact with their role models.
Harris also became a key figure in the campaign to bring the NHL to Seattle, forging connections with civic leaders and the Oak View Group, and organizing players to present to the Seattle City Council to encourage them to build the new ice hockey arena at the Seattle Center. She encouraged the players to speak about their passion for ice hockey and how future ice facilities would support girls and women hockey too, something many council people reported not realizing.
Meanwhile, Dayley served as the Female Director for the Pacific Northwest Amateur Hockey Association (PNAHA), where she grew the state camp year over year, and brought in world-renown speakers, evaluators, and coaches to further expose the players to elite athletes and leaders. A decade later, with being able to select PNAHA as the charitable organization to receive the Kraken Unity Fund's $32,000 donation, it was a full circle moment for Dayley.
The Push for a Pro Team in Seattle
Since 2019, Harris has set her sights on a new frontier—establishing a professional women’s hockey team in Seattle, with Dayley serving as an advisor. Through the Women’s Pro Hockey Seattle campaign, they have galvanized the community and rallied a fanbase to be ready for a future team. Harris recruited Olympians like Kelly Stephens Tysland to the cause, established an ambassador program with youth spokesperson and ambassador – Maealie Glanzer, Ambassador Chair – Alicia Crank leading the charge, and Rachel Moody serving as a Historian Ambassador, all while creating a campaign mascot—Biscuit—to rally fans.
Their mission is clear: unite the Pacific Northwest behind a team and prove to the PWHL that the community is ready for pro women’s hockey in Seattle. The campaign continues to grow through social media, watch parties, and community outreach.
A Lasting Impact
Together, Zoë Harris and Cindy Dayley, have carved out space for women in a sport—although they weren’t trying to make history—they were trying to serve as evidence that leadership, knowledge, skill, and passion for the game are not defined by gender. Their journey began with a shared love of hockey and a deep desire to participate at every level in the sport, regardless of gender. They faced doubt, resistance, and even threats from outside their locker room when coaching men. But every win, every breakthrough, every moment where their players simply saw them as “coach”—not “female coach”—was a victory against the status quo. That same spirit of defiance, passion, and drive has propelled every initiative they’ve led. And that includes the Women’s Pro Hockey Seattle campaign, as it isn’t just about one team—it’s about a movement and building something enduring for the next generation as they have done for so many players.
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