Hockey: The coolest game on ice
Girls' and women's ice hockey is flourishing in the United States. In 1990 (when USA Hockey first began keeping track) there were only about 6,000 registered female players. In 1998, women's ice hockey made its Olympic debut. The gold-medal success of the U. S. Women's National Team in Nagano resulted in a huge surge of interest. In 2000 women's hockey became an NCAA sport. By 2007, there were over 57,000 registered female players.
I first wanted to play when I was nine, in 1974 when the Philadelphia Flyers won the Stanley Cup. Back then, there were no opportunities for girls to play organized hockey in our area (though I did participate in an informal girls' clinic in 8th grade). For more ice time, I actually took figure skating lessons. Not that I had any interest in that, but because we were allowed to use the rink afterwards for practice--and I just always happened to have my stick, gloves and puck with me. Hmmm.
My first week of college in Philadelphia, I was thrilled to see a notice in the school paper for a women's club team. Somehow, I fell into the position of goaltender (I think their regular goalie graduated) and that is where I stayed for the next four years. We had a blast, taking van rides up to Newark, NJ (worst rink EVER) and down to Delaware.
After college, I took a long hiatus for medical school, internship, and residency. It is just not possible to skate while studying or working 80 to 120 hours per week. Once I settled into my career, though, I really wanted to play again. I joined the Philadelphia Freeze, a local women's team in the Mid Atlantic Women's Hockey League. I played for the Freeze for eight seasons.
For the past five years, I've been with the Americans, a team in the United Women's Hockey League. There are nine teams in our division, hailing from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. We play at the USA Hockey Women’s Senior C level. For the 2007-08 season, our team record was 7-6-1. We finished fourth in the regular season, but defeated the first place (undefeated) team in a divisional playoff and ended up finishing second overall. Last season we didn’t do as well (3-8-5), but we had just as much fun as ever!!
Here is a quote from USA Hockey Magazine that for me, really describes what the game is all about:
Double click above to see an album of my hockey pics
Why would anyone in their right mind want to play hockey?
The answer can be found in all the reasons you decided to play hockey in the first place. It’s the feel of gliding across a fresh sheet of ice, the sensation of catching a tape-to-tape pass, the feeling of a puck rocketing off your stick, the locker room laughter, camaraderie on the bench, and the thrill of scoring a goal.
It’s a game that stays with you no matter your age, occupation or address. It creates lasting memories and forms lifelong friendships. It can teach you about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, sometimes on the same shift,. It’s about individual effort and teamwork, sportsmanship and intensity. It’s a great game to watch and even more fun to play.
And everything else is just details.
Women’s hockey links: