New award for a champion of girls hockey
Andria Hunter represented Canada at world hockey championships and starred at University of New Hampshire but she wonders if it would have happened without Marg Todd.
The Otonabee Girls Hockey Association unveiled the Marg Todd Award at their awards banquet Sunday in Keene. It will be presented annually to a “Champion of Girls Hockey.”
The inaugural winner was Todd herself.
Todd, 73, never played hockey but was a pioneer in Otonabee for getting girls hockey started in the early 1980s.
She battled to get girls ice-time at a time when there were only boys leagues. She sold programs and advertising and organized bottle drives to raise funds for girls equipment, to help girls who couldn’t afford to play and pay tourney entry fees and hotel bills.
She started as manager but took over coaching a girls team that won five consecutive Ontario championships led by players like Hunter and Elaine Devlin.
“She had a loving side and a real competitive side,” said Hunter, 50, who is Todd’s niece. “She had a way of making every player on the team feel important. She’d come around the dressing room and tighten everyone’s skates. She used that as an opportunity to squeeze in some words of encouragement or advice. She was a really good bench coach. Driven and competitive but she had that soft side, too.”
Hunter said she was scouted for Team Canada while at New Hampshire. She’s convinced she wouldn’t have got to the NCAA without Todd. Otonabee won the provincial bantam A title, when A was the highest level, but when they entered midget the next year were classified a C team because of their small population. Hunter said Todd entered them in tournaments against A teams including a big event in Brampton where Hunter was scouted by New Hampshire coach Russell McCurdy. Provincial organizers relented and put them in A where they won their second of five gold medals.
“That’s what really started my career,” Hunter said.
Devlin, 53, said she was 12 and loved hockey and badly wanted to give up figure skating but never knew girls hockey existed until Todd informed her parents.
“If it wasn’t for Marg I wouldn’t have known,” Devlin said. “I always thank her for letting my parents know.
“Marg let people know wom- en’s hokey was out there and made us all feel like it was something we should embrace. It was at a time and age where people thought, ‘Oh, there is girls hockey?’ Yes, there was and we were having a great time. She believed we could have fun, play hockey and make friends. She always encouraged us and believed in us.”
Todd had no idea she was getting the honour.
“I was surprised,” she said. “Pretty much all the girls I coached were there and I still never caught on. I thought they were there for something else. It was lovely and something I never expected.”
Todd said she was motivated by a love of the sport and daughters Kathy and Cheryl’s desire to play.
“And the girls I had were just amazing,” Todd said. “I really enjoyed coaching them. We were like a big family.”