Young girl Golden in Jr. B debut
‘It’s kind of crazy,’ says 15-year-old goalie after getting win for hometown Rockets
Izzy Palumbo’s first start in Junior B was pretty respectable.
Picked by her coaches to start Saturday night against the Columbia Valley Rockies, the 15-year-old girl from Golden backstopped her hometown Rockets to a 7-4 win in Kootenay International Junior Hockey League action. Yes, 15. And yes, a girl. It was also just the third win of the season for the Rockets.
Palumbo isn’t the first girl to play in a boys’ junior game in Canada — Jaydlin Spooner played twice for Campbell River of the Vancouver Island Junior B circuit, while Shannon Szabados starred for four seasons in the Alberta Junior A league — but this Golden girl has to be among the youngest, if not the youngest, to suit up in a boys’ junior game.
“It’s kind of crazy,” Palumbo said over the phone Sunday. “I thought it was pretty cool getting the start, especially at home.”
She had some nerves when she first stepped on the ice to warm up, but then realized it was not far off from the scene she saw last year playing for Team B.C., and she quickly calmed down.
Having played with boys for most of her hockey career, she was mostly unfazed heading into the challenge, even when she realized there would be some big boys firing shots her way.
“I did think a little about there being 20-year-olds out there,” she said, but then pointed out she’s been playing with 17-year-olds this season, having stepped up to midget hockey.
Head coach Jason Stephens said she earned the chance to start.
“She’s been practising with us for a 11/2 months now,” Stephens said.
“She’s been practising really well. She does all the right things as a goaltender.”
Age and ability were the only question marks when they first signed Palumbo as an affiliate player early in the season; gender never even entered the equation.
“If you can play, you can play. The gap between the boys’ game and the girls’ game is changing. Goaltending-wise, you see more and more, girls are playing it at a higher and higher level.
“Our league is about developing players, helping them find their way as a player.”
As an affiliate player, Palumbo is only allowed to suit up for five games this season, but Golden has only nine games left and the team has two goalies it has relied on all season through thick and mostly thin.
Stephens knows his team’s 3-321 record is a key factor that will be looked at in deciding whether to bring him back or not, but the way his players have kept their spirits up over the year was where he said he would hang his hat.
“These kids have never given up, they’ve never laid down. This team has no quit. They keep going and going. That makes me proud.”
Palumbo’s midget team is in Revelstoke, a two-hour drive over Rogers Pass, so getting to play her first Junior B game at home, in front of her parents and other relatives, was pretty special.
“They were pretty happy,” she said about her parents’ reaction to her getting called up to play in a game that would feature a handful of 20-year-old men.
Her family was so excited, some even made the trip from Alberta.
“I had one or two uncles crying, one or two aunties crying. They were so happy.”
She first started playing hockey when she was four; her dad got her started as a goalie when she was seven.
“My dad was a goalie and he got me into it.”
And when she started playing in net, Roberto Luongo was starring for the Vancouver Canucks. He was an easy choice as her favourite goalie.
But with his departure to Florida in 2014, Marc-Andre Fleury became her No. 1.
She enjoyed watching the Penguins play, and the way Fleury starred in net caught her eye.
Now, even though he’s a Vegas Golden Knight, she’s still a fan.
“I’m a Pittsburgh and Vegas fan now.”