Female hockey facing off-ice obstacles

New US rule having unintended consequences

PLYMOUTH, Michigan, April 3, (AP): The best women’s hockey players in the US can now make a living playing the sport they love thanks to a landmark agreement with USA Hockey reached after a threat to boycott the world championship. The deal will likely help their counterparts north of the border make more money in their next Olympic agreement with Hockey Canada.

Even those who will benefit, though, acknowledge the off-ice fight isn’t over.

At every level of female hockey, from pre-teen girls to college to postgraduate players, there are obstacles.

“Women’s hockey has come a long way with the amount of teams that are popping up and support and visibility,” said Meghan Duggan, captain of the Americans’ team playing in the world championship. “I think it has a long way to go, and I’m excited to push it ahead. I’m certainly proud to be someone standing up for women’s hockey and really trying to get it to move forward. I look forward to see how far women’s hockey is going go.”

In a border town about 300 miles north of suburban Detroit, a new USA Hockey rule appears to be having unintended consequences for girls trying to find their stride.

The Soo Lady Lakers, an organization based in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, participated in the state’s Tier II 14-and-under tournament with just 11 girls that were mostly from Canada and 12 years old or younger. Beginning next season a USA Hockey rule states, no player 12 years or younger is eligible to play on a team intending or declared to compete in district or national championships.

Malory McCormick, who coached the Lakers at this year’s tournament, said the girls on her team that are not old enough to play 14U hockey next year have limited options. They can drive 2-plus hours, each way, to join a 12U team in Kalkaska, Michigan; play with 12U boys in their area; participate in house hockey with girls just learning how to skate; or quit playing the sport.

“It’s heartbreaking to tell the girls I don’t know what our team will look like next year,” McCormick said.

Kristen Wright, USA Hockey’s manager of girls’ player development, said the new rule was put in place for safety and development reasons because girls usually hit a growth spurt at about 13.

“The rule hasn’t gone into effect yet and we want to see what’s going to happen,” Wright said in a telephone interview Saturday night. “We think more good than bad will come up this, but we’ll review this over time and we’ll see how it changes the landscape of the game.”

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Patrick Eaves, Jakob Silfverberg and Korbinian Holzer also scored for the Ducks, who moved ahead of Edmonton into sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division. Ryan Kesler finished with three assists and Jonathan Bernier made 18 saves to improve to 10-0-2 in his past 12 games.

Kris Versteeg had two goals and Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary. TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano each had two assists and Brian Elliott finijshed with 30 saves.

Blues 4, Predators 1 In St Louis, Alexander Steen scored the tiebreaking goal early in the second period, David Perron had a goal and two assists, and St Louis prevented Nashville from clinching a playoff berth.

Vladimir Tarasenko and Joel Edmundson also scored, and Jake Allen stopped 35 shots as St Louis earned at least at point for the ninth straight game (7-0-2). Allen improved to 9-1-2 with two shutouts and 16 goals allowed his past 12 starts.

Islanders 4, Sabres 2 In Buffalo, New York, Anders Lee scored third-period goals a little more than five minutes apart, and New York overcame the absence of captain John Tavares to stay in the playoff hunt.

Cal Clutterbuck and Joshua Ho-Sang also scored and Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 shots to improve to 3-1 since being recalled from the minors.

Bruins 3, Blackhawks 2 In Chicago, backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 41 saves and Boston held on for its fifth straight win. Bieke van Nes (right), of The Netherlands fights for the puck with North Korea’s Jong Su Hyon during their IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division II Group A

game in Gangneung, South Korea on April 3. (AP)

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Lightning 6, Stars 3 In Tampa, Florida, Adam Erne scored twice and Ondrej Palat added a power-play goal and two assists as Tampa Bay beat Dallas.

Brayden Point scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to break a 2-2 tie, and Braydon Coburn and Anton Stralman also had goals for Tampa Bay. Backup Peter Budaj made 23 saves to help the Lightning move within three points of the idle Ottawa Senators, who hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Wild 5, Avalanche 2 In St Paul, Minnesota, Erik Haula had a goal and assist, Devan Dubnyk stopped 30 shots and Minnesota beat Colorado.

Martin Hanzal, Jared Spurgeon, Zach Parise and Jordan Schroeder also scored for Minnesota, which recovered from a tough 3-0 loss at Nashville a day earlier with a resounding win against the NHL’s worst team.

Sharks 3, Canucks 1 In Vancouver, British Columbia, Tomas Hertl scored twice in the first period and Martin Jones made 29 saves as San Jose beat Vancouver after losing Joe Thornton to an apparent injury to his left leg.

Patrick Marleau scored an empty-netter and Jannik Hansen picked up an assist in his return to Vancouver for the Sharks, who have won 11 straight regular-season games at Rogers Arena dating back to Jan 21, 2012.

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Alexander Burmistrov scored a power-play goal and Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists for the Coyotes, who followed up an impressive 6-3 win over Presidents’ Trophy-leading Washington by guaranteeing the Kings would miss the postseason for the second time in three seasons.