Girls programs showing promise across US
ARLINGTON, VA. >> Megan Grenon stretched outside the rink before a rare showcase of women's hockey in the Washington, D.C, area when a young girl approached with her parents.
“Are you a hockey player? Are you playing today?” the girl asked.
“Yeah,” Grenon replied. “Are you here to watch me?”
Grenon plays for Calgary with the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association, which has set a goal of establishing a sustainable professional league in North America after years without one. Grenon said she would be wearing No. 5 in white that day, and the young girl jumped up and down in excitement.
“You can cheer for me,” Grenon said. “You can cheer for whoever you want.”
Scenes like that are playing out more often across the country since the U.S. women's national team won gold at the 2018 Olympics and generated more exposure for the sport. There will be NHL playoff hockey starting next week in Dallas, Tampa, Nashville, Raleigh and Washington, D.C., where girls hockey has expanded over the past decade but still lags far behind traditional hotbeds like Massachusetts, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Because of logistical hurdles, from a shortage of rinks and ice time to a lack of college and varsity high school programs and the need for more education, growing girls hockey in nontraditional markets remains a challenge. The 3,177 female players aged 18 and younger registered by USA Hockey in Texas, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia combined is still fewer than in Wisconsin alone.
The NHL's Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals are also trying to do their part to get participation numbers up in those areas — and similar efforts are taking place in Arizona and elsewhere around the league. The number of girls playing hockey in those states is up 71.3% from 2011 to 2021.
But the raw numbers still show a need for growth. Minnesota reported almost 13,000 girls playing hockey last year, and that total reaches 28,206 combined with Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Michigan.
USA Hockey regional manager of female hockey Kristen Wright, who spent five years as manager of girls player development, is proud of the sport's rapid growth at the youth level in nontraditional markets and thinks it can be even better with more exposure and ice time.
Nashville director of amateur hockey Kristen Bowness, Tampa Bay hockey development ambassador Kelley Steadman and Carolina girls' and women's youth and amateur hockey specialist Alyssa Gagliardi all cited a lack of ice rinks as one of the major hurdles. While watching a women's hockey event at the Washington Capitals practice facility last month, Sidhu echoed those concerns.
“Where do we put new girls or new kids that want to play?” said Sidhu, who has coached girls and women's hockey since the late 1980s and is director of the Washington Pride program in the D.C. area. “We're pretty maxed out on all our ice time at every rink that we have, so that's a bit of a challenge. When you compare us to other big metropolitan areas, we're still pretty low, infrastructure-wise, on rinks.”
Hence the need for programs like Canes Girls Youth Hockey and All Caps All Her, launched by the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals, respectively, last year.
The Capitals have seen an influx of youth hockey since Alex Ovechkin became the face of the franchise in 2005 and ushered in an era of success culminating with the organization's first championship in 2018. While Capitals VP of marketing Amanda Tischler said the “Ovechkin Effect” is real in boosting participation, the team needed to go further than the learnto-play programs that were in place.
Canes Girls Youth Hockey is similarly providing a pathway in North Carolina, where players can go into a development program and play in house leagues or at the junior level to stay in the game. There's also an under-19 team that can keep girls around longer instead of forcing them to leave the area to go to prep school for hockey.
A lack of high school varsity girls and college women's hockey programs in nontraditional markets is also an issue. Given the lack of one major women's pro league, like the WNBA or National Women's Soccer League, colleges provide the most consistent action aside from the Olympics every four years and the annual world championship.