‘You’re not alone’
Western Pa. hockey goalie receives big show of support after vulgar chants directed at her
The female goalie on the Mars High School boys hockey team declined media interviews after Monday night’s game. She hasn’t spoken publicly ever since the Armstrong student section hurled horrible chants of a vulgar and sexual nature at her during a game last week.
But the goalie’s silence is OK — because the magnificent reception she received from the packed house of 1,000 fans at the UPMC Lemieux Center said enough. The spectators gave her a rousing welcome when she came on the ice and cheered when she made a save, and there were several handmade signs with words of encouragement.
The 8-1 loss to South Fayette didn’t seem to matter all that much, because everything revolved around this one Mars Planet.
On a night when the Steelers were on national television, people of all ages still decided to come to Cranberry to show support to a high school junior girl who got caught in the middle of a story that has drawn national attention. The New York Times and NBC’s “Today Show” have called representatives of the Mars hockey team and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League in recent days, hoping to get interviews with the goaltender. The Post-Gazette has decided not to identify her.
“The gravity of what happened and then to see this kind of support, it makes you feel good and makes her feel good,” Mars coach Steve Meyers said.
A bright yellow sign was taped on the plexiglass near the blue line Monday. It had a photo of a lion next to the words, “She Overcame Everything That Was Meant To Destroy Her.”
Across the other side of the ice, there were 17 small homemade signs on the glass that members of the Pens Elite girls travel team had made. The Mars goalie, wearing No. 71 with the strawberry blonde hair hanging from the back of her mask, had to have noticed some of the signs.
“We Play For Change.”
“You Are Not Alone.”
“We Love You.”
“No. 71 On The Ice — No. 1 In Our Hearts.”
Jeff Mitchell, the president of the Mars hockey association who has a son on the team, said, “When the Steelers are playing a home game and all these people who don’t really have a vested interest come to support a female goaltender, it really is something. ... I’ve been choked up a few times in the past week, just of how the team and people in general are supporting her.”
The Penguins had the goalie and her Mars teammates at the team’s game Saturday.
Since the game last week, Armstrong students in grades 7-12 have been banned from attending any middle school, junior varsity or varsity games the rest of the season. The school also issued disciplinary action against students involved in the chants, although Armstrong administrators won’t reveal the discipline.
John Mucha, commissioner of the PIHL, said female players from Johnstown came to Monday’s game.
“After I heard what happened,
I couldn’t help but come and support her,” said Alexis Claycomb, a 13-year-old student in the Shaler School District who also is a goaltender for a Pens Elite team. About 20 members of Pens Elite teams stood next to the glass and watched the game. Alexis has played on boys teams since she was 6 and she also plays on the Shaler boys middle school team.
“It definitely hit a little spot when I heard about this,” Alexis said. “I didn’t really believe it at first.
“When I first started playing, the boys were always very accepting of me. As I got older, I could tell they would rather have a boy goalie.. ... It’s hard to feel part of a boys team sometimes, but they try their best with me, so I appreciate it.”
Many from girls teams all over the Pittsburgh area were in the crowd Monday. Tennille Dowlin, of Canonsburg, brought her 9-year-old daughter, Kari, and three of her Pens Elite teammates to the game.
“[Kari] can identify because she was on a boys team last season and some boys said some inappropriate things to her,” Dowlin said. “She bugged me all week long to be here.”
Tess Krotine, 10, of Sewickley, is a teammate of Kari Dowlin. She was very articulate in explaining her feelings about the Mars goaltender.
“Boys think they can do whatever they want because we’re girls. Well, they can’t. It’s important to show that we care,” Tess said. “It’s really not OK what those [Armstrong] kids did. It’s important to have girls playing sports. She is like a role model to other girls because she ended up fighting through what they said to her.”
But according to Mars’ coach, his goaltender hopes this story is over.
“At the Penguins game the other night, it was nice to see her smiling and having a good time with the team,” Meyers said. “It was nice to see her just being a kid. This has definitely weighed on everybody. She’s been going through a challenging situation. To get this kind of attention, I think we’re all looking forward to things dying down.”