Bay season saved with influx of female players

The Bay Rockets were hoping that they would have a 2018-19 season late last fall. Things were looking bleak, as they had six returning players signed up for hockey. Coach Ian Skacan did some heavy recruiting before the season and managed to get eight new players. Of the eight, five are girls who had never played hockey before. All eight have seen the ice. From the brink of eliminating the program to what they now have — the Rockets are thankful. “The season has been a little challenging but we’ve come such a long way,” Skacan said. “The new players are learning the game quickly.” Skacan set a deadline of Oct. 26 to recruit enough players on the team or the season would get eliminated. His goal was to have 11 total players.

Skacan went to lunch at the school, set up a table and brought the new team jerseys along with informational packages. The Friday before the season started, Athletic Director Matt Spellman and Skacan held a meeting for anyone on the fence. The selling point was easy for Skacan. He told everyone that whether they start or not, they’ll see ice time, and it’s a fast-paced game with not a whole lot of stoppages. In that meeting, a few more girls showed up. One of them was junior Lauren Schwartz, who eventually joined the team and had to step in as goalie for two games after the starter broke his hand. “It was a little nervewracking at first going into a team with boys from my school I didn’t know that well,” Schwartz said. “As soon as I joined, I grew such a passion for hockey. The boys have been so supportive.” Schwartz didn’t have a skating background, so she had to learn the nuances of the sport on the fly. She competes in lacrosse and cross country and normally plays left and right wing, but is looking to transition into a goalie fulltime. “Winning more games is obviously a goal and just growing as a player,” she added. In a sport that’s dominated by males, Schwartz wants to see more females give it a go. “Just because it was a guys team at my school doesn’t mean you should shy away from what you really want to do,” Schwartz said. “I think the boys on my team have been so accepting. It’s really helped my journey of being a hockey player.” Skacan is in his second season at Bay and 10th overall between Pittsburgh and the Cleveland area. Despite unusual circumstances, he still wants to win. Bay is 5-16 but Skacan is pushing his team for more. “There are times where I think we could have snuck out a win when we didn’t,” he said. “And those are still tough to handle. We still expect to get the result we want, but we’re also understanding of exactly what our expectations should be.”

Schwartz