A league of their own
Local all-girls hockey back to give players reprieve from ‘stupid boys’
Layers were a must for the 50 or so hockey stick-slinging girls inside the chilly Aerodrome Ice Skating Complex Sunday morning.
While it’s an unusual hobby in hot, humid Houston, Natalia Brown, 12, and Avery Cain and Maddox Zeck — both 11 — have found their niche in ice hockey.
“I like pushing people around,” Avery said.
Girls account for less than 20 percent of youth hockey players in the Houston area. Nationwide, female players have grown to more than 83,000 from just 5,500 three decades ago, according to USA Hockey estimates.
The girls on Sunday packed the rink in the Willowbrook area during the Houston Girls Hockey Association’s registration event and workshop — an attempt to recruit more girls to the sport.
In one corner, a group practiced kicking a soccer ball on skates. Others passed a puck up the rink. A 7-year-old, among the smallest and youngest in the group, hugged the wall.
Many of the girls, organizers said, were familiar with the sport through an older sibling or a parent who grew up in wintery regions. Others started with figure skating.
Amy Good, the group’s vice president, said some families had been unaware that Houston has a hockey following. And now, nearly 100 girls play the sport, she said. Four or five all-girl teams are expected
to form after the weekend registration, which also included an event Saturday at a Sugar Land rink.
Teams of girls, whose ages range from 7 to 18, will compete against each other and co-ed groups during the season that runs from September to March.
After the Houston-based Herricanes, an all-girls program, ended in 2015 after a decade, some girls joined co-ed teams, but dropped out in their later teens as boys got bigger and stronger. Youth teams with boys and girls in later years integrate checking — which is when players use their bodies to shove an opponent
away from the puck.
Eric Kimmel’s 9-year-old daughter, Hallie Kimmel, took after her older brother and wanted to play hockey. But the dad expressed frustration on her behalf.
During a recent game on a team of mostly boys, she was relegated to playing defense and rarely passed the puck. She much prefers to play forward and center positions.
“She was bawling, crying. She missed her friends,” he said, as Hallie skated in the rink. “A boy takes that for granted.”
The arena buzzer then blared, signaling Hallie and others to step off the ice. Still geared up, she volunteered why driving down from The Woodlands to play with other girls meant so much to her.
“The best part is not playing
with the stupid boys,” Hallie said. “The boys kept me on defense — you don’t get a lot of fun out of it.”
One veteran coach, who started playing nearly three decades ago in Canada, expressed amusement at the differences in how the girls and boys play. It all comes down to finesse, she said.
“It’s funny when they play the boys,” coach Lisa Flanagan said. “The boys are used to checking, and the girls just skate around them.”
Another coach anticipates a boost in confidence for the girls.
“They can be their best selves on the ice,” said Emily Mooij, who coaches girls 10 years and younger.