Parent
WOMEN-IN-HOCKEY Digest 274
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) Re: ESPNET SportsZone Women's Hockey Article
by Andria Hunter
2) leagues and ages
by email@hidden (Christina McCormick)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 13:34:35 -0400
From: Andria Hunter
To: email@hidden
Subject: Re: ESPNET SportsZone Women's Hockey Article
Message-ID:
There has been some interest, so here's a
copy of the complete ESPNET SportsZone article.
Andria
------------
Olympics the first step toward legitimizing women's hockey
By David Albright
ESPNET SportsZone
BOSTON -- For the U.S. Olympic men's hockey team, the 1998 Olympics
represent a first-ever chance to compile a Dream Team to compete against the
world's best. For the women, just fielding a team, any team, represents the
realization of a dream.
Although women's hockey has been around for over 100 years -- the first
organized and recorded all-female ice hockey game was played in Ontario,
Canada, in 1892 -- it will make its Olympic debut at the 18th Winter Games
in Nagano, Japan.
For a sport that's seen meteoric growth this decade, inclusion in the
Olympics will give it a certain credibility. At least that's the thought and
hope of the sport's leaders who convened at The World Hockey Summit here
July 11-13.
"When they do get center stage at the Olympics, it's going to be the
springboard for women's hockey," said Ben Smith, who recently was named the
first-ever head coach of the U.S. Olympic women's ice hockey team. "I think
it will put women's hockey on the international map."
Exploding interest
Some might argue that it's not even currently on any map. But the numbers
tell a different story. There are more than 20,000 female players registered
with USA Hockey. While that represents a very small percentage of the
350,000-plus total players in this country, there were just 5,500 registered
females playing five years ago.
In terms of competition, women's hockey is mostly played at the club level
in the United States, but there are a couple of dozen colleges that offer it
as a varsity sport.
"We're classified as an emerging sport by the NCAA," said Cornell women's
coach Julie Andeberhan, who also serves as the president of the American
Women's Hockey Coaches Association. "That means we follow all of the rules
of the NCAA, but we don't have a championship. Hopefully that will change
soon."
A second look
On the international level, the U.S. team has finished second to Canada in
each of the three World Championships (1990, '92, '94). The other nations
that make up the forefront of women's hockey and who will compete in next
year's World Championships in Kitchener, Ontario, are: China, Finland,
Norway, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland.
But the real focus for everyone concerned is the '98 Olympics.
"They really want to continue their careers because of the Olympics," said
Finnish national coach Rauno Korpi. "Nagano means more publicity for women's
hockey, which is good for these athletes, because they make such a sacrifice
to play the sport."
Because of the scarcity of all-girls programs, a lot of girls are forced to
play with the boys during the early part of their development. According to
USA Hockey, about half of all the registered females play on boys' or men's
teams.
The American plan
The appointment of Smith, who spent the past five seasons coaching the men's
program at Northeastern University, to lead the U.S. national program is
major step in the recognition of women's hockey as a legitimate sport.
Smith's first exposure to the women's game was in 1972 when he helped coach
a team in his hometown of Gloucester, Mass. The majority of his coaching
experience is with the men, including assisting with the 1988 U.S. Olympic
team in Calgary. But there's something special about women's hockey,
according to Smith.
"The thing that really won me over was the type of dedication they have to
the sport," he said. "They want to be an Olympic athlete and play for their
country. It's been a long time since I've found true sport. The game is
played at a pure form."
And Smith thinks the Olympics is just the beginning. "This is the cusp of a
very big leap for the sport," he said. "I'm very excited about what just
happened in the Stanley Cup. With Florida and Colorado you have two new
markets. I think there will be some great players to come out of Florida and
California, the dense population centers.
"There's a misconception that you have to come from the upper Midwest or New
England to play the game. What we need is more college hockey, and I'm not
just talking the men. We need the bigger schools to take up hockey, and when
a Syracuse takes it up, they need to start both a men's and women's program.
It's going to happen."
Build it and they will come
In 1994, Minnesota became the first state to sanction girls' ice hockey as a
high school varsity sport, and 24 schools took part that first year. That
number grew to 47 last season and 63 schools have registered to field a team
next year. There's also legislation in Minnesota that would mandate 50
percent of available ice time would go to girls' and women's teams.
"It's a matter of resources," Andeberhan said. "When they're made available
then there's interest." There has even been some preliminary discussion of a
small professional league between Canada and the United States that would
aid in retaining players after their college eligibility is exhausted.
"I think a league of their own is inevitable," said Frank Lento, the
chairman of Canadian Hockey. "I don't know when, but somebody will see it as
a viable way to make money."
A professional league, while not out of the question, isn't exactly
realistic right now. Besides, it is Nagano that is the first big opportunity
to be experienced for women's hockey.
"The significance of the Olympics is tremendous," Andeberhan said. "There's
no NHL million-dollar contract waiting for them. This is their goal. This is
their dream."
One that's been a long time coming.
ESPNET SportsZone | NHL
Contact ESPNET SportsZone | SportsZone Index
[Copyright 1996 Starwave Corporation and ESPN Inc. All rights reserved.]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 96 23:10:37 GMT
From: email@hidden (Christina McCormick)
To: email@hidden
Subject: leagues and ages
Message-ID: <31EC216D@cmccorm>
Hello!
Sorry I haven't written for ages, but I've been kinda busy. Namely holidays!
Thanks for the response about the ratio of guys to girls, It's great!
Could people please explain to me how the leagues and ages in the US and Canada work?
I seriously can't figure it out!
Gotta go!
Christina McCormick
email@hidden
=====================================================================================
/ /
/ / ___ ___ ___ ___
/ / |\ /| | \ / \ | | \ | | | |\ | /
_______/ / | \/ | | | | | | | | |___| | | \ | \__
|________/ | | | | | | | |___/ | | | | \ | \
___ | |ELBOURNE |___/ \___/ |___ | | | | | \| ___/
|___|
CHRIS McCORMICK'S MELBOURNE DOLPHINS HOMEPAGE, COMING SOON!!!!
------------------------------
End of WOMEN-IN-HOCKEY Digest 274
*********************************