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Women’s Team Comes Full Circle

By Harry Thompson - Editor, USA Hockey Magazine, 06/25/13, 1:45PM MDT

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The present and future of women’s hockey sat collectively on a stage Monday morning inside a Lake Placid, N.Y. convention hall.

The 25 members of the newly appointed U.S. Women’s National Team were joined by an equal number of young girls, ranging in ages from 8 to 13, from various local youth hockey associations.

They were there not only to salute their heroes but also to bring home the point that while so much attention is focused at U.S. Olympic Teams, USA Hockey is, first and foremost, a youth hockey organization.

Over the years, the Colorado Springs-based organization has been a leader in promoting and providing opportunities for females of all ages and skill levels to enjoy the game. And over a relatively short span of time, it has seen its numbers swell to more than 66,000.

“We’re very proud of what we’ve done for the women’s game,” USA Hockey Executive Director Dave Ogrean said in his opening remarks on Monday. “When we started we wanted to eliminate the gap with Canada, and we’ve done that.”

After coming up short in the first eight IIHF Women’s World Championships, which started in 1990 in Ottawa, the U.S. Women’s National Team finally cracked the code and beat the Canadians in 2005. Since then they have taken home four of the last six, including this year in a return to Ottawa.

On the Olympic front, the U.S. took home the gold medal in the inaugural competition in 1998, but has since finished second twice (2002 and 2010) and a stunning third in the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy.

But it’s on the home front where so much has been done. As Ogrean pointed out, USA Hockey has consistently taken the lead in creating new opportunities for women, from the creation of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, which is presented annually to the top player in women’s college hockey, to launching the first college national championships.

More importantly, it’s been on the grass-roots level that the real opportunities have been created. For most of the women sitting on the stage in their blue National Team jerseys, their earliest opportunities to play were on boys’ teams.

Many attribute that level of competition with speeding up their development as they learned to adapt to the faster and more physical style of play.

“Boys hockey helped me to develop at a very young age. I loved the aggressive style and to be able to hit people” said 26-year-old defenseman Kacey Bellamy.

“But I really love playing girls hockey. I love the friendships that I’ve developed with these girls. You get to play hockey with your best friends, day in and day out.”

Jincy Dunne, the youngest member of the National Team at 16, played on a boys’ team up until a few seasons ago, and helped lead the St. Louis Jr. Blues to the semifinals of the 2012 USA Hockey Tier I 14 & Under National Championships in Amherst, N.Y. But now, the O’Fallon, Mo., native is looking forward to learning from the best players in the women’s game.

“It’s an honor,” Dunne said. “As the youngest player on the team I’m looking forward to playing with the veteran players and having them show me what to do and how to do it.”

In the eyes of most experts, the days of girls having to play on boys’ teams so they can develop their skills against better competition are quickly fading. From Assabet Valley and the Connecticut Polar Bears in the east, to Team Illinois and Little Caesars in the central part of the country, to the Colorado Selects and all the great California programs out west, girls hockey is improving at an astounding pace.

And while the players sitting on the stage are heroes for many young girls playing the game, there is another generation of players that deserve the respect and admiration of all hockey players.

During one of her rare on-ice appearances during the Selection Camp, U.S. Head Coach Katey Stone stopped practice and introduced the group to Kelly Dyer Hayes, a goaltender on the first U.S. Women’s National Team.

“It’s important to remember all those who came before you,” Stone said.

That sentiment was not lost on Julie Chu, the oldest member of the squad.  

“The people that came first, the ones from 1990 who weren’t on the ’98 [Olympic] Team, they’re the ones who got this started and why we’re here today,” said Chu, who is looking to make her fourth Olympic Team.

“All the ones who worked so hard behind the scenes to give us this opportunity. That’s why we wear these jerseys with so much pride. It’s our job to honor those players who came before us.”

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