USA Hockey Adult Hockey

Yes, Texas women do play hockey.

When Kendall Hanley, director of hockey at Allen Community Ice Rink in Texas, organized a clinic for women as a part of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Girls’ Hockey Weekend, women hit Texas highways for more than an hour to go to the event.

Amie Nance and her figure skating daughter, 10-year-old Natalie, arrived from the northeastern Dallas suburb of Royse City.

Chrissy Burton drove for 70 minutes to get her hour on the ice.

“In my family,” she said, “everybody plays hockey. My little brother plays hockey, my dad plays, my uncle plays. And I just got my husband into it recently. Hockey’s just like my sport. When I saw [the announcement of the women’s hockey clinic], that’s kind of cool.”

The clinic, which was led by Hanley and Katie Holmgren, USA Hockey’s coordinator for women’s adult hockey, attracted 40 girls and women of all ages. Of the 40, 24 were women.

Allen was one of nearly 120 locations in the United States that took part in the third annual IHHF World Girls’ Hockey Weekend. Worldwide, the event has introduced hockey experiences to thousands of women and girls. The event in Allen was held Oct. 13.

USA Hockey’s Adult First Goal Program provided 24 sets of women‘s hockey equipment that Hanley said would also be used for future clinics in Allen.

“It was awesome,” Hanley said. “Just a really empowering day for the sport, especially in this area.”

The clinic included four coaching stations where the women learned to do such things as hold a stick properly, shoot pucks at a net, pass back and forth between participants, and how to get back up on their feet quickly after falling to the ice. For some of the women, it was their first time skating on ice.

“They all picked it up pretty quick,” Hanley said.

Hanley, who played hockey at Elmira College and State University of New York at Oswego, is a highly placed referee in addition to her work in Allen. She was on the referee crew at the recent Four Nations Cup international women’s tournament in Lake Placid, N.Y. Hanley said the mother of one of her referee colleagues also participated in the Allen clinic.

“It was very nice,” said Amie Nance, who previously learned how to skate. “I wish it had lasted a little bit longer, but it was nice to get out there. How helpful they were, all the different stations they had to help you practice trying to hit the puck and all that. It was nice.”

Amie and Natalie Nance were one set of mother-and-daughter combinations. Natalie trains at the ice rink as a figure skater but changed to hockey skates for the clinic.

“They came out together [and] had a blast,” Hanley said.

The clinic clearly achieved what Hanley had hoped because by the end of the session some of the women were chatting and exchanging contact information. Some might choose to play in an adult women’s league.

“Especially in Texas it’s hard to find other girls that like hockey,” Burton said. “To me, that was just cool to meet some girls that have the same desire for the game.”

“I would love to do it,” said Nance, who attends Dallas Stars National Hockey League home games.

Hanley has run a women’s hockey skills program in the spring and summer and coaches an over-40 women’s team. Last year a clinic was held for girls between the ages of 9 and 14, but this year the clinic received assistance from USA Hockey and included adult women.

“It was pretty cool to see a few of the women actually wanting to exchange contact information after,” Hanley said.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.