Growing up, Grace Fisher loved skating on ice, but she didn’t
want to glide across it as a figure skater. She wanted to
play the fast-paced and physical game of ice hockey like her
dad and older brother. So as an 8-year-old, she began her
career in the sport, eventually earning a spot on the
competitive Washington Pride, a junior-league women’s ice
hockey team and the area’s premier all-girls hockey club.
Now a junior at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington,
Fisher was the sole girl on the O’Connell boys ice hockey
team last season.
Starting next year, though, Fisher will be joined by about 12
other girls on the only female varsity high school ice hockey
team in Virginia. Under the direction of coach Brianna
Murphy, an interim girls team will play this winter before
the inaugural 2015-16 season.
The new team is the vision of Flip Collins, director of the
O’Connell ice hockey program and head coach for varsity boys
ice hockey.
Hired last year, Collins knew he wanted to build the hockey
program. But when he was recruiting for the boys team, he met
a lot of families with girls who wanted to play hockey, as
well. With no nearby playing options for the girls, parents
would sometimes send their son to a local school and their
daughter to a school in Maryland or Washington.
“Now if a family wants to send their children to a Catholic
school, they can send both to the same one,” said Collins.
The ability to field a full team reflects growing female
interest in the sport. Since the first Women’s World
Championship in 1990, the number of females registered with
USA Hockey – the governing body for organized amateur ice
hockey in the United States – has grown from around 6,300 to
more than 65,700 today. While USA Hockey does not include
girls high school teams, the numbers show a trend.
Murphy grew up playing on a boys team in Buffalo, N.Y.,
because there were no other options; now there’s an entire
girls league. “There’s definitely a growing interest in girls
hockey, and I think in the next five years you’ll have some
more Virginia teams,” said Murphy, who also coaches the boys
varsity 2 team, similar to junior varsity.
According to Collins, there are two main challenges to
building girls teams: limited ice time and cost. Unlike
basketball courts and soccer fields that are tucked into most
neighborhoods, ice rinks are harder to find and often full.
The O’Connell teams practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in
Arlington, which costs $550 for an hour and a half. O’Connell
has received some financial help from donors, but families
have to cover most expenses.
The interim team began practices Nov. 24, with the first game
against Georgetown Visitation Nov. 30.
Fisher will play with the varsity 2 team, as well as on the
interim team and the Washington Pride. Four other players
also will play on the two O’Connell teams and their traveling
club teams.
“We are a complementary program to travel teams,” said
Collins, so the girls need not miss club practices or games.
Yet a high school team offers seasoned players an experience
travel teams can’t, he added.
“Unfortunately no one watches girls hockey at the club level.
Now they’ll feel what it’s like to have classmates and
friends cheering them on.”
Alongside the experienced players, novices will round out the
new team, and practices will be geared toward them, said
Collins. Fisher looks forward to playing with more girls and
said a focus on game fundamentals will help her, too. “We’ll
get to work on things we usually don’t get to,” she said.
The inaugural team will be part of the Mid-Atlantic Girls
Hockey League, which currently includes five teams from
Maryland: Academy of the Holy Cross, Holton-Arms, Archbishop
Spalding, Bryn Mawr and St. Timothy’s.
Hockey is a unique sport in a lot of ways, said Collins.
Along with athleticism and “hockey sense,” you need a hefty
dose of courage and determination. “You’re going to get up on
the ice, and you’re going to fall down again and again and
again,” he said. “Every kid who steps onto the ice for the
first time falls down. Some quit at that point because they
are embarrassed. (To be good at hockey), you use that same
determination that helped you pick yourself up to help you
get the puck from the other team.”
Fisher said she thinks the new O’Connell program will
introduce more girls to this unique and “very fun” sport. “I
hope it will help many more girls be interested in playing,”
she said, “and help them to see how great it is.”
Find out more
Email coach Flip
Collins or coach Brianna Murphy.
