MEETING DEMAND FOR GIRLS' HOCKEY ICE STATION OFFERS NEW PROGRAMS.Byline: GIDEON RUBIN Special to the Daily News VALENCIA -- USA Hockey USA Hockey is recognized International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for amateur ice hockey in the United States and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. reports that girls' hockey is the sport's fastest growing demographic. Ice Station Valencia is taking action to accommodate that growth. It took the first step last summer, with weekly girls-only clinics that had about 10-12 girls at each session. The Ice Station now has about 40 girls preparing to compete on its Valencia Vipers teams at three levels: 19-under, 14-under and 12-under. The 14-under team is a travel team that will compete against teams of comparable ability in the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Amateur Hockey Association. The 19-under and 12-under teams will compete in Valencia's in-house program. Before last year, girls had to compete on in-house coed teams. All three teams will play in age-appropriate girls' tournaments throughout the season. ``Every year we've seen the interest grow,'' Ice Station director of hockey operations Larry Bruyere said. ``The girls' program is something that's really been a long time coming.'' Bruyere acknowledged the program is still in its infancy and is years away from fielding teams capable of competing against elite East Coast programs. But the Ice Station's commitment to girls' hockey is a significant development. It is among just four facilities offering such programs in California. The Huntington Beach Huntington Beach, city (1990 pop. 181,519), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast, across from Santa Catalina Island, in an oil-producing area; inc. 1909. It manufactures aerospace vehicles, aircraft parts, optical instruments, and heat transfer equipment. Cal Selects, Anaheim Lady Ducks and San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. Lady Sharks Sharks may refer to:
The only other facilities on the West Coast offering girls' hockey are based in Alaska and Phoenix. The program has already produced several talents of note. Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley resident Kira Rice, Canyon Country resident Samantha Holcombe and Nikki Sheu are among the 14-and-under team's top players. Sara Reza is among the 19-under team's top players. ``The goal is to establish competitive girls' programs at each level so the girls can come up through the development program and have something to aspire to aspire to verb aim for, desire, pursue, hope for, long for, crave, seek out, wish for, dream about, yearn for, hunger for, hanker after, be eager for, set your heart on, set your sights on, be ambitious for ,'' Bruyere said. ``These girls are the pioneers for the Lady Vipers of the future.'' The girls' program is having a fundraising carwash for all three divisions at the Ice Station on Sunday from 8 a.m. until at least 3 p.m. For more information contact Bruyere at the Ice Station office at 661-775-8686, Ext. 204. For the aged: The Red Wings red wings see combretum platypetalum. were crowned champions of the Ice Station's inaugural over-40 summer league after defeating the Rangers 4-2 in Thursday's title game. Ice Station owner Roger Perez scored two goals for the Red Wings. The over-40 program has players as old as 60. The Ice Station's adult program features advanced, intermediate and novice level 18-and-over teams, with most of those programs fielding teams of players in their 20s and 30s. ``They're still a number of older players who've played all their lives and still want to lace them up or started late in life and still want to play in a league but don't want to chase those whipper-snappers around the ice,'' Bruyere said. gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (ran in AV edition only) Kira Rice, an Antelope Valley resident, right, plays for Southern California Lady Vipers and is one of many girls who is starting to show interest in ice hockey ice hockey: see hockey, ice. ice hockey Game played on an ice rink by two teams of six players on skates. The object is to drive a puck (a small, hard rubber disk) into the opponents' goal with a hockey stick, thus scoring one point. . |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion