If a woman told you that she played hockey for Penn, you'd probably assume she was talking about field hockey. But Lisa Bard and Nicole Terry play ice hockey, a women's club sport at Penn that's been played at the Class of 1923 rink for a decade or so, but has gotten practically no attention.
That could change, as their sport gains higher visibility. Women's ice hockey will make its debut as an Olympic sport at Nagano, Japan in 1998, with the United States as a strong contender. It's also a varsity sport at six Ivy League schools, which avidly pursue some of the best women players in the United States and Canada. (Columbia is the other Ivy school that doesn't field a varsity team.)
Neither Bard, a junior goalie, nor Terry, a junior center, both from Massachusetts and co-captains of the team, is optimistic that Penn will field a varsity team any time soon. Terry believes that Penn "would never make women's ice hockey a varsity team unless they also made a men's team also." There's also the question of cost -- equipment and facilities don't come cheap -- and the lack of popularity of the women's sport in this region. While Philadelphia's National Hockey League team, the Flyers, enjoys strong fan support, the area isn't a hockey hotbed like New England.
Penn's team, consisting of 30 women, now practices at odd hours only twice a week. To raise the level of play to compete with talented Ivy League opponents, the Quakers would need a lot more ice time. "Ice is very expensive and the only way that we could practice enough to be a varsity team would be to take over the ice rink," Bard said. She doesn't think that would ever happen because the rink relies on revenue from the community as well as from Drexel and Widener Universities. Both universities have men's ice hockey teams that use the Class of 1923 Ice Rink for practices and games. The fees they pay are an important part of the rink's revenue.
This year, the Penn women will play 16 games with other college clubs, local clubs and even some local high school teams. The quality of teams on the schedule varies, in part because Terry wants to give novice players a chance to become aquainted with competitive play without being overwhelmed.
The Penn team is not the most experienced team, although a few members did play in high school. The players range from novices to those who have played the game for many years. Many of the women on the team are strong athletes who played some other varsity sport at Penn, but opted not to continue. "We have a lot of former field hockey and soccer players who want to stay active in a sport," Terry said.
But neither Terry nor Bard believe in rewarding those who do not show up for practice with playing time. "If you skip a lot of practices, you don't play," Bard said. Only 16 players are chosen to play in each game. Terry, who is in charge of the scheduling, says the four added games the club will play this year (in prior years they played only 12 games) will allow more women to play.
That's a woman wielding the hockey stick for Penn, and beneath that is the entire women's team.
Taking the whole team on the road is an expensive endeavor, and a lot of money is in short supply. SAC gives the team about $7,500 a year, but that barely covers ice time at home. Team members are responsible for the rest. To defray the cost of road trips and equipment, the team relies largely on fund-raising by selling hats and collecting dues -- each player is required to pay $105 a year.To cut down on road expenses, the Quakers usually stay with team members' families and always schedule multiple games on weekends. For example, when they go to Boston, they play both Boston University and M.I.T. Other opponents include Princeton's club team, Connecticut College and a fair number of women's teams in the New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington area. The ages of players on non-affiliated club teams range from 18 to 40 years old.
Women's ice hockey is played a lot like men's, but with one fundamental difference. There is no checking. The women's game is more of a passing game and relies a lot more on finesse than the men's game. The only other real difference is that women play three 15-minute periods instead of 20-minute ones.
While Bard and Terry are the leaders of the team and in charge of its operations, they are not the coaches. The team has two coaches who volunteer their time because they love the game.
The head coach, in his second year, is Chris Ritchie, who played ice hockey at the University of Scranton. Tim Wetherill, a second-year medical student at Jefferson, played hockey at Dartmouth.
Each coach concentrates on a different aspect. Wetherill works with the novice players, teaching them the fundamentals of hockey. His philosophy is to be "inspirational rather than preaching." Ritchie works with the advanced players. But both men agree that they want the team to become more aggressive and to go for their shots more. Ritchie believes that the most important thing is that there is "constant improvement from practice to practice and game to game."
The Quakers will play their second home game of the season on Nov. 16 at 10:45 a.m. when they take on the Grizzlies, a club from southern New Jersey.
Return to Compass Features for November 5, 1996