The Fearless, Frozen Females of Hockey

When the Pegula family proudly made their generous donation to create the Penn State ice hockey program, no one could have foreseen the scandal that would rock the university. As a new ice hockey program competing at the NCAA Division I level is hurled into the same throes as an expansion team in the National Hockey League, trying to escape the dark shadow of a tragic event only adds obstacles to the task of building a team. For the Penn State Nittany Lions, their beginnings are mired against the backdrop of a football coaching scandal that crippled the football program while giving the university a black eye. In the wake of these events, every program will be under intense scrutiny. In the case of Penn State, it can only hope that it does not endure the same beginning as its sister team in the CHA, the Robert Morris Colonials. In its inaugural season, the club had a dismal 1-7-0 start and head coach Kevin McGonagle was dismissed. Tragically, any athlete or team associated with th...

During the offseason, a low key event occurred that may have long term ramifications for USA Hockey. While Canada celebrated gold at the 2012 IIHF Women’s Worlds in Burlington, Vermont, the Minnesota Golden Gophers attended a Minnesota Twins game, Shannon Miller became a United States citizen. Having won five Frozen Four titles with the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, Miller is one of the most respected coaches in NCAA history. As a member of the Ethics Committee for US women's college hockey, and the NCAA Division 1 Championships Committee, Miller is as influential as she is accomplished. Using great acumen in her duties as head coach, Miller has helped open the doors to many. She hired legendary goaltender and one-time pop culture icon Manon Rheaume to be the Bulldogs goaltending coach. Before Caroline Ouellette and Julie Chu won the Clarkson Cup together for the Montreal Stars, the two served on her coaching staff for the 2007-08 Bulldogs Frozen Four title team. Quite possibly, ...

When the Boston Blades announced that they were hiring legendary NCAA coach Digit Murphy (formerly of Brown University), it sent a message throughout the realm of women’s hockey that the Canadian Women’s Hockey League is ready to truly become the greatest women’s league in the world. The magnitude of such an announcement would be the equivalent of Mike Krzyzewski (the Duke University basketball coach) coaching the Los Angeles Lakers, or Bobby Bowden (the former Florida State football coach) joining the Dallas Cowboys. While the rivalry (and mutual respect) between the Boston Blades and the Montreal Stars is not as visceral as the Boston Bruins – Montreal Canadiens rivalry in the NHL, Murphy gives the Blades the opportunity to usurp the Stars grip on the Clarkson Cup sooner, rather than later. In a draft that saw the only US based franchise acquire Hilary Knight, one of the most talented players in the world, 2012 NCAA Frozen Four champions Anne Schleper and Jen Schoullis, plus the g...

As women’s ice hockey continues to grow in the early 21st Century, one of the most prominent figures in helping to expand the game, while widening its reach globally is still a player herself. Current Boston Blades player (and former Connecticut Huskies star) Jaclyn Hawkins deserves to be part of The Hockey News List of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential People in Hockey. Having grown up in Manotick, Ontario (near Ottawa, Ontario, the capital of Canada), Hawkins played at the high school level with Chelsea Grills, a future star for the St. Lawrence Skating Saints. After leaving Canada’s capital region for a new life at The Taft School in Connecticut, Hawkins graduated to the University of Connecticut. In continuing the tradition of Canadian greats who excel at the NCAA, Hawkins captured the Hockey East Rookie of the Year Award, and the USCHO.com Rookie of the Year in 2005, respectively. One of the highlights of her career with the Huskies was scoring a Hockey East record three po...

A generation ago, the builders of women’s hockey, icons and figures like Fran Rider, Nancy Drolet, Samantha Holmes, Andria Hunter, and France St. Louis, toiled in obscurity while setting the table for future generations of women. Eventually, figures such as Cammi Granato, Angela James, and Justine Blainey would become household names, but their stories were ignored for too long. In modern women’s hockey, the aforementioned were the first silent heroes of the game. In the early years of the 21st Century, players like Hayley Wickenheiser and Angela Ruggiero are in the same realm as Sidney Crosby and Wayne Gretzky. Despite the quantum leap that women’s ice hockey has taken in the last 20 years, every generation still has its players that left a unique, indelible mark on the game. Said mark may not have been made on the ice, but their actions had a remarkable effect on many others. The silent heroes may walk down the street and go unnoticed. Their actions may have a tremendous role in...

In the nascent history of the CWHL Draft, a large source for its talent has emanated from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. One of the aspects of any sporting league’s amateur draft is the quality of talent that emerges from a handful of schools. The respectable percentage of talent produced at a specific school also becomes a key recruiting aspect. Many franchises in pro basketball have found their building blocks based on the superstars that were developed at Duke University and the University of North Carolina (notably Michael Jordan and James Worthy). While pro football has procured its talent from institutions such as Southern California, Notre Dame and Florida State. Mercyhurst has poised itself as one of the premier institutions of developing talent for the CWHL. While the 2010 CWHL Draft was more of a restructuring, three former Lakers were among the top 12 picks. Ashley Pendleton (who competed in the 2010 and 2012 Clarkson Cup finals) went eighth overall to Brampt...

In a time when women’s hockey hardly gets any ink, it is refreshing to see the August 1, 2012 cover dated edition of The Hockey News feature a full page story on goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer of Alberta. If one theme emanates from the article, it is that for Maschmeyer, hockey is definitely in her blood. Her sister, Brittaney Maschmeyer played for the legendary Edmonton Chimos and the Syracuse Orange of the NCAA. Currently, Brittaney plays for Team Alberta in the CWHL. Her career in Alberta is a key point of discussion for the periodical, and how she became the second female to play boys hockey at the AJHL level in Alberta. Of note, she had the opportunity to meet Shannon Szabados, the first female to hold that honour. In continuing the story of bloodlines, her brother (competing with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons ) once skated against her in a shootout. While Maschmeyer talks to the periodical about her dreams to one day participate in the Winter Games, her next priority...