The Fearless, Frozen Females of Hockey

In a season where the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to qualify for their first postseason since 2004 (in which they played the Philadelphia Flyers), Phil Kessel has emerged as the centre of attention. While the club looks for a pair of forwards that can complement his skills, perhaps their best option would be Phil’s sister, Amanda Kessel. During the 2012-13 NCAA season, Amanda Kessel has had a year to remember. She earned her 200th career point in only her 99th career contest. Playing with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, she helped the squad reach several milestones, including the longest unbeaten streak in NCAA women’s hockey history, and a 22-0-0 start. Of note, Kessel is also the NCAA’s leading scorer. Should the Gophers remain undefeated and win the NCAA Frozen Four, Kessel shall be a key component of that unprecedented success. Over a decade ago, Meghan Sittler, the daughter of Maple Leafs legend Darryl Sittler was a scoring phenom with the Colby College White Mules. Event...

With the 2013 IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championships being hosted in Ottawa, Ontario, Hockey Canada has chosen to recognize the local foundation Do It for Daron as its charity of choice. As an Ottawa based foundation, DIFD honors the life of the late Daron Richardson. The foundation has helped to not only provide a message of hope, but is has given inspiration to an entire generation of young women’s hockey players in Ottawa. Canada’s April 3 contest versus Switzerland will feature a section of the arena dedicated to DIFD. All seats sold in the Power to the Purple section (as purple was Daron’s favorite color) will result in five dollars from each ticket sold going to DIFD. During that day, one dollar from all program sales will also be donated to DIFD. The Canadian national women’s hockey team had the opportunity to witness the power of DIFD at its 2012 autumn training camp in Calgary, Alberta. Ashley Gilbank, a women’s hockey coach from the Ottawa area rollerbladed acro...

1: SSSS: Hayley Wickenheiser introduced you to the Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team. Of note, they made a donation of $1000. What was the experience like of meeting the team? Gilbank: The experience was amazing. They came off the ice the coaches went in the dressing room and gave a small speech and then they pulled me right in the dressing room. I was shocked how quickly they welcomed me. I was able to go in and talk a little about S4L and the girls listened and then asked me a lot of questions. It was really neat to be able to share my experiences with such an elite level of women's hockey players. Ever since I was a little, it was always my dream to play university hockey and I was in awe of every single one of them. Not to mention I was speaking to Danielle Goyette and Hayley Wickenheiser - two future hall of famers and pioneers of women's hockey. It was amazing to have their support. They also blew me away when they donated $1,000. It literally was such a shock... not...

Heading into a Halloween night contest between rivals Boston University and Boston College, it seemed unlikely that B.C. had a losing record. While BU boasted a 7-1 record, which featured Kerrin Sperry break the BU record for most wins by a goalteder, No. 8-ranked B.C. sported a disappointing 2-3-0 mark. Despite the home ice advantage, BU feel behind in the first period. Senior captain Blake Bolden assisted on a goal by Taylor Wasylk at the 4:47 mark. Heading into the second, BC continued to add to their lead. With Lexi Bender serving her second penalty of the game, Alex Carpenter scored a shorthanded goal at the 3:52 mark. Carpenter would continue by assisting on the third B.C. score of the night. Emily Field would bury the puck past Sperry at 8:15 for a 3-0 lead. Two minutes and twenty-eight seconds later, Carpenter logged her fourth score of the season with freshman Haley Skarupa earning the assist. After the 4-0 lead, B.C. made some mistakes and were penalized twice. Less ...

While the theme of the 2012-13 AHL season is to help provide young superstars like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Cody Hodgson, Jake Gardiner and Sean Couturier an opportunity to mature and develop their skills, what shall the league do once Lockout 3.0 comes to an end? While said lockout has created an opportunity for the AHL franchises and their fans to benefit from this sudden embarrassment of riches, there is another drawing card that warrants serious consideration. As the AHL has always served as a buffer to experiment with rules changes and other ideas that the big league ponders, perhaps it is time for the AHL to be proactive on another front. It may be considered revolutionary yet ground breaking; what if the league were to have one female ice hockey player on every roster? With Manon Rheaume recently celebrating the 20th Anniversary of breaking the NHL’s gender barrier, now would be the most opportune time to pay tribute to that remarkable event by pushing the boundaries 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, ...