Girls’ hockey celebrates two decades of success

There may be some local sport organizations that remain unconvinced of the benefits of a single regional entity within their particular field — just don’t count the Sudbury Girls Hockey League among them.

With seven of the 10 Lady Wolves’ representative teams collecting medals at the 2009 OWHA (Ontario Women’s Hockey Association) provincials last April, and a pair of graduates of the system knocking on the door of the Canadian Olympic team, they would argue that the proof is in the pudding.

Put into perspective, the 10 teams at the Ontario championships competed against a grand total of 148 other teams from across the province. If medals were split evenly, Sudbury should have had less than a 20 per cent chance of walking away with medals.

In other words, looking to have a pair of teams reach the podium would have been a fair expectation for the local contingent. It also would have been a far cry from the seven squads that actually turned the trick.

And all this from an organization that is only just in the process of celebrating its 20th anniversary. First established in 1990, the Sudbury District Girls Hockey Association would first give rise to competitive teams in 1993.

The growth in the number of rep teams, as well as a notable increase in player enrollment across the board, offers both opportunities and challenges, according to a man who has spent the past 16 or so years involved in some capacity with girls hockey.

Albert Crispo has served as president, coached at both the house league and competitive levels, and, more than anyone within the SGHL, is keenly aware of the workings of the OWHA.

And he’s more than just slightly proud of the accomplishments of this northern Ontario community.

“Obviously, there are more and more players wanting to play rep hockey, but we don’t want to take anything away from the house league system. We have to develop from the grassroots,” he said.

Ironically, a large key to the success of the fairer sex, according to Crispo and countless others, lies in the helping hand that is provided by teams within both the Nickel District Hockey League, as well as the Northeast House League organization.

“Playing against the boys helps us more than many people imagine. We’re very much in gratitude for the opportunity that they provide us with,” Crispo added, noting all of the Lady Wolves rep teams compete within Greater Sudbury against boys teams.

By contrast, teams extending from Windsor to Kingston and including cross-border representation from the likes of Rochester and Buffalo, form the Lower Lakes Female Hockey League, a grouping that encompasses no less than 25 separate divisions covering novice to senior. More importantly, it’s also an outlet for girls teams to play against other girls teams, an option that is simply not available in the north due to the limited numbers.

With the success of the past few years, an ever-increasing number of Lady Wolves’ teams have bumped up their classification requests, with coaches and managers alike looking at the option of competing at the AA level, the equivalent of AAA hockey on the boys’ side.

“It would be nice to see us have a AA team at every level some day,” said Crispo. “Trying to maintain that level of hockey is in part due to having very good coaching at the lower levels.”

Of course, Crispo is also thankful that — more from good timing than good management — girls hockey in Sudbury has been allowed to flourish under a single umbrella organization.

The simple fact is that by the time girls hockey was a viable option in the area, there were not enough participants to allow for the development of regional sub-groups, as was the case for other associations and sports.

The young ladies had no choice but to gather their forces under a singular grouping in order to assemble sufficient numbers to put together some sort of a reasonable league. It’s not a sport that dates back to the 1950s or 1960s, when localized pockets were created based on the geographic reality of the time.

And for that, Crispo thanks his lucky stars.

“The end result of having just one organization is that it really allows us to put our best foot forward.”

However, the Sudbury Girls Hockey League is not without issues and detractors.

Every passing year seems to provide an ever-increasing scrutiny of coaching selections, and the balancing act of maintaining a quality program that meets the needs of elite and recreational athletes alike, does not become any easier.

But one has to believe that those involved with the sport locally would gladly live with a repeat performance of all that was accomplished in 2008-09 in every year moving forward.

Randy Pascal is the voice of Eastlink Sports and the founder of SudburySports.com.