Home games scheduled three and a half hours away from home are hardly ideal. But according to many of those involved with the top-end Sudbury Lady Wolves’ teams, the alternatives are worse.
The 2016-2017 campaign once again finds the Bantam “AA” and Midget “AA” Lady Wolves competing in the Lower Lakes Female Hockey League, a massive multi-divisional organization that encompasses teams from Windsor through to Kingston, crossing the border into Buffalo, and extending north to Sudbury over the course of the past five years.
Head coach of the Bantam “AA” squad, Jay Duncan is experiencing the travel that is the LLFHL for the third year now, with his daughter, Jaiden. And though the bulk of their 12 home game schedule will see his team take to the ice at the Canlan Ice Pads on the campus of York University, in northern Toronto, Duncan wouldn’t have it any other way.
“At the end of the day, it’s about development,” he explained. “Playing against boys is beneficial at the younger ages. As the boys become better and more skilled, and bigger and stronger than the girls, it’s not usually a very good game for us.”
“You need to play teams that you can compete with,” added Duncan. “If you’re losing games by ten goals, or winning games by ten goals, I don’t think there’s any development, either way. And when you play against boys, it’s a different game.”
“Boys are more skilled, they just are. They have more ability to handle the puck, skating is probably similar, and they have the ability to put the puck in the net.” None of what Duncan is suggesting is groundbreaking news for any parent of an elite female hockey player who has competed for several years.
But it was only in recent memory when local teams even contemplated taking the plunge. That said, there is progress being seen. After five years of travelling extended distances to every single one of their LLFHL games, the 2016-2017 edition of the Midget “AA” Lady Wolves has been granted a full home schedule, with the likes of Brampton, Etobicoke, Aurora and others all making the trek north.
Still, while head coach Daran Moxam noted a few weeks back that the opportunity to play in front of family and friends was a welcomed one for the young ladies on his team, he also acknowledged that the ability to focus the squad on the task at hand was far easier on the road, with players spending the bulk of their time together.
Throw in some competitive variances, and one can begin to see the logic in what initially appears as a head-scratching choice. “Locally, you don’t know what calibre you’re going to get, and that is an issue,” said Duncan. “At least if you play in the Lower Lakes, you know that you’re going to have pretty good competition every game that you play.”
“That’s what I think is more important than anything else.”
