When Laura Levin was 5 years old, her older brother’s hockey coach spotted her figure-skating at Pilgrim Arena. “She’s not a figure skater,” he told his fellow coach Larry Levin, who happened to be Laura’s dad. “She should be playing hockey.”
Laura agreed, but at the time there was no hockey program for girls in Hingham. So her parents signed her up for the Hingham Boys’ Hockey League. Seven years later, she was still playing hockey with the boys when her dad helped create the Hingham Girls Hockey program. She went on to play with the Harborwomen at Hingham High, and today is a star player at St. Michael’s College in Vermont.
“I knew even back then that I wanted to play hockey in college,” said Laura, who hopes to be a teacher and hockey coach one day. “It’s such a great sport, and the girls’ league in Hingham was just so much fun.”
Since its inception in 2003, HGH has flourished, with an impressive coaching staff and about 125 Hingham girls between ages 6 and 18 participating.
“The numbers are growing everyday,” said Tom Findley, coach of the Hingham High School varsity girls’ hockey team and one of the HGH program founders. “There are so many girls who want to grow up and play hockey for the Harborwomen.”
All Hingham girls – whether part of HGH or not – will get the chance to play with the high school team for free at the third annual Skate with the Harborwomen event at Pilgrim Arena this Monday, March 29, at 6 p.m.
“The girls on the high school team want to give back to the community, and we all want to promote our team and our sport,” Findley said. “The Harborwomen are like rock stars to these young girls, and they really love being role models.”
That’s not just hyperbole from an enthusiastic coach. The Hingham Harborwomen recently won the James F. Mulloy Sportsmanship Award for the 2009-2010 season, which is awarded for “grace and good will, on and off the ice.”
Girls’ hockey, Findley said, really took off in 1998 when the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team won the Olympic Gold Medal.
“The women’s game really showcases the skill of hockey,” Findley said. “It’s the purest form of ice hockey. Many girls from town were so intrigued by the success of these young female athletes that they decided to take up the sport themselves.”
A group of parents started HGH around the same time that high school parents pushed for the Harborwomen team. HGH is divided into four categories: Learn to Play for girls under 10 (U10); girls under 12 (U12), girls under 14 (U14), and girls under 19 (U19).
According to Findley, “girls from all skill levels catch up fast. None of them want to be left behind.”
Girls’ hockey, he said, is not so different from boys’ hockey, except that boys are allowed to “check” – which means they can use their bodies to slow or stop an opponent – and girls cannot.
Laura Levin recalled that this small distinction caused her some problems when she switched from the boys’ league to the girls.’
“I got a lot of penalties at first,” she said with a smile. But she was happy to be playing with and against girls at last, instead of being one girl among many boys.
“Hingham Girls Hockey is truly a great program,” said Levin, who plays with HGH when she’s home from college on breaks. “The coaches are fantastic, and the girls have such a great time. It’s really an honor to have played for the Hingham league.”
Neil Hernberg, president of HGH, has coached both girls’ teams and boys’ team with a few girl players. “On the ice and during practice, a hockey player is a hockey player,” he said, “no matter what the gender.” But, he said, “it’s a completely different experience to play on an all-girl team than it is to play on a boys’ team with one or two girls on it. When girls are part of a boys’ team, they’re fitting in to the boys’ environment,” Hernberg said. “But on an all-girl team, the girls manage themselves. The locker room is their domain to talk, and to get ready for games. They’re in control, which is pretty cool.”
While HGH attracts girls as young as 6, he said, some don’t pick up sticks for the first time until age 12 or older. The coaching staff includes several college hockey players, as well as HHS coaches Findley and Tony Messina, who coaches the championship Harbormen team.
Girls and their parents who want to register for next year’s season, or take part in the Skate with the Harborwomen event on March 29, should visit www.hinghamgirlshockey.org for more information.
