In its first season, a northwest Michigan all-girls high school hockey team is headed to the USA Hockey National Championships later this month.
The team is made up of girls from highs schools in Cadillac, Traverse City and Elk Rapids.
WCMU's Tina Sawyer spoke with Emily Wilson, a founding board member of the Bay Reps varsity girls hockey team to learn more about how the they got started and where she envisions the team going in the future.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
Why the Bay Reps decided to go with a 'co-op' model.
"The reason we have a co-op team and not an individual sport team is purely because of size. We do not have enough girls playing hockey to have a single school team at this point. What I do think will happen is there's enough girls playing hockey in northern Michigan that we would love to see multiple northern teams happen from Sault Ste. Marie to Petoskey."
Wilson on possible MHSAA recognition of girls hockey
"The state of Minnesota and the state of Wisconsin, they have state approved girls high school hockey and the MHSAA does not approve girls hockey yet. I feel like we're behind the times on this. It is a growing sport. There are a lot of female players. Why do we not have a sanctioned high school hockey league? It is time...but we anticipate it to happen soon and so we want to be able to have this team ready to go. So, if they ever do get to be MHSAA then it's kind of set up already."
This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
Emily Wilson: The reason we have a co-op team and not an individual sport team is purely because of size. We do not have enough girls playing hockey to have a single school team at this point. What I do think will happen is there's enough girls playing hockey in Northern Michigan that we would love to see multiple northern teams happen. For example, something on like the I-75 corridor from Sault Saint Marie to Petoskey could earn a varsity letter. A lot of girls want to be able to play multi sports and so to be able to have that flexibility of a high school schedule ..that was something we've been chasing for a while because a lot of our girls are athletes in cross country and volleyball in the spring and soccer and so we wanted to be able to provide that opportunity, basically the opportunity the boys have.
Tina Sawyer: I always think back to, when I was growing up, to The Quarterback Princess... when they didn't have a team for the girl so, she joined the boys team. I don't know if you remember that movie. I'm I'm old but...(laughs)
EW: Yes, and that's 100% and that's kind of like the push right now in Michigan girls hockey. We do not have at the collegiate level, there are seven boys and NCAA Division One hockey teams in the state of Michigan. And there are none for girls hockey in the state of Michigan. And when you kind of trickle that down, the state of Minnesota and the state of Wisconsin, they have state approved girls high school hockey and I feel like we're behind the times on this. It is a growing sport. There are a lot of female players. Why do we not have a sanctioned high school Hockey League? It is time. It is beyond time. And so we're hoping by continuing to grow this league that the MHSAA will see that there are quite a few players in this state and we should get on that! I mean, there's been a huge increase when they're even young. Like our "try hockey free" events for girls, they sell out every year. We are getting these younger players on the ice and now, like this high school team, we're trying to create a path forward for them. If you are a 5 or 6 year old or you're in elementary school, what is your path forward for girls hockey? And that is a huge driver of why we started this.
TS: Do you think people have the stereotype that it's a violent sport?
EW: No, not anymore. I don't think so. I think maybe you would see a little bit of that, if the girls were trying to play on a boys team. But, you know, girls do not have "checking" in high school. But it is still a very physical sport. I don't know why there's a holdup right now, because other states are doing this. You know, we have girls wrestling here in Northern Michigan. Why can't we have girls hockey at a high school level? You're going to have physicality in any high school sport.
TS: OK, so Emily, tell me more about the team's journey on getting to the Nationals.
EW: We had a series of playoff games in January against other Co-op teams in our league that are through USA Hockey and we won those. So we are going to be going to the USA Hockey Nationals end of March, which is in a suburb of Philadelphia. We're pretty excited about that. So we're kind of focusing on that right now.
TS: How did they all come together to actually come to this point?
EW: This is the first time that they have played together because it's kind of four years put together, so there's a group of girls that freshman and sophomore that have played for about 6 years together, and then there's a group of older girls that have played together, but because of their birth year, they've never been on the same team together. So I think that part of it is just the excitement and they are a strong skilled team and they've been working hard for it.
TS: And what do you see as the future to this program?
EW: There is a large push to have the girls high school team under the MHSAA logo, which has not happened yet, but we anticipate it to happen soon and so we want to be able to have this team ready to go. So if they ever do get to be MHSAA... then it's kind of set up already.
