Taylor Nyman, Intern, Souderton Area High School
When people think of ice hockey, they think of men with missing teeth, scars, and black eyes. But there are two players on the Hatboro-Horsham varsity hockey team, that don’t quite fit that description. Lindsay Howard and Kelsey Koelzer are the only girls on a high school varsity hockey team in the area.
Both girls also play on different girls’ teams in the area, and they take the skills they learn from the guys and use them when they play with the girls.
“It’s definitely a different type of game style,” Koelzer explains. “It’s more aggressive, which is fun. You get to hit people.”
Koelzer and Howard both say they have learned to be tougher and more aggressive when playing with girls.
Speed is also a big difference for these girls.
After playing with girls, a guys’ game seems faster, and they have to adjust to the speed and pick up their game. Going from a guys’ game to a girls’, however, is much different.
“When you go from guys’ to girls’, you feel like you can skate around certain people,” Koelzer says of the difference in speed.
Koelzer has been playing ice hockey since she was four years old, and she started out playing with boys, so when she joined Hatboro-Horsham’s team, it didn’t phase her.
“I played until Pee-wee, and then I played girls’ for two years and now I’m back with guys,” she said.
Howard has been playing for six years, and the majority of those years have been with the Hatboro-Horsham guys. She started out on the junior varsity squad, and when the team moved up to varsity, so did she.
“I wanted to play hockey for my school, and they don’t have a girls’ team, so I decided to play for the boys’ team,” she said.
“The boys treat me just like I’m part of the team,” Howard says of her teammates. “I’ve made a lot of friends through playing with boys.”
Although their teammates treat them well, some players on other teams don’t. There is always trash talk in hockey and the girls are not immune to it. Name calling, harsh words and comments have been thrown at them.
Koelzer has gotten “various racial slurs, female comments like inappropriate wording regarding females.”
They have, however, gotten the occasional compliment or “wow, she’s good.”
Howard and Koelzer are helping to further women’s and girls’ ice hockey. They have broken the mold for other girls wanting to play on a guys’ team.
“Do it! It’s so much fun. Just do it. Put on the skates, you’ll be fine,” Koelzer encourages.
Howard agrees saying, “Don’t let being a girl stop you because there are plenty of girls who are amazing. Just don’t give up, once you start playing, just don’t give up.”
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