Lethbridge is getting a women’s recreational hockey league for the first time in years.
It’s exciting for 52-year-old Valerie McCormack. She hasn’t been able to play hockey on a lady’s team for 20 years. To get any ice time, she’s had to play with men.
“You definitely have to try harder when playing with the men, just to hold your own, just so you can say you feel good about coming out and being able to perform,” she said.
About 20 women have already signed up, many sharing a similar story.
“Men get to play until they’re 70,” Logan Paisley said. “And 18 is kind of when girls don’t have really anywhere else to go.”
She approached the Lethbridge Old-timers Association to get a league started.
“No skill level cut-off or requirement – if you haven’t played and you want to come try it out, for sure come out! It would be awesome to get those girls out,” Paisley said.
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Blaine Hyggen, the treasurer with LOSA, says the board was wondering why there wasn’t a women’s league earlier.
“Some may play in college or university, but other than that, it dies off… so it’s exciting to get rolling out,” he said.
There are still a lot of spaces to fill for the league. The hope is to have 45 women signed up by fall and they will create three or four teams.
“It’s going to be hard bringing people out because we haven’t had anything like this, but once we get the word out it’s going to grow,” McCormack said.
The women’s league welcomes any female players over the age of 22.
The puck drops in October.
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