By Alexis McCarney ’25, staff writer
With March being Women’s History Month, La Vie wanted to look at how women are affected by participating in a male-dominated sport.
Ice hockey is predominately played by men; however, at LVC, a women’s team was established in the 2016-17 season. By comparison, there has been a men’s team on campus since 1998.
In this sport, women are typically treated differently than men. One of the biggest discrepancies is with basic rules. When trying to gain control of the puck, men are allowed to hit and bodycheck each other; however, it is written in the rules for women that they are not allowed to.
There are also limited opportunities for young girls to participate in the sport unless they join a boy’s league.
“There were not girls’ teams, so I had to play on a boy’s team, but looking back, that was fine,” Mallory Burdick, first-year forward, said. “I had fun.”
For another team member of the women’s ice hockey team, the experiences were similar.
“The girl’s program was very small; for my first few seasons, I was on co-ed teams,” Lilly Newcomer, a first-year forward, said. “When I was 12, the only girl’s team was 16U, so that was the only option. There are more opportunities now, though.”
There are a lot of stereotypes in sports in general, ice hockey especially. People seem to think one needs to be big and tough to play the sport, but that can be limiting.
It is not uncommon for ice hockey players to move for the sport. Burdick and her family moved to Michigan from Florida for her to get some experience on a women’s team, although she also played on a boy’s team in high school.
“It was better because you can hit, and in girl’s hockey, we can’t,” Burdick said.
Being shot down in a sport that one is passionate about is discouraging, especially as a young child.
“Don’t quit, don’t give up and don’t let the boys tell you [that] you can’t,” Burdick said. “Boys would always try to tell you, ‘You can’t play because you’re a girl,’ but stay with it and don’t give up.”
“No matter what, keep going,” Newcomer said. “No matter what anyone says, just keep doing what you want to do.”
Female athletes are often overlooked even if they are doing better than their male counterparts. Young women need to be able to see a representation of themselves in sports; it is very impactful on how they perceive themselves and their sport. Only one example of a professional female ice hockey player came to mind when asked.
“Hilary Knight, on the Olympic women’s team, was always [a] spotlight,” Newcomer said.
Being a woman in sports is empowering; it shows that hard work and perseverance are not limited by gender.