Ice time
<p>Amy Hendrickson, left, and Angie Bowman laugh as they do snow angels together after a women's hockey game at the Woodland Park rink Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014. The women's hockey league started four years ago and has grown to about 25 members.</p>
<p>Dabney Langellier, right, skates past Angie Bowman during a game at the Woodland Park rink Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014. When the league started four years ago a lot of the women could barely skate and now they are entering tournaments.</p>
<p>Goalie Bre Zechin smiles as the two teams congratulate each other after the Jan. 30 game. Many of the women have become friends through the league.</p>
<p>Mary Critchlow defends the goal during a game in January. Critchlow used to coach the women, but now just enjoys playing with them.</p>
It’s not often that you see two players on opposing teams lay down next to each other after a hockey game and make snow angels on the rink — but then again the Flathead Valley Women’s Hockey League is not an ordinary league.
After playing 45 minutes in a steady snowfall at the Woodland Ice Center in a game that started late at night on Jan. 30, Amy Hendrickson’s and Angie Bowman’s laughter and actions could’ve easily been mistaken for those of children as they laid in the middle of the rink and did snow angels, looking up at the large flakes falling from the night sky. Their antics exemplified the fun and camaraderie among the women in the league.
The league was formed three years ago and consisted of many hockey moms and others who started out with little or no skating experience. Alice Judd, 49, was one of those moms. One day four years ago after taking her hockey-playing son to an open skate, she decided to lace up some skates and give hockey a try.
Special hockey drop-in times for women gave beginners such as Judd a chance to learn both skating and stick-and-puck skills.
“I just liked it and that was it. I was hooked,” Judd said.
Judd has been playing ever since and has watched the group of women who play grow from a handful to dozens.
As the program grew so did friendships. Judd said she only knew one person in the league when she started and now she plans on to keep playing partly because of the bonds she’s developed. She said it’s a great way to challenge herself and spend time with a group of women she can laugh with and compete with at the same time during winter.
“It’s great exercise and it helps the gray days of winter go by,” Judd said.
Jodi Harms, 45, was another hockey mom who wanted to be involved herself. After watching her son and daughter play hockey and sitting on the Flathead Valley Hockey Association board, she decided that she wanted to join in the fun.
“It’s a great diversion. It seems like the kids have all the fun — it’s nice to have our own fun, too,” Harms said. “I just enjoy being a grownup in a really juvenile kind of way.”
As the women’s numbers rose, so did their skill level. A lot of this can be attributed to Mary Critchlow, one of the few players who came in with skating experience. With her 25 years of skating combined with her experience teaching physical education, she made the perfect coach.
Critchlow’s job wasn’t easy. Her description of the first practice sounds more like a slapstick comedy than a hockey game.
“There was a lot of falling down, sticks flying in the air and people running into each other. It was hilarious,” she said.
Critchlow was patient, and through drills on Wednesday and Sunday drop-ins and games on Mondays and Thursdays she watched the players’ ability grow. Once they reached a level she was comfortable with, she relinquished her coaching duties, so she could just skate and have fun with the rest of the women.
Harms can still remember getting beat by a team of Squirts (9 and 10-year-old hockey players) in the early years. She’s convinced that wouldn’t happen now.
“I think we could beat the Squirts. I don’t know about the Peewees though,” Harms said.
The group started entering out-of-town tournaments last season and are playing in a tournament in Great Falls this weekend, something that seemed impossible when they first started. Although they have gotten better, they still welcome beginners and the main focus will always be fun.
Critchlow, 59, said hockey gives woman her age an outlet they didn’t have when they were younger. They didn’t grow up playing contact sports or sports that require so much exertion.
“The women have discovered their ability to be physical and it’s something they may have never had it in their life before and they love it. They’re able to get out all their stress and aggression in a one-hour session and then relax and have a beer afterwards,” Critchlow said.
The league also comes at a time in the women’s lives when they have time for a new hobby. Most of them have finished raising small children and now have some leisure time to focus on their own enjoyment.
“It’s just a chance for me to do something where I don’t have responsibilities. It’s a time where I can just have fun with my friends,” Harms said. “We call it hockey therapy and there’s nothing more therapeutic than hacking at a puck for an hour.”
Women’s drop-in times at the Woodland Ice Rink, located in Kalispell’s Woodland Park, are Sunday’s at 11:30 a.m. and Wednesdays at 9 p.m., though the schedule varies for special events held at the rink. Visit www.flatheadflames.org for each week’s schedule and for more information about women’s hockey and the Flathead Valley Hockey Association.