Girls getting into hockey and going places

Posted By Laura Shantora Nelles, Central Plains Herald-Leader

Posted 2 months ago

Laura Shantora Nelles/Central Plains Herald-Leader...Fannystelle resident Natasha Kostenko, seen here suiting up with her high school team, the Sanford Sabres, also plays for the Central Plains Capitals and recently represented Manitoba at the national Under-18 championships. Kostenko began playing hockey at age 5 and has seen first-hand how girls have become increasingly involved in hockey over the years.

In 1998, Fannystelle product Natasha Kostenko was five years old, and women's hockey became an Olympic sport. It was also the same year she began playing hockey herself.

"My parents split up, and my dad put my brother in hockey, and he just put us both in hockey."

Kostenko played a year below her older brother, and continued playing boys hockey until two years ago when an elite girls program emerged in the Central Plains region — the Central Plains Capitals.

"I made the AA boys teams every other year. I could've played girls hockey, but I liked the boys hockey better; it was always more competitive," she said.

Through the female Capitals' program, Kostenko honed her skills and learned to adapt her style of play, to remove any form of body checking.

Things have begun to change for female hockey across the country.

"It's getting a lot better," said the 5'10" power forward. "The coaches are getting better. They're realizing girls are just as capable, and the coaches aren't as easy on them."

More and more girls are getting opportunities girls only a generation ago could never have dreamed of. Recently, Canadian Olympic gold medalist Sami Jo Small visited Portage la Prairie in the leadup to the 2010 Power Smart Manitoba Winter Games. In a speech given at Portage Collegiate Institute, she revealed her dream of growing up was to win a World Championship, not a gold medal at the Olympics — because there was no such thing.

"I was always a tomboy," said Kostenko of her childhood. "I always wanted to do boy stuff, but now you don't have to be a tomboy to play hockey; you can still be girly and play."

Sporting goods companies like Easton are now offering a wide array of hockey gear in pink, from sticks to gloves and bags.

Women's hockey has come full circle in the last century. Late in the 19th century, the first women's games began popping up in Ontario and Quebec. Clad in long wool skirts, women took to the ice. One of the instrumental movers and shakers in the institution of women's hockey was Lady Isobel Stanley, daughter of Lord Stanley of Preston. She was one of the first females to be photographed using a puck and stick on the rink at Rideau Hall in the nation's capital.

McGill University in Montreal iced its first women's squad in 1894, and it was another Montrealer, Lady Isobel Brenda (Allan) Meredity, who donated the Lady Meredith Cup — the first trophy in Canada for women's hockey. (Allan's first cousin, Sir H. Montague Allan, donated the Allan Cup as a replacement for the Stanley Cup for amateur hockey supremacy, which is now the national Senior AAA championship trophy.)

The game has come a long way since the days of ankle-length skirts, but there are still some fundamental differences between men's and women's hockey. The main difference is the lack of body checking. The International Ice Hockey Federation elected to remove body checking from the women's game because players in countries outside Canada and the U.S. are often smaller in stature and mass.

"I wasn't used to not hitting. That was one of the biggest things," Kostenko explained of the transition from playing with the boys to joining the Capitals two seasons ago. "It took a while to get the angling, how to do things without taking the body. I like the body contact, but there's really not that much of a difference," she added.

Capitals Midget AAA head coach Ferdi Nelissen has seen the evolution of girls' involvement in hockey over the years. His daughter Shaye began playing hockey in Squirt, where she was the only girl.

"Now, if you go down to the rink and look in the Squirt or Novice programs, you'll see 20 or 25 girls in it. So, it's grown 25 times since 1992 in Portage alone. That's how it evolved; that's how many more girls play."

Nelissen's daughter was playing up a year and at one point was an Atom playing on a Peewee team in a Bantam league.

"Now there's girls on the Bantam team in Portage that can come up and compete with us at the Midget Regional level. The girls have grown their skill sets. The numbers are growing. There's coaching focused on girls. Now, you don't have to leave (the region) to play at this level," he said.

Nelissen said he hopes the program "gets better and keeps growing."

Last season, 2008-09 marked the first year for a national Midget AAA championship for girls. The national Midget championship has been around for the boys for decades. The former Air Canada Cup, now Telus Cup has been a showcase of some of the best Midget players coming through ranks — including NHL superstar Sidney Crosby, who played in the Air Canada Cup as a Bantam in 2002. The winner of the inaugural edition of the Esso Cup last season happened to be the Westman team from right here in Manitoba.

"Ten years ago, nobody would've even talked about that," said Nelissen of the Esso Cup. "It's the exclamation mark on the program. They're trying to mirror the boys.

"And you wouldn't do that if there wasn't enough girls to do it. All the western Canadian teams have Midget AAA programs."

Nelissen also added the element of heightened competition has raised interest. Canada and the States are still the powerhouse teams, but the games over European teams are no longer blowouts.

"Who wants to go watch a 17-0 game? It used to be Canada versus Sweden or Finland 11-0, 12-0. Canada and the States may be dominating, but the other countries are getting better, and more competitive. Young girls are recognizing these women as role models, and seeing they can be competitive and get involved. Girls see the opportunity beyond Midget hockey — schools in Canada and the States are starting to run more hockey programs and more girls will stay involved and compete at a higher level."

Recently, Kostenko ventured to British Columbia, where she represented Manitoba at the Under-18 national championship with Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence.

"Last year, I was heartbroken when I didn't make it," said Kostenko of being a late cut from the 2008 squad. "But this one coach, she believed in me, and it really bumped up my confidence. It made me want it that much more."

Being only 16, many players on the team were older than Kostenko, and she praised her teammates.

"The girls at that level are so skilled," she said.

When she got the call saying she'd made the team, Kostenko says she was "dancing around the house like a fool. It's probably the best feeling ever. My family was so excited. I think I had 10 people from my family come to B.C. It's great, they're very supportive."

Upon arrival, Kostenko said it was "a bit scary at first. It was nerve-racking because it was my first year. But the girls on my team were great. They were really supportive for the younger girls. We all wanted to do the same thing, and that was to do our best. The team bond was great; there was no conflicts."

She described the game play as "so fast! I always had to keep my feet moving. It was great. I didn't have much confidence before. I would get nervous about my play, but now I know even the best players sometimes make mistakes."

Next year, she is hoping to make the under-18 Team Canada. And beyond, Kostenko is looking to secure a scholarship at an NCAA college in the United States.

"And I'd love to go to the Olympics," she said, eyeing the 2014 games in Russia.

With numbers continuing to grow in girls hockey every year, Kostenko offered some words of wisdom to younger girls coming up through the ranks. "Just work your butt off, and never let anybody tell you that you can't do it. Push yourself, do it for yourself, and give it everything every single shift," she said. "Because you can do it."

And as for the future of girls hockey, "I think the future is looking awesome. More girls are feeling they can be girls and still play hockey. I know it'll grow and get as good as boys hockey."

sports@cpheraldleader.com