The growth of girls’ hockey in New York State has been a huge success, both in terms of the number of females playing the game as well as the quality of individuals making their mark at all levels.
To bolster both the quantity and quality of the girls’ programs around the state, NYSAHA has launched a monthly conference call for all those involved at the local, section and state levels.
Led by Joe Eppolito, Girls & Women’s Hockey coordinator for NYSAHA, the calls are designed to bring people together to build the best product and best opportunities for all female players.
“It’s really important to connect with our membership and have conversations on a regular basis to make girls hockey strong and continue to improve,” said Eppolito, who has long been at the forefront of supporting girls’ and women’s hockey at the state as well as the national level.
“We’re hoping to open discussions of what we can do in New York to make hockey better and look at initiatives taking place around the country to grow the game,” Eppolito said.
Buoyed by the success of the first call in October, in which 60 people logged in, Eppolito once again sent invitations to more than 400 coaches working with girls’ programs for a second call on Nov. 18. The topic was how New York Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams declare and advance to state and national championships.
Joining the call was Kristin Sagaert, player development manager for female hockey at USA Hockey, who talked about what the Tier 1 and Tier 2 landscape looks like from a national perspective and what options may be available to create a level playing field for all teams.
“People feel that some programs have an unfair advantage because they recruit,” Eppolito said. “This is a chance for those people to share their opinions and hopefully offer some solutions that could lead to legislative proposals to take steps to improve opportunities for everyone.”
A recording of the call can be found at https://www.nysaha.com/page/show/886627-girls-hockey. The next call is temporarily slated to take place in January, most likely after the USA Hockey winter meetings.