Hockey program for girls is only one year away
BY MIKE SZOSTAK
Journal Sports Writer

NORTH SMITHFIELD -- High school hockey for girls will be coming to a rink near you, but probably not for another year.

About 80 proponents gathered at North Smithfield High School last night for the inaugural R.I. Schoolgirl Hockey Dinner and Conference.

"It's going to happen. It's so cool," said Margaret Degidio Murphy, head coach of women's hockey at Brown University and a big booster of the R.I. Wolves organization based at Levy Rink in Burrillville.

"I want to give girls in Rhode Island the same opportunity to come to Brown as I give girls in Minnesota, Canada and Massachusetts. But right now there's no feeder system," she said.

Four schools -- Mount St. Charles, Lincoln School, Portsmouth Abbey and St. George's -- have girls hockey now. St. George's and Porstmouth Abbey play in the Independent Schools League. Girls have played on boys teams. Goaltenders Sara DeCosta of Toll Gate and later Providence College and the U.S. Olympic team, Erika Silva of PCD and Northeastern, and Josie Chapman of Moses Brown and Colby College are three examples.

The R.I. Interscholastic League usually requires six teams to form a league, but makes exceptions, as it did with lacrosse this spring. Five boys teams and four girls teams are playing.

"We wanted to get it off the ground," said Dick Lynch, executive director of the Interscholastic League.

Lynch supports ice hockey for girls, but warns that hockey is very expensive. The Interscholastic League supports the entire boys program, "and we just about keep our heads above water," he said.

Twenty-eight schools put hockey teams on the ice in 1999-2000, the most recent year with final totals. The Interscholastic League incurred expenses of about $185,000 -- $108,000 in rink guarantees and $76,000 for officials, supervisors, timers, goal judges, medical personnel, etc. The league also returned $57,000 to the schools as their share of ticket sales.

Championship Divison schools pay $800 each to belong to the Interscholastic League in hockey. Divisions B and C pay $750. The total amounts to about $21,000, Lynch said.

"If schools sell tickets, in most cases they're getting their money back," he said.

Lynch added that if the Interscholastic League were to lose money on boys hockey, it would return financial control to the schools, which, in turn, "would result in the demise of some teams" because of the expense.

Lynch emphasized that his concern about funding does not mean he opposes girls hockey.

"I am not trying to squash the idea of girls hockey. I want to make that very clear," he said. "I'd love to have girls hockey, but we have to do it as equitably as possible."

Murphy said the interest is there. About 50 girls participate in the Wolves' program, and Bill Nangle, Wolves president, said he has 15 girls who would play for North Smithfield High School. Girls also skate in Newport and with the Lady Reds and Panthers, Murphy said.

Nationally, USA Hockey reported 37,028 female members in 2000, up from 6,336 in 1991. Of that total, 13,608 were 10 or younger.

In Rhode Island, 504 females were USA Hockey members last year, up from 148 in 1991.

Tuesday night, the Burrillville School Committee considered the topic, and Murphy "was overwhelmed by the support."

Yesterday, in response to a survey, 116 of the 228 girls who attend Burrillville High say they would play hockey if it were available.

"I'd like to see two schools step up," she added. "Our goal is to have something for these girls next September."

But administrators are finishing their budgets for the 2001-2002 academic year now, and Lynch said athletic directors prefer 12 months to 18 months to prepare funding for a new program. The first meeting for lacrosse was two years ago, with the understanding the league would start in 2001.

Lynch agreed that a girls hockey league in 2002-2003 is a more realistic expectation.

Yesterday, Lynch met with Mitzi Witchger, a gender-equity consultant from Indiana who helped launch girls hockey in Minnesota in 1993. The R.I. Wolves raised $2,000 to bring her here.

"Like Digit, I want this yesterday. Schools have had 29 years to implement girls' ice hockey," Witchger told the group last night, a reference to the passage of Title IX in 1972. "I say go for it this fall."

"We all like the idea of starting a league," Lynch said. "We have to work out the logistics. That's the problem. We have to look at the funding issue."

Murphy, who has developed one of the strongest collegiate women's programs in the nation, is confident the financial hurdles can be cleared.

"In a state that's so rich in hockey tradition, it's got to come," she said. "It's just a question of when."