14

SPORTS

The Norwich Guidon
April 29, 2004

Women's hockey team hopes to gain varsity status

By Holly Manning
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Holly Manning, a center for the Norwich Women's Hockey team, carries the puck during a game against Skidmore College this semester.

It's the first day of practice and the Norwich University men's ice hockey team has one thing on their minds as they lace up their skates: winning a National Championship.

For the women's ice hockey team -- yes, Norwich does have a women's ice hockey team -- the only thing on their minds is proving to the school and the community that they deserve to be recognized as a varsity sport.

"All the girls from the beginning who started it worked really hard to get the team this far, and it's about time they finally fulfill what they originally tried to do, which is to make this team varsity," said Danielle Rupert, 20, a sophomore architecture major, from Messina, NY.

The team started up in the spring of 1998 and has progressed more than expected, but they are still lurking at the club level and are anxious to take the next step to varsity.

"In the five years I've been involved with the program, we've increased in numbers and we've gotten more funding and equipment that we didn't have to begin with," said Terri Lussier, 22, the current assistant coach and a former player. "We've been involved with the athletic department instead of just the activities community and department."

Jen Mathewson, 23, a senior management and accounting major from Montpelier, Vt., agreed with Lussier about the progression of the team.

"The first couple of years, almost nobody knew how to skate. We had players showing up to the first practice with a pair of figure skates," Mathewson said. "It's been awesome in the past year, in particular, in how we've picked up some girls that have a lot of experience and have been able to help the inexperienced players."

Lussier said many people think club sports are just for fun and not competitive, but they don't realize this team puts in the same amount of dedication and effort as the other varsity teams.

"It feels like it's taking forever. I'm only a freshman, but we hear stories all the time about how the team has been trying to become varsity from the beginning, and it would be nice to see us equal to the guys and being able to play that pace of game and bringing in that type of crowd," said Morgan Davis, 19, a freshman accounting major from Berlin, VT.

The girls are not asking for everything needed to be equal to the men's team; they are just looking for a little recognition.

"The men's team has earned every bit of recognition that they get, and they just overshadow us [so] much, because we can't receive much recognition. A lot of people in our school don't even know we exist," Mathewson said.

"The men's team, here, is ridiculous. They have a great team and everybody in Northfield loves hockey and they [the community] come out here every weekend when they have games, and I think that if we were varsity, it'd be a lot better for us," Davis said.

Rupert said that the team is looking to join a club league next year that guarantees 20 games and playoffs, compared to the 11-game schedule this year.

Most club teams Norwich has faced have already gone varsity, or are in the quick process of becoming varsity, so teams at the club level are lacking, according to Mathewson.

"We have a great facility for the team and a great fan base for the men, which if we were a varsity team, I'm sure lots of that would carry over to the women's team," Lussier said. "Women's hockey is big, and it keeps growing. We have a lot of interested girls and players, already, and we can just bring in that many more people for hockey."

Rupert, Lussier, Mathewson, and Davis all said that recruiting would be much easier if the team were varsity.

"Right now, we try to get girls to come in, and we try to tell them that we're working toward varsity, but we can't promise them anything," Lussier said.

"If you're going to get someone to want to come here with a lot of talent, and they have a team looking at them that's varsity and a team that's trying to recruit them that's club, they know they're not going to get any recognition going to a club sport school," Davis said.

Davis also gives us a grim look at what it's like for the team to enter their locker room when it's practice or game time.

"We have one locker room with no place to put our stuff. We just have a bench to sit on when we get dressed for practices and games," she said. "We have to put half the team into a different locker room, and we have to pile everyone's stuff in the middle of the locker room. You walk in there, and you're jumping over hockey equipment," Davis said.

This is just a small dose of the adversity this team has faced. Because of the limited number of club teams in the area, the team was forced to play Skidmore four times in one semester.

"Any team deserves to go varsity as long as they work for it," Mathewson said. "I know the mentality of the girls on the team, and they really have what it takes to go varsity. It's just a matter of whether or not the school will support them once they get there."

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.