Older girls benefiting from local partnership
By Chris Bayee
California Rubber Magazine
www.rubberhockey.com |
Who says Ducks and Sharks can’t co-exist?
The Anaheim Lady Ducks and San Jose Jr. Sharks girls programs have a working agreement to share players at the 19U AAA level for the second consecutive season in order to provide more opportunities for their programs’ older high school players to get scouted.
“We’d be remiss not having hockey for these girls’ senior years,” Lady Ducks coach Kathy McGarrigle said.
This season, the team will play under the Lady Ducks’ banner after being the Jr. Sharks a season ago. The cooperation is a numbers-driven decision.
“We didn’t have enough local girls last year, so we worked it out with the Jr. Sharks,” McGarrigle said. “This year, we looked at the numbers very early, and we had more of the players in the age group. It just makes sense that whichever program has the majority of players (has the team).
“Now we have a very full AAA roster - 18 skaters and two goalies - unlike some years in the past when an injury or two could devastate your lineup.”
The team, which has six girls from Northern California and another from Las Vegas, travels once a month to play a heavily scouted tournament. It recently returned from Ontario, Canada, and, this month, it’ll play at Assabet Valley in Massachusetts, then Detroit in November and Connecticut’s Polar Bear event in December.
Two other weekends a month, the girls convene for the weekend in Anaheim to practice and play games against a variety of boys and girls competition. In between, they practice when they can.
The one “off” weekend per month is typically scheduled around key events, such as testing dates or college visits.
“We wish the numbers were here for each team to have enough players each year, and maybe we will in the long run, but this serves the players well,” McGarrigle said.
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