SUNDRE – The players in the local women’s rec hockey league strap their skates on and gear up not for championship titles, trophies and accolades, but rather quite simply for the love of the game and to get some exercise while having a good time.
“Our league is about just getting out and having fun and getting to play hockey, which is really the spirit of the whole thing,” said Katie Jo Munro, who generally plays defence or goaltender on the Sundre Shooters but also fills in wherever else as needed.
“That what it’s truly about,” Munro said on Dec. 28 during a phone interview, adding the league does not track statistics nor have any playoff finals.
“It is pretty casual,” she said, adding it’s not about bringing out the A- and B-Teams with a star-studded lineup.
“It’s more of just, ‘Can you guys make it tonight?’” she said, with a laugh. “We brought seven players? Awesome!”
For her part, Munro said she hasn’t been playing in many games so far this season as a result of complications with her back, but she has endeavoured to join the team during scheduled practices on home ice at the Sundre Arena.
“The practices are fun,” she said. “I mean, we do sometimes try to practise skills and drills. But a lot of times, it’s more about just getting some good exercise and having fun.”
Without an abundance of players on the roster, the team is glad when there’s at least a spare or two on the bench to help rotate the lines and make sure everyone gets a rest during the cardiac-intensive sport.
“A full lineup is a dream,” she said. “Two full lines and a goalie? Rare!”
As there are only just enough skaters to form one team, the women find themselves playing against squads from out of town, she said.
“We have to travel as far as Delburne,” she said. “If we’re lucky, we can play against Clive and Ponoka, Ecvkille, Rimbey, Penhold, Rocky Mountain House.”
Sometimes, teams will try to meet somewhere closer to halfway in arenas like the ones in Torrington and Caroline, she said.
Some teams, such as the Olds Fillies, boast a roster that includes veteran hockey players with a breadth of experience, she added.
“You can really tell when there’s women who either grew up playing with the boys or grew up on a very strong women’s team and had good coaching, anybody who’s gone to university or college to play; they’re just amazing to watch. And you know, they school the rest of us," she said.
And over the years, other squads have either tossed in the towel or gone elsewhere to play, she said.
“Sadly, a few teams have folded, like Cremona,” she said. “And there used to be two Carstairs teams, but they have decided to move into the Calgary league.”
That has made things more challenging for the Sundre team, with other factors such as child care and ice-time only being available late at night further complicating matters.
“Sometimes, we won’t get onto an ice surface until like 9 o’clock,” she said.
By the time a game ends at around 10 p.m., the players are not back on the road until closer to 10:30 p.m. after getting changed, and depending on the distance travelled might not return home much before midnight, she said.
“So, that stops a lot of us from playing. We struggle,” she said. “But we have fun.”
This year, the team scheduled weekly practices on Tuesday nights starting at 8 p.m. unless a game is scheduled that week, she said.
