Vol 3_No 1 Guts.indd - Rubber Magazine

Photos / Brant Clinard
Onward from Page 6
Strader said he’s confi dent the
current Coyotes leadership, specifi
cally Doug Moss and Wayne
Gretzky, understand that as much
as fi nding success on the ice is good
for business, building a club that
every hockey player in the state
can enjoy - no matter age or skill
level - is good for the game.
“[Florida] recently, just this
summer, had a reunion of the
team that went to the fi nals in
1996 in their third year of existence,”
said Strader, whose
most recent stop prior to Arizona
was with the Panthers.
“They played an exhibition
game. They had 14,000 at the
BankAtlantic Center. Those
people remember, and always
will remember.”
Strader said the Coyotes
need to fi nd a way to reach
the younger player - again not
only for ticket sales, but to create
lifelong fans of the game and
participants of the sport.
“Whether it
starts with Shane
Doan, guys who are
going to be identifi
ed as Coyotes need
to be found and
embraced.”
Female numbers
on the rise
“Sydney Crosby
is cute.”
That’s the explanation
Van Fleet,
also the director of
hockey operations
for the Arizona Girls
Youth Hockey Association,
gives as to why more and
more young females are becoming
interested in the sport - even in
Arizona.
Van Fleet kids, but, all joking
aside, his sentiment may not be
that far off.
“The ones that do play are
looking for a recognizable player
to associate, to connect with,” Van
Fleet said, noting that girls now,
since recent Olympic efforts, have
female hockey role models they can
relate to.
Youth female registration is now
more than 100 in Arizona, while
total female enrollment, including
adult leagues, has topped 200, he
said.
Currently, the AGYHA has
three all-girls teams, while the
While players like Nathan Saurer, left, has to deal with
fi nding time on a single sheet of ice in Flagstaff, Alex
Aguirre of the Phoenix Polar Bears, Chris Chamberlin of
Ozzie Ice, Justin Rogers of VOSHA and Eddie McGovern of
DYHA have a host of rinks to choose from in the Valley.
With teams and organizations like Mission Arizona (represented by Chris Diaz, left),
the AZ Outlaws (Jake Butler), P.F. Chang’s (Michael Colantone), Notre Dame Prep High
School (Vince Francis), CAHA (Shane Marino), the Peoria Roadrunners (Danny Fazio)
and the AZ Thunder travel team (Nick Revell), talent levels among older youths in
Arizona is reaching higher levels.
Valley of the Sun Hockey Association
posts two squads. Female
participants are also popping up
in Peoria, Chandler and Flagstaff,
among others areas.
While the female youth numbers
continue to increase, the state of
the girls game, Van Fleet said, is
hampered by the need for many
young females to play competitively
with their male counterparts, as
well as issues with the quality of
instruction for female players.
“Those are the two things we
battle with more than anything,”
he said. “We basically have enough
talent for one team at every age,
so the girls play on multiple teams
- boys teams. Some would argue,
‘What’s wrong with that? It’s
more ice time.’ But boys don’t usually
play on multiple teams.
And there’s no way these girls
should physically match up
against some of these boys.”
Van Fleet said the full-contact
nature of the high school
level also poses problems.
“You could have a senior
that weighs 200 pounds and
you could have a freshman or
sophomore girl that weighs
100 pounds,” he said. “But
they need a team to play on
at that level, so what are they
going to do?”
Van Fleet said seeing new
players get interested year after
year means the state of the
girls game is in
holding steady.
He countered,
however, adding
that it’s also
diffi cult now to
take beginners
who might not be
“young” by traditional
standards
- something that
simply can’t help
the game grow
as much as he’d
like to see.
“It’s great that
we have a 14year-old
girl who
wants to come out and start playing,”
he said. “But can we put them
on the same team as players who
have years of experience?
Rink dilemmas in Flag, Tucson
In March, Arizona Rubber
chronicled the inevitable closing of
Onward continued on Page 18
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