On the Affton Ice Rink, the 11- and 12-year-olds with ponytails peeking out from their helmets are fighting for the puck. “Go, girls!” someone in the stands shouts. Another fires back, “Get her!” Finally, one of the players in a black–and–neon green St. Louis Lady Cyclones jersey breaks away from the pack with the hockey puck and sends it sailing into the opponents’ goal. The final score: 5-1, Lady Cyclones.
Outside, parents of the losing players commiserate: The girls are too aggressive, they say. Their boys hold back when they play an all-girls team. Finally, one admits, “Those girls can skate.”
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Since the St. Louis Blues’ historic Stanley Cup win, in June, interest in the Lady Cyclones has picked up. In July, the club hosted an event called Girls Try Hockey for Free. Once a quarter, the team fundraises to purchase hockey equipment, and girls interested in trying out the sport can suit up, get out on the ice, practice some basic skills, and talk to others about why they should play. They hoped to get 50 girls. They got 91.
The Lady Cyclones, one of the only all-girl options in the area, started in 2002. They’ve grown to 165 players on 13 teams, ages 6 to 19. The Centene Community Ice Center, in Maryland Heights, 277,000 brand-new square feet and the practice rink of the Blues, is also home to the girls. There, they often watch the Lindenwood Lady Lions, coached by Olympic medalist Shelley Looney.
But there are still barriers. One is the same for boys: the cost of the sport, mainly the equipment. By the time a player gets kitted out with padding and gear, the price tag averages $300. That’s where Girls Try Free comes in. If the girls commit to playing, they keep the equipment, gratis. The Lady Cyclones will host the event on January 4.
The other obstacle, harder to push through, is the social stigma, the belief that girls aren’t supposed to be aggressive.
Dale Greenbury has three daughters who play for the Lady Cyclones. When his middle child was 10, she played her first game. A defenseman told her he was going to “kick her ass.” Crying, she turned to her coach. “Which boy?” the coach asked. She pointed. “You’re twice his size!” he told her. “What are you worried about?”
Girls Try Hockey for Free
The next event is scheduled for 8 a.m. on January 4 at the Centene Community Ice Center. Register in advance.
Luci Burke, 16, is a goalie on the Lady Cyclones’ oldest team, 19-and-under. She started playing at 12, old for youth hockey, and down a level. Her first team was all newbies—“We got penalties a lot because we didn’t know how to stop skating, so people would just crash into each other and we’d get put in the box.” She dedicated herself to early morning goalie training—she credits one coach, a “sarcastic butthead,” with motivating her by comparing her to her little sister, also a hockey player. Each year, she’s moved up an age level.
Asked what she’s learned on the ice that’s translated to her life off it, Luci remembers a time when she got angry with a teammate, a defensive player who screened her for the duration of a tournament game. They lost, which knocked their team down to second place. Luci yelled at her in the locker room afterward—and then immediately regretted it. “She…just looked so sad,” she says, reflecting. Now, her favorite things about the sport are the leadership skills she’s learning and helping other goalies progress: “It just shows that you want to help them get better and that they’re capable of doing whatever you’re capable of.”
