Griz show strength on ice

Laura Wold, team captain of the University of Montana’s women’s club ice hockey team, thinks people underestimate the toughness of women hockey players.

Late in the second period of Saturday night’s game against the Helena Icepack at Glacier Ice Rink, Wold and teammate Anne Ferry made it clear to the 50-some fans in attendance that the bare-knuckle, gap-toothed toughness of hockey isn’t reserved exclusively for men.

A scuffle involving shoving and jostling of sticks quickly escalated into an all-out fists of fury hockey fight.  The referees had to physically intervene and separate the players. Each of the four players involved – Wold, Ferry and two members of the Helena team – was ejected from the contest.

Montana head coach Ryan Swentik said seeing a fight at a women’s game is a rare occurrence.

“Well, it’s not something that normally happens in these games,” he said. “But sometimes these girls get heated and their emotions take over. It’s just one of those things.”

Ferry said usually the women on the team aspire for a more refined style of hockey, but from time to time emotions do boil over.

“We like to say that as women we play with class, we try and stay away from fighting,” Ferry said. “But you get a lot of women out there, all battling for the puck, and sometimes people get a little overenthusiastic about it.”

Wold was disappointed that she lost her head out on the ice.

“It wasn’t very cool,” she said. “When you fight you get thrown out and then you can’t help out your team.”

Although Wold wasn’t proud of her actions she said it sends a message of how passionate women’s hockey players are for the sport.

“This is definitely an up-and-coming sport for women,” she said. “It gets pretty intense, with so many emotions, but we can handle our own out there; we are powerful and independent and we can bring it just like a bunch of guys can.”

This weekend’s Griz Cup hockey tournament marked the end of Montana’s season. The Griz finished the weekend 0-3. The team has played in numerous tournaments and games this season but because many of those games aren’t official, the team doesn’t keep track of wins and losses.

As a tournament, this year’s Griz Cup was the most successful in the five-year history of the event.

“This was the first year we had 10 teams,” Ferry said.  “In the past we’ve had four teams, six teams, so this was a huge jump.”

The tournament field was made up of five Missoula teams, as well as teams from Whitefish, Bozeman, Helena, Boise and this year’s champion – the University of Idaho.

The hockey wasn’t the only thing that kept fans entertained at the rink; there was also a barbeque, kegs of beer and karaoke.

The weekend, which is organized and assembled by the Griz, is the team’s main fundraiser for the year.

“This is one of the biggest women’s tournaments they have ever had at Glacier Ice Rink,” Wold said. “We spent almost every day talking on the phone over the course of this whole year, planning this weekend. It was pretty cool to finally see it all happen.”

Ferry said she couldn’t think of a better event to end the hockey season with.

“The tournament is a great way to wrap up the season,” she said. “You end the whole season with all the girls being together out here on our home ice; it’s a really fun weekend. Obviously we tried to end the season with a win, but you know what, I think the season went great.”