{"id":211713,"date":"2022-11-22T09:35:13","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T14:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/?p=211713"},"modified":"2022-11-22T09:35:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T14:35:13","slug":"a-league-of-their-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/2022\/11\/22\/a-league-of-their-own\/","title":{"rendered":"A League of Their Own"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sheyla Gomez laced up skates just three times growing up before deciding to join the Red Hawks women\u2019s ice hockey team. Invited by a classmate, she hadn\u2019t known that women could even play. \u201cThe adrenaline \u2013 that\u2019s what helped me,\u201d she said of her first practice at the Montclair State University Ice Arena. Learning to skate and showing skill with her stick, she\u2019s now a team leader and role model inspiring young girls determined to break the ice ceiling.<\/p>\n

Montclair\u2019s hockey players are among the athletes that the New Jersey Devils turn to for the team\u2019s learn-to-play clinics, including\u00a0World Girls Hockey Weekend<\/a>\u00a0in October and Hispanic Heritage Night in November. Women\u2019s ice hockey has seen fast growth in the United States, with the Devils committed to championing an inclusive sport on the rink.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part of what we do is philanthropic,\u201d says Robert Martinez \u201902, \u201920 MS, assistant director of Campus Recreation and general manager of the club ice hockey program. \u201cWhenever we do the clinics to get young girls into playing, our women\u2019s team is all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Prudential Center in Newark, girls peppered the Montclair athletes with questions. \u201cWhat\u2019s it like playing? Is your coach nice? What\u2019s it like to be in college?\u201d Sabrina Robinson, a junior Exercise Science major, says, \u201cIt\u2019s good that they\u2019re asking questions and seeing college players who inspire them to keep playing, to know it\u2019s a possibility for them when they get older.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gomez, a senior Business Administration major, adds, \u201cWe asked one girl what position she played. She wants to be a goalie, and I told her we have an extra spot, join us. She got so excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Montclair
Women hockey players battle for the puck during recent club play between Montclair and St. Joseph\u2019s University at the Montclair State University Ice Arena.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scenes like this have played out ever since the U.S. women\u2019s national ice hockey team won gold at the 2018 Olympics, sparking enthusiasm for the sport. It was the same year Montclair\u2019s club team won the Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference and made their first American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II national tournament appearance. Alexandra Tepper who played on the 2018 team now coaches the Red Hawks, one of just two club teams at the collegiate level in New Jersey. (Only Princeton has NCAA Division I women\u2019s ice hockey.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible being part of women\u2019s hockey,\u201d Gomez says, \u201cespecially now when it\u2019s rising up in the world.\u201d Adds Robinson, \u201cFor our team, half of it\u2019s sport and half of it\u2019s team camaraderie because we are super close. It\u2019s like the Mighty Ducks. We all started off a little shaky, but we\u2019re all under-dogging together. We\u2019ve become closer as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next? In the spring, Gomez and Robinson will trade their skates for cleats as they take the field for Montclair\u2019s women\u2019s club baseball. Last spring, the team competed in the first-ever\u00a0women\u2019s college club championship<\/a>. On the diamond, as on the ice, they\u2019ll be leading growing movements to inspire girls to pursue their sports passions at the collegiate level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the community we are creating,\u201d Gomez says.<\/p>\n

Photo Gallery<\/h2>\n
\"photo
Shelya Gomez had skated just a few times before joining the women\u2019s hockey team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sabrina
On a recent Friday night, as the Red Hawks competed against St. Joseph\u2019s University, Sabrina Robinson and Sheyla Gomez join the team huddle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"hockey
Players square off at Montclair State University Ice Arena.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn Dean controls the puck as Montclair notches a win over St. Joseph\u2019s University.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"group
Go team!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Story by Staff Writer\u00a0Marilyn Joyce Lehren<\/a>. Photos by University Photographer\u00a0Mike Peters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Montclair\u2019s women\u2019s hockey inspires the next generation of girls on ice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":211714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76_alumni-news-and-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211715,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211713\/revisions\/211715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}