Dayton Fangs Women's Ice Hockey

Once every four years the Winter Olympics roll around and fans across the world are able to see women’s ice hockey, a sport that is gaining popularity but has not yet stepped onto the main stage. However, fans in the Dayton area can now see women’s hockey right here in town. The Dayton Fangs are a semi-professional women’s ice hockey team founded this October by UD student Marianne Graham. The Fangs are the first and only such team in the area. Graham is a law student at the UD, and comes to UD from the Pittsburgh area, where hockey is very popular. When she came to Dayton, she was dismayed to see that Dayton only had 2 ice hockey rinks and 3 sheets of ice. To satisfy her craving to play hockey, Graham was able to practice with the UD men’s ice hockey team, who treated her as an equal, even thought she was much older and female. She then worked her way into a men’s league which was great competition, but not the same as the women’s game. “It is always nice playing with guys, but there is something different about playing with women” said Graham. Graham’s inspirations in hockey came from a variety of sources, but mostly the 1998 Olympic Gold Medal team. Also, while attending the University of Pittsburgh, she fell in love with the city’s NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team full of superstars at the time, including hockey greats Mario Lemeiux and Jaromir Jagr. These things moved Graham to start a team at the University of Pittsburgh. That team played in a men’s league, even though they were highly inexperienced, and despite a loss in which the other team scored 36 goals, they persevered. Marianne engineered the creation of the Mid-Atlantic Women’s Collegiate Hockey Association (MAWCHA), of which the Pittsburgh is a part. More recently, she started the Pennsylvania–Ohio Women’s Hockey Association (POWHA–www.powha.com), which is a league made up of travel teams from Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Kent. Marianne played for a Pittsburgh team last year and a Cleveland team this year. Now, here at Dayton, Marianne saw the need for a women’s team. Gary Welch, a friend of many of the women on the team volunteered to coach. The word spread about the Fangs and more and more women became interested. The team now numbers at 18 women, with a wide variety of skill levels and experience, but all with a dedication to a sport that requires a lot of time and effort. “We have players, like myself, that have been playing since college, and others who never skated before, some people who watched and loved hockey and had a good understanding of it, and others who had never seen a game, live or on TV,” said Graham. The players come from all walks of life, including students and members of the U.S. Air Force. What is most interesting about the diverse team is the age range. There are two players born in the 1950’s, four in the 1960’s, seven in the 1970’s and five in the 1980’s. There is one other UD student on the roster, Emily Russo, a sophomore Biology major. As far as opportunities for other UD women to join, the team is very accommodating to anyone who would like to give the sport a try, and usually has enough equipment for the perspective player to come to a practice or two. There is also always someone available to help out with carpooling. In addition, Graham has been very open to helping start a women’s club team at UD, either ice or inline hockey. She says that anyone who’d like to start a club team here at UD could practice with the Fangs until they got enough girls together for their team. The Fangs have a great inaugural season ahead of them. Although they lost their first game this Sunday 3-0 to Columbus, according to Graham it was “an amazing experience and wonderful to see how people who didn’t even know each other a year ago could come together to compete in a unique sport.” This year, the Fangs began too late to join a league, but they hope to join the Pennsylvania–Ohio Women’s Hockey Association (POWHA) next year, or possibly form their own league with Columbus, Indianapolis and others. The Fangs have two tournaments coming up, one in Indianapolis for the March Classic, and one in Cincinnati for the Lucky Stars Tournament. They will play teams such as the Pittsburgh Piranhas, the Michiana Sting and the Columbus Wizards. Graham is very optimistic about this season, and hopes that there will also be many more to come, as hockey continues to grow in the Miami Valley area. For more information on the Dayton Fangs, call (937) 293-1398, email info@daytonfangs.com, or check out the Web site daytonfangs.com.