Written By: John Short

An ambitious plan to speed the growth of age-class hockey for girls is off to a good start, and NAIT Ooks head coach Deanna Martin is overjoyed to be part of the leadership group.

"Our team has already had time on the ice with four pee wee teams, and time off the ice with all six including their coaches," she said. Martin also added that two other proven leaders, Howie Draper of the University of Alberta Pandas and Lindsay McAlpine of the MacEwan Griffins, have also committed their programs to serious involvement in the project, all of this stemming from a pre-season meeting with president Bryan Toles of the Edmonton Girls Hockey Association.

After lunch with Toles and a discussion of possible plans for the new initiative, Martin, and her Ooks adopted the peewees (12 and 13), the Pandas stepped up to aid novice, and bantam girls and the Griffins took responsibility for working with atom-aged players.

It came as no surprise that Draper, Martin, and McAlpine are among the developmental program's early leaders; the mini- Ooks, Pandas & Griffins. Draper has coached the Pandas to numerous league and national crowns, and both Martin and McAlpine played for him during their university careers.

"A lot of people don't know that the quality of female hockey is improving pretty fast," Martin said. "It's logical; more players, better coaches, means more improvements."

Competition at the college and university level has become more intense in the last several years. Despite their long friendship and obvious mutual respect, the on-ice rivalry between Martin and McAlpine for dominance in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference is fierce and ongoing. As Martin spoke, her second-place team trailed only the Griffins in league standings, but NAIT had two games in hand.

The Ooks completed their early preparation in time for Oct. 6, part of nationally-designated Girls Hockey Weekend. "That was our first time working with the young players," Martin said. "There were maybe 140-150 people in attendance at NAIT – six teams, our girls and the coaches," Martin said. "Some work was done on team-building for the athletes, and I hosted a coaches' session."

So positive was the experience that a big smile and one word were enough for her to describe it: "Insane! The peewee teams and their coaches got a lot out of it, and our players had a great time working with the kids. They're already looking forward to the next session."

At least two of the Ooks, a veteran, and a newcomer, found special benefit in the opportunity to work with youngsters.

Captain Carlin Boey has already served as an assistant in the semi-annual Alberta Challenge Cup and has added she will consider a coaching career when her active participation ends. Forward Natsumi Kurokawa, first exposed to hockey in Tokyo, her home city, told coach Martin during one of their first conversations that she hopes to become a coach.

A preliminary step for the ambitious young woman was attending a Hockey Alberta coaches clinic in September.

"It was the best part so far," she told her coach. "I did only a little English in high school, so this is better. There (will be) more options in coaching if I can speak English . . . use it in Japan to international coach students and (serve as) a translator for guest coaches."

Martin, who also got early experience in coaching, has often confirmed that those experiences led her to her current situation, where she has won three championships and helped to produce outstanding players and valuable citizens on the way to her current ten-year status – longest in ACAC history for a women's hockey coach.