Isles Host Girls Hockey Weekend Webinar

In celebration of Girls Hockey Weekend, the New York Islanders hosted a webinar on Friday afternoon that featured a talented and diverse panel of women's hockey players. The panel shared insight regarding their individual trajectories, passion for the women's hockey community and efforts to continue to grow the sport.

The panel comprised of Team USA Olympians, Alex (Rigsby) Cavallini and Amanda Pelkey, National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) players Shannon Doyle (Connecticut Whale) and Cailey Hutchinson (Metropolitan Riveters), the captains of Long Island University's (LIU) Division l team Morgan Schauer and Megan Bouveur and coach Cassandra Turner, who is entering her sixth season at the helm as the women's head ice hockey coach at Quinnipiac University.
While the panel all shared a commonality in playing their beloved sport, they all reflected on their differing trajectories that led them to their respective and impressive careers and shared insight as to how there isn't one defined 'right path' to propel one's hockey career.
"We're seeing more and more girls play hockey," Turner said. "It's so important in each and every girl that's playing to know that you playing this game makes the game better for everybody. We sometimes forget that we get better as a sport and better as a group by having each girl do their best to get better and to have fun and enjoy it. It's changed drastically since I was young - there weren't girls options when I was young. Now, some of the best options for girls are playing hockey with other girls. It's growing our game in an amazing way. We're seeing it by the opportunities that are happening in college, after college and even just outside of playing hockey - the jobs that are happening. It can really be your career now, being involved in hockey."

The panel's composition alone provided insight to the viewers as to the extent of opportunities that are available. Pelkey and Rigsby-Cavallini have accomplished one of the highest feats in sports of winning an Olympic gold medal. Doyle and Hutchinson are in the midst of their professional careers in the NWHL, Schauer and Bouveur just completed the inaugural season of Division l hockey at LIU, while Turner offered the unique perspective of a player-turned coach.
Despite their differences in current competition levels and paths to pursuing hockey careers, the panel shared a common goal about continuing the growth and exposure efforts for women's hockey. Throughout their careers, they've all faced adversity and navigated the challenges of playing a male-dominate sport, but they've never backed down in hopes of continuing to break barriers and cultivate change for the next generation.
"That's a task we're really trying to push for is having that visibility piece where we're playing a game against Canada and that gets aired," Rigsby-Cavallini said. "Then, getting it to the point where we're playing league games or whatever that may be, just having that visibility to where these young players can aspire to be that. We're in a fine line here where we have our sights set the next Olympics and what we need to do to improve the [visibility piece], but also we have a really big responsibility to continue to inspire the next generation. There's quite a bit of pieces that need to be put in place in order for us to continue to grow the game the way we want it to be, but I think we're on a really great path."
While the panel touched on a wide range of important topics regarding their sport, they ultimately concluded with the message to their viewers to continue celebrating women's hockey every day.
"Whether it's a young kid or an adult, it doesn't matter," Pelkey said. "This game has a lot to offer. This is a sport that can give a lot."