Puck 'N Hockey

This weekend, the women hit the ice at the Gardens Ice House for the second annual Women’s Capital Classic.  It’s a fitting venue for such a tournament, since the Gardens is home to the largest women’s house league in the region.  Ten teams participated in the event, some coming from as far away as Pittsburgh while others were familiar faces from local rinks such as Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington.

Women's Capital Classic

One of the chronic problems in recreational women’s hockey is mustering enough of a body count for tiered competition, and this tournament was unfortunately no exception.  While girls’ hockey is on the rise, those numbers have yet to really translate over into the adult leagues.  Skilled and experienced female players often opt to play in the co-ed leagues, leaving the women’s leagues to function as a starter system and a low-pressure scrimmage field roughly on par with the lower C leagues.  Players who want a higher level of competition can’t get it on a women’s only team, so they migrate to the men’s teams and rarely come back.

For the Capital Classic, the teams were divided into two levels: upper and lower.  Six teams made up the upper level (Beltway Bandits, Chesapeake Bay Lightning, Jenn & Tonic, Pittsburgh Piranhas, Rooftop Rebels, and Washington Wolves C), the other four comprised the lower level (Misfits, Pittsburgh Chinstraps, Team Navy, and Washington Wolves D).  As a pay-for-play tournament, teams were guaranteed three games, with the top two in each level moving on for a championship game Sunday morning.

As one would expect, the level of play amongst the teams varied greatly.  The Rooftop Rebels dominated the upper division, earning a perfect 15 points over three games using the Buffalo Point System (2 points for a win, 0 points for a loss, and 1 point per period of the game won (.5 each team in the case of a tie period)).  They were followed closely by the Pittsburgh Piranhas with 13.5 points.  When the two teams met in the championship game, the Rebels continued their winning streak and walked away with a title for the team and a the third shutout of the tournament for their net-minder, Jennifer Sokol.

In the lower level, the points were a bit more evenly distributed, with the Pittsburgh Chinstraps (13 points) and Team Navy (7 points) advancing into the championship game.  The game winner in the one-goal game came almost exactly at the midpoint of the game, scored by Amanda Thorton of the Chinstraps.  Caerleigh Sanner, their goalie, earned her first shutout of the tournament while facing 24 shots.

While smaller than the Labatt’s Tournament a few weeks ago, the Women’s Capital Classic is important because it provides a level of competition that all-female teams often can’t find in the house leagues.  As a hockey community, the more opportunities like this are made available, the more players we’re going to attract to the sport and retain once they’ve started.  And, of course, there’s the true benefit of tournaments like the WCC – free beer to the winners.