On this cold February night, a chill breeze forces numb hands inside warm coat pockets, but if you think you can take your gloves off inside the Charlottesville Ice Park's arena, you would be mistaken.
While fans in heavy coats try to keep warm in this rink on the Downtown Mall, basketball supporters across town cheer on the Virginia men against Wake Forest in a toasty, packed University Hall.
In here, the Virginia women's ice hockey club game begins. Even the seats are cold - perhaps that's why all the fans choose to stand around the plexi-glass barrier separating those who play from those who watch.
Then again, a sideline contingent of bundled-up supporters near the far wall may have a different reason for standing. As these fans do the wave and sing the Good Ol' Song arm in arm after every goal, every player on the ice can spot them.
Second-year college student John Moore appears to be the group's lead percussionist tonight. He bangs out a chant reminiscent of "The Mighty Ducks" soundtrack on the plastic shield with his bare palms.
Not too far away, a proud dad waits for his daughter, uniform No. 8, to skate across the ice.
"She got the puck finally!" Jim Crawford says, part joking, part relieved as he cheers on his daughter Sarah.
"They're getting so much better," he says. "These girls are just having a ball doing this."
Setting a new goal
Crawford's right. For 20-plus young women to strap on shin, shoulder and elbow pads, skates and helmets for practice at 10 on a Thursday night, and to do it again for games at the same time on Saturdays, they must be having a great time.
"The girls are really dedicated to learning the game," team co-captain and president Libby Pettibone said. "Those who have experience are having a blast, too."
The women's club hockey team got its start at the University when Pettibone, now a second-year College student, arrived in the fall of 1999. Having played on both women's and men's teams since she was 13 years old, the Pennsylvania native was not about to leave the ice in college.
"I wanted to keep playing so badly that I wanted to start a team down here," she said.
She followed through with this goal and manned her own booth at the activities fair in September. Pettibone recruited her first future officers, third-year College student Julie Vollmers and second-year College student Nina Barker. It was Nina's cousin Dave Barker, a Law School student, who became the team's first coach.
Together, the trio held interest meetings and filed paperwork until the club obtained Contracted Independent Organization status on Dec. 5, 1999.
"We got a team of 14 girls together and went off to play University of Maryland without having a practice at all," Pettibone said. "And we ended up beating their developmental team two to one."
The mighty Cavaliers
This year, the team is bigger and better. They have more coaches (four), more players (over 20) and more money (courtesy a hefty donation from the Raven Society).
But the team still is looking for more respect - and recognition - for a sport that still is dominated by a fierce, testosterone image.
When fourth-year College student Sarah Crawford tells people she plays hockey, many take that to mean the field variety, not ice.
"Most people think it's really cool," Crawford said. "I've encountered those that are a little skeptical about it."
In fact, the biggest difference between men's and women's hockey is the physicality of the game. This boils down to a prohibition on checking in the women's games.
"Checking accounts for a very high percentage of turnovers in men's hockey," said head women's coach Ryan Benedict, a second-year Darden student. "Women's hockey a lot of the time has better skill execution. It requires superior positioning and team play because you can't rely on physical play to get scoring opportunities."
But wait, no checking? No body slamming that leads to teeth-losing fights and big-fisted brawls so characteristic of men's hockey?
Both Crawford and Pettibone draw comparisons to women's lacrosse, another sport that is not as ... well, violent as its male complement.
"I think the draw for women's lacrosse is seeing girls out there who are very skilled at what they're doing, and we definitely have the potential to reach that," Crawford said.
That potential already has manifested itself in a respectable 3-4-1 record this season, even though the team started the season coachless. Pettibone was left in the difficult position of both leading and participating in practices for the first weeks until a coaching windfall descended upon them.
Along with Benedict, graduate Engineering student Craig Lorie, Intramural-Recreation faculty member Mark Voorhees and Darden student Carter Whisnand threw their efforts behind the team.
"All of a sudden we went from zero coaches to four coaches, and it's been unbelievable," she said. "They're great coaches. They're really patient with everybody."
Although the team found plenty of coaching support, they almost had to face off against a new problem: having too many players.
"We ended up with 20 girls who were interested in playing," Crawford said. "Some of them could barely skate, had no stick skills at all, but they caught on fast."
And with nearly half the team made up of first years, there is a lot of room to grow.
"I'm hoping that this young team - if everyone stays on - will be able to advance to something a little bit more competitive but still have a great time," Pettibone said.
"We'll have four years to play together," first-year College student Alicia Yaffe said. "I think it'll be really good for us for the future."
Fan club
As the team strengthens, the players hope their hold on fans will, too.
"People have such a good time watching our games. I've seen people flip out and cheer," Pettibone said. "The atmosphere is just really fun."
But Crawford said it can be frustrating to see the well-established men's club team, which began in 1994, draw bigger crowds.
"When you think of a sport you want to go to, you don't generally think of women's ice hockey," she said.
"Unfortunately, the knowledge that there is women's hockey hasn't gotten far south," Pettibone added.
One way the team hopes to change that is by eventually joining the new women's division of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, a league for women's hockey clubs.
"I just hope that in the next couple years that this university will know that we have a team ... and that we're trying to establish something great," Pettibone said.
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