Nine-year-old Brooke Norkus feels likes she's getting cheated out of her best chance to develop her talents as a hockey player because the Prince George Minor Hockey Association wants her to play on an all-girls team.
Even though she was ranked as the 11th out of 208 registered in the atom division and was the sixth-ranked defenceman, Brooke was bumped from her initial placement on a boys Tier 1 atom boys team and moved to an all-girls team to play in the Tier 2 atom house league.
"It's not really fair to me, I'm not getting challenged enough," she said. "It feels like they're making me drop down and skate slower. I was out with one of my teammates and one of the coaches said I have to stay back and not score because she's not as fast as me. They're making me stop and stay back. I think it's going to drop my level. Players should get to play [at the level] where they were evaluated."
Brooke is in her sixth season of hockey, having started playing at age 4 with her older brother on an outdoor rink. She played spring hockey the past three seasons with the 2004 Prince George Pirates, the only girl on a team of boys. Now, all those boys are playing at the Tier 1 atom level and she wants to be there with them.
PGMHA president Alec Hartney said Brooke's initial placement on the Tier 1 atom boys team should never have happened because it goes against the league's female development initiative policy, adopted in May 2011.
"PGMHA regrets the confusion this has caused but maintains that it was never their intention to have a female player rostered on a male team," said Hartney. "It is our intent, however, to continue to develop a program dedicated to the development of female players."
The policy specifies female players should play on all-female teams not only as a way try to attract more girls to the game but to increase the numbers of high-calibre players as they develop through the system. Keeping the better girls on female teams will enhance the chances of success for those teams and the league believes that will help keep the level of interest in female hockey up. By sticking to that policy the PGMHA says girls are more likely remain involved in hockey and will have more fun if they play on all-female teams.
The PGMHA drew on the expertise of Hockey Canada, Hockey BC and the Sport Canada's Long Term Athlete Development model in preparing its female player policy, which is also the result of surveys of parents, coaches and league officials, locally and in outlying communities. Distinct gender differences exist in development age, intellect, trainability, maturity level, social and emotional needs and the PGMHA is convinced those differences are best addressed when boys and girls are kept separate on the ice.
The association cites Trina Radcliffe, Hockey Canada's female hockey development manager, to explain why the policy change was brought into effect 2 1/2 years ago
"The benefits of females playing female hockey are reflected in both the skill development and social aspect of the game," said Radcliffe. "It is important for girls to have the opportunity to interact with teammates and be leaders on their teams. The skill level of female hockey has increased dramatically and girls today have the opportunity to compete at a high level and still benefit from the social and leadership side of the game as well."
Female registration in the 1,200-player PGMHA grew from 90 in 2003 to 152 in 2011 and the numbers have held close to that number since then. In 2010-11, the season before the policy took effect, half of the female players were on mixed-gender teams. The association now offers rep teams in under-14, under-16 and under-18 age divisions and has recreational house league teams for females in all age divisions.
"We're changing our ways because there are so many female players coming up now and we we want all the female players to play together and advance though the system and be able to get those scholarships to universities and colleges in Canada and the States," said Hartney.
"[Brooke is] not the top girl, but she's in the top five girls in her age group. I've never seen her play but I've asked a whole bunch of people about her and some people within the association have seen her out there playing with the boys but she never gets to touch the puck. But when she's playing with the girls she gets to handle the puck quite a bit."
Parents are given the right to ask the association to reevaluate where it places each player. That appeal was filed by the Norkus family and rejected in an October vote by the minor hockey board.
Brooke's father Bryan Norkus says the PGMHA already made an exception to its own rule when it moved two of Brooke's teammates for her all-female atom team to another Tier 2 atom team. So he asks, why wasn't an exception made in Brooke's case.
"You would never see minor hockey do that to a boy who can skate through everyone, they would move that kid up no questions asked," said Bryan Norkus, who resigned as the PGMHA's novice supervisor in October when this appeal to have Brooke reinstated on the Tier 1 atom boys team was voted down.
Brooke's above-average skills and hockey sense were obvious in her game last Sunday at the Elksentre playing in the atom 2 division for Alison's Embroidery against an all-boys team. She scored one goal by skating through the entire team on a rink-length rush finished with a high shot into the net. Playing defence, she was obviously one of the best skaters on the ice and took the puck in deep on a number of occasions to create scoring chances.
"She could be playing at the Tier 1 atom level, there's no doubt about it," said Kevin Malgunas, an assistant coach of Brooke's team. "If her parents want her to move up, I think they should have that opportunity if she's skilled enough, and she certainly is. But at the end of the day, she's got a good coach, Lee J. Leslie, and this isn't going to hurt her."
The association will allow a female to try out for an all-male rep team. One girl made the boys bantam Tier 3 team is currently playing with that team, while another girl made the cut for the boys peewee Tier 2 team but chose to go back to her female rep team. Brooke was offered a chance to play for the all-female banwee rep team of peewee- and bantam-aged players but the family ruled that out as an option because it it would mean paying two season registration fees.
Jerome Lamarre, a former BC Best Ever program coach, has watched Norkus develop over several years in the Cheap Skate summer hockey league in Prince George and he thinks she should be playing in the Tier 1 atom division.
"Brooke loves the game and she has the ability to play with all those top atom 1 kids," said Lamarre. "I think P.G. Minor Hockey just wants to develop the girls team as much as possible and they want her to show the other girls what the capability is if you work hard and do the extras. But it's taking away from Brooke's ability to get to the next level. When you have an elite player, you never want to bring their level down and Brooke should have that opportunity to succeed at that level."
