Female hockey players take over Vernon ice

VERNON — A love for a sport can start with the thrill of attending a professional game or following older siblings' footsteps, either way it has nothing to do with gender.

Hockey, typically a male's sport, was a passion for both Megan Graham and Rachel Colvin. And the lack of women's leagues never deterred either of them from signing up for the Vernon Boys High School Hockey Team. Graham as Goalie and Colvin as Forward.

This is the second in a series of articles that will run featuring women playing in men's sports.

Graham's love for the sport hit her at an early age.

"The first time I went to a professional game, I sat there and fell in love with (hockey) and ever since then I always wanted to play," says Graham, 16, now a sophomore at VTHS.

She has been playing the sport since she was seven years old. Graham signed up for the Vernon Township's league as a child, which also predominately consisted of boys. Since the beginning, Graham says both her father and mother have been completely supportive of her decision to play hockey.

"When I told them I wanted to play, they never second guessed it," says Graham. "They said ‘Alright, we'll sign you up’ and they have always been there for me."

Colvin, 18, currently a senior at VTHS also began her hockey career very young — four years old to be exact. She had three older brothers who also played the sport so hockey became a family tradition.

Colvin started playing on a co-ed team in the beginning, moved onto a girl's travel team and now plays with the boys on the high school team.

"I thought it was going to be weirder," Colvin recalls of beginning to play on a boys team. "I earned a spot on team, worked just as hard on the team and also have Megan."

And Colvin's hard work paid off as she is the Captain for the team this year.

Graham's father Marti, said at one point he tried to assemble a girls hockey league at Skylands Rink but there wasn't enough interest.

"It’s a tough sell," said Marti. "A lot of people shy away from it, when they think of hockey and girls playing it."

Either way Graham says it playing with boys never fazed her.

"She never really expressed an interest (in playing with girls) — we offered for her to play on a girls team and she never really wanted to," said Marti. "She likes playing with the boys. She is friends with most of them and has been for years."

Embracing her feminine side, Graham is hard to miss on the ice with her bright pink helmet decorated with flames and a long blonde pony tail sticking out the back.

"I usually get treated like everyone else in the line," says Graham. "It hasn’t always been like that, but its been like that lately."

Colvin also has a long pony tail that is easily spotted by other team mates, but says she has never encountered problems as one of the only girls.

"People ask all the time," said Colvin of whether she receives backlash for playing with boys. "I received great support from coach Zimmerman and parents."

Graham has only been injured once, recently, when she suffered a concussion. Concussion aside, Graham encourages more girls to get out on the ice.

"I think its an amazing game that more girls should play because it's just so much fun," Graham said. "And the team is like a family. I would love it if more girls started to play."

Looking to the future, both Graham and Colvin plan on continuing to play a form of hockey.

"I've been recruited at Adelphi University's division to play field hockey," Colvin said, who along with hockey and field hockey, also plays golf.

Graham wants to continue playing hockey for as long as she can.

"I would definitely love to do this in college, academics comes first but if there is a hockey team, that’s an addition to looking for a school," Graham said. "Even outside of college I would love to play in an adult league. It's something I want to do for the rest of my life."