By Jennifer Small, Sound Sports Editor:
When Chandlar Fowler
was four years old, she grew bored of figure skating and decided to try a Learn
to Skate program for hockey. That was the beginning of a long road for Chandlar
and her family as they learned what it took to be a hockey family—spending long
hours at the rink, driving to practices and games, traveling to tournaments,
and, of course, paying for everything along they way.
Chandlar started
playing with the Greater New Haven Warriors on a boys’ team before moving to
the Connecticut Polar Bears, one of the state’s first girls’ programs that
skates out of Cromwell and Northford, and then the Connecticut Stars, which
skate out of Shelton.
“Those organizations
are very competitive and it’s a huge commitment with two practices a week and
52 games throughout the season all over Connecticut,
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island,” said Thomas Fowler,
Chandlar’s dad. “Being a freshman, she’s looking at other sports too, but she
doesn’t want to totally lose hockey.”
After Chandlar’s
season with the Stars ended in March, Fowler began looking into options that
would allow his daughter to continue playing the sport she loved. He began to
look into forming a Branford girls’ hockey club team with hopes of it
eventually becoming a varsity program.
“I talked to people who got the programs going
into other towns—we’d want to start as a club through the school and hopefully
get enough people interested to sustain it,” said Fowler. “I’m hoping that, as
a club sport, it would be less intense than these leagues, but the girls can
still play hockey. It would give them an alternative to the huge commitment
involved with private organizations and not playing on a boys’ team.
Fowler approached
Jake Palluzzi, Branford’s athletic director, who was supportive of the idea,
and started to spread the word. In order to be affiliated with Branford High School, the club also has to gain
approval from Principal Anna Puglia, who oversees club sports. Fowler had a
handful of girls interested, but things really started to come together when
Liza Wood brought home a flier about the program.
Liza, who will be a
junior at Branford High School, grew up playing hockey in Vermont and when she moved to Connecticut, she had limited options for
staying involved in the sport. She tried soccer and lacrosse so far in her high
school career, but she missed hockey. She got a small taste of it practicing in
the preseason with the Hamden
High School girls’ team
and playing in scrimmages, but she couldn’t commit to a program.
“The Polar Bears
have 52 games a year and I couldn’t do that as a single parent with four kids,”
said Debbie Green, Liza’s mom. “I heard about Tom trying to put a team together
and got in touch with him.”
With hockey comes
the need for funds and a conversation around the Green’s dinner table set the
wheels in motion. After hearing about the startup effort, a friend of the
family, Jeff Alling, offered money for ice time and jerseys.
“I emailed Tom
saying this is the situation and we talked with our friend again who committed
to the program,” said Green.
While there will be
some funding provided, there will be a cost involved if the program turns into
a club as the team will need equipment and ice time.
“Ice is very
competitive and people with kids who play hockey realize it’s not always in
your backyard so we’ll play where we can find it and afford it,” said Fowler.
“If people are hockey parents, they know there’s a cost involved, but because
we’re looking at something a little more low key, our costs should be lower and
allow the girls to stay involved without the huge commitment.”
While Fowler is
enthusiastic about the club and ready to tackle the scheduling, he does not
have a hockey background so finding a coach was the next step.
“We have people
considering it and we have some friends willing to help with the skills
sessions,” said Green.
With about 10 girls
interested so far, the team was in need of a goalie and Liza found a friend
willing to try the position. Liza is also taking on much of the workload in
starting the program as she will use it as her Senior X project.
“Liza is going to
start her project this year—her junior year,” said Green. “She’ll do quite a
bit and I’ll help her and we have quite a few other people who are very
involved.”
Fowler is still
helping where he can, but as a member of the Branford Gridiron Club, he has
been busy getting ready for football season—a season that will see his son
captain the team.
“He played hockey
for two years, but it began to interfere with youth football,” said Fowler.
“The decision paid off as he’s had a successful football career.”
Green is hoping the
formation of the club will come through this winter so she will be able to
watch her daughter enjoy her passion.
“I’ve watched her
for two years not be able to do what she loves so it’ll be really great,” said
Green.
Fowler is also
looking at this winter as a timeline for some sort of start to the program.
“Our hope to at
least get together for skating sessions to see the skill levels of the
interested girls and see where we can go from there—whether we have enough to
field a team or if we’ll have a year of doing skill sessions,” said Fowler. “If
we get something going, hopefully the girls will show up and our numbers will
increase.”
For information on
the formation of the girls’ hockey club in Branford, call Debbie at
203-483-6727.
Pictured: Chandlar Fowler has grown up playing hockey and hopes for the formation
of a girls’ club team at Branford
High School.
Photo
courtesy of Thomas Fowler
Pictured: Liza Wood, who will be a
junior at Branford High School and grew up playing hockey in Vermont, is
helping spearhead the effort to form a girls’ ice hockey club team and using it
as her Senior X project.
Photo courtesy of Debbie Green