BY RANDY SCHULTZ–
A hockey seed has been planted.
A group of 12 parents and students, representing a Starpoint High School girls varsity ice hockey team, made their presentation Monday night at the Starpoint Board of Education meeting held at the Starpoint Middle School.
Headed by a parent, Dan O’Brien, the presentation was made during the open session of the meeting proposing to begin a girl’s varsity high school hockey team for the 2018-19 season.
“The girls that are interested in playing would become part of a team that would play in the Western New York Girls Varsity Ice Hockey Federation which currently has seven teams,” said O’Brien. “Starpoint would become the eighth team.”
Starpoint would also become the first Niagara County-based team to play in the WNYGVIHF The seven teams currently making up the Section VI Girls Fed are located in Erie County.
O’Brien also noted that a Section VI team, Frontier/Lancaster/Orchard Park (FLOP) just won the NYS Girls Ice Hockey Championship held in Oswego, NY. It was the first State Championship for a Section VI girl’s varsity hockey team.
FLOP has certainly been in the news over the past 24 hours after winning the State Title. They have been featured in newspapers as well as several TV and radio stations.
O’Brien also pointed out that the team from Starpoint could merge with one or two other teams that have shown an interest in starting up a girl’s varsity hockey program. The other two high schools that were cited were Lewiston-Porter and Niagara Wheatfield.
“Girls from seventh grade up can play varsity hockey,” noted O’Brien. “It would provide longevity in the program.
“We believe that there are plenty of girls to play between the three schools.”
The group of students, all girls from the Starpoint School District, play hockey for several different hockey organizations in the Western New York area.
Four parents also spoke. They represented their daughters who could not attend the meeting because of hockey or work commitments.
“I’m asking for the Boards support so we can get a girl’s team for Starpoint.”
So the hockey seed has been planted. How it grows remains to be seen.
