by Carly Marsh
The pink laces on their hockey skates give them away. Gloves, body pads, and sticks litter the girl’s locker area before the Lady Hawks get ready to take the ice at Central Park’s Lasker Rink. The hockey spotlight of the moment may be in Sochi, but a team like this deserves attention. It is a rarity in New York City and in all of Manhattan, the Lady Hawks are the only all-girls hockey team.
Julia Clague went to her first New York Rangers’ game when she was a just a tiny-tot. This is the nine-year-old’s first season playing the male-dominated sport. She’s learned how to skate, pass and shoot the puck in the past few months and has played various offensive and defensive positions in over 10 games. Now near the end of her season, she’s learned to block, drop and freeze the puck. In one of the team’s final games on February 9, she played goalie for the first time.
