September 15, 2009
By Roman J. Uschak
Special to USAHockey.com
The Greater Lansing (Mich.) Amateur Hockey Association will be adding a Lansing Capitals girls’ program for the 2009-10 season, to supplement its boys’ program that began back in the 1950s.
GLAHA managing director Kristine Kuhnert, whose three young sons all skate in the organization, said that the Capitals had a girls’ team many years ago, and it was decided to resurrect the squad for the upcoming season.
“A lot of people wanted it,” Kuhnert said. “All our home games will be played at (Suburban Ice East Lansing).”
 | Success at other area rinks prompted the creation of a new girls program. |
GLAHA’s home rink sits in the shadow of Michigan State University. GLAHA actually got its own start on the MSU campus at the old Demonstration Hall, which is now used for roller hockey.
The Capitals, named for Michigan’s capital city of Lansing, also skated out of the now-defunct Lansing Ice Arena and then moved on to MSU’s Munn Ice Arena before eventually settling down at Suburban Ice East Lansing a decade ago.
GLAHA’s long list of prominent alumni includes current Buffalo Sabres star goaltender Ryan Miller.
Suburban also runs two other Michigan rinks, in Farmington Hills and Macomb.
“Farmington started with 12 to 15 girls, and now it’s an unbelievable program with two hundred girls or more,” Kuhnert said.
Suburban Ice East Lansing general manager Jeff Mitchell, who played in almost 500 games in a nine-year professional hockey career that included a stint with the Dallas Stars, said that his arena should be able to host two GLAHA girls’ teams this winter.
“We’ll try to do both, a 12-and-under and a 10-and-under,” Mitchell said. “This will be the first time in East Lansing.”
According to the GLAHA web site, girls ages 10 and under would skate in the Mite house program, while girls ages 12 and under would play in the Squirt house program. Both groups will be registered as individual teams, so they will be able to take part in age-appropriate tournaments.
Kuhnert elaborated that the marriage of Suburban and GLAHA began with the Suburban rink in Farmington. That partnership will continue in East Lansing with the new girls’ teams, which will supplement the original Farmington program.
“It’s an incredible opportunity,” Kuhnert said. “We’re very excited about it.”
This summer has seen a dozen or so girls turn up at Suburban Ice East Lansing almost every time for the 12-U and 10-U girls-only drop-in hockey sessions, adding impetus to ice a team at each level.
“We talked with GLAHA and decided there was room for growth,” Mitchell said. “We wanted to work together to grow the program.”
Also playing a part in the inauguration of GLAHA’s new girls’ teams is the fact that Suburban Ice East Lansing will host the 2010 USA Hockey Tier II Girls National Tournament at its 92,000 square foot facility.
“Suburban put in the bid for that,” said Kuhnert, who added that she has already started preparing for Nationals herself. “We will support them with whatever they need.”
“We went in and bid before we thought we would have a girls’ program,” added Mitchell regarding the Nationals. “We’ll host it on behalf of the Michigan Ice Breakers girls’ club.”
The Ice Breakers compete at several levels in the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association, which is also home to the GLAHA.
“Girls’ hockey is an untapped resource,” Mitchell said. “I worked at Farmington when we started five years ago with just 14 girls, and now it’s over 250.”
Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc. |