Women from across New Jersey form women’s ice hockey team
Women from across New Jersey form women’s ice hockey team
Camaraderie is one reason the members of the Queenston Ice Hockey Club play the game — that, and the fact that they love hockey.
The women’s team was founded by Jennie Cook in 1999, and today has 15 players coming from as far away as Toms River, though most hail from Mercer County. Home games are played at Proskate in South Brunswick.
Members range in age from their mid-20s to 57. Many are married with children. Meghan Hedin of Princeton, Robin McConaughy of Hopewell and Phoebe Outerbridge of Pennington all play on the team. Each is married with two kids, and they all have their unique style on the ice. Yet they also all have the same passion for the game and take enjoyment from playing with a group of women who have become some of their dearest friends.
Forward Phoebe Outerbridge, a 1988 graduate of Colgate University, is one of the original team members. She played hockey at Colgate, where she majored in art and art history.
“The equipment was poor because the team was on a shoestring budget. But we played against some tough varsity competition and held our own,” said the Pennington resident.
Outerbridge, who was a figure skater growing up in Princeton, was coaching Princeton Day School’s middle school ice hockey team when she was asked to join the soon-to-be formed Queenston team. The name was selected because it is the women’s counterpart of Kingston hockey club, on which Jennie Cook’s father and uncle continue to play.
In Queenston’s first year, Outerbridge would bid goodbye to her husband, Andrew, and two daughters, Bailey, now 19, and Whitney, now 16, and head out to the 9:30 p.m. ice slot on Sunday nights. (Bailey has also played hockey with PDS, Nassau Hockey, and the Princeton Tigerlilies.)
“It has been a great experience to play with this group of women. Every year, there are so many stories to share because of the fun people on the team,” she said.
Hedin, 36, didn’t play hockey until she was 23. The six-foot-one Princeton resident played basketball when she was younger.
She started playing hockey in graduate school at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., where she said “they play a lot of ice hockey. That’s just what they do.”
Hedin is a geologist who plays forward, and sometimes, grudgingly, center. She keeps in shape by hitting the gym once in a while and chasing after the two children, Anders, 5, and Linnea, 2, she has with husband Hans.
She learned how to skate as a young girl growing up in Pennsylvania, and played with the team in tournaments in Florida before joining the team officially in 2006-07.
“Playing the game with these girls is something we look forward to each week. Whether we win or lose, we want to have a good showing,” she said.
Robin McConaughy played ice hockey, field hockey and lacrosse in high school, graduating from Princeton Day School in 1987. She attended Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., with degrees in English literature and Italian, and played lacrosse and field hockey all four years.
Even though there wasn’t a women’s team at Trinity, McConaughy played with friends and family over Christmas breaks and visits home when the pond or Lake Carnegie was frozen.
The 44-year-old defenseman has never been far from the sport, and her family has a storied hockey history. McConaughy’s father, John Cook (class of 1963), still holds the records for the Princeton University men’s team in career goals (67) and career points per game (2.0). He is also is tied for most goals in an individual game (5), a record he shares with his own father, Peter Cook (class of 1935).
“I grew up in a rink watching my dad play with his club team at a high level of competition. And his team always had a good deal fun, maybe sometimes too much fun! To be able to compete and have a great time are the qualities that drew me to the Queenston Hockey Club,” she said. “Plus, my brothers and my dad still play. I have to have something to talk about at family gatherings!”
After moving from Manhattan to Princeton in 2002, McConaughy started playing in tournaments with her first cousin, team founder Jennie Cook. She became a member of the club in 2004, when her two boys were 2 and 4 years old.
“I played sporadically before formally joining the team. Even so, I noticed that our team was always the one laughing and cracking up in the locker room and on the bench. Win or lose,” she said. “Other teams didn’t seem to have nearly as much fun. That camaraderie is what has kept me on the team for almost 10 years.”
McConaughy feels that playing on the team with this diverse group of women fills a void for her.
“It’s OK to be totally crazy with these people. This is the reason why I love this team so much. It is a group of woman I would never know if I hadn’t joined Queenston. Hockey is what brings us together.” she said.
The owner of Double Brook Farm and Brick Farm Market in Hopewell, McConaughy feels that practices and games are great workouts. Her family is occasionally seen in the fan section at games: husband Jon, and sons Finn and Drew (who is also a feisty hockey player).
“The Sunday practice is a perfect way to finish the weekend: 5 p.m. skate, drink that earned beer in the locker room and then home to dinner with the boys and my husband,” she said.
The club competes in the United Women’s Hockey League, which consists of teams from Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
As much as the players enjoy being part of the team, winning isn’t always a priority. The seasons are long; Outerbridge, 46, recalled one year how nobody on the team wanted to advance to the playoffs — and neither did their opponents. In a battle of attrition, Queenston won when McConaughy scored a reluctant goal, sending the team through. But many members of the team were unable to go on, for various reasons.
“We ended up only having seven skaters plus a goalie for the first game of the playoffs, against the nemesis of the league,” Outerbridge said. So in the locker room, they decided to “man up” and make black hockey tape facial hair, each player with her own style.
“Most of us put our helmets on and went out on the ice and began the game like this. Figured we lose in our own stylish way,” she said.
Hedin credits Gretchen Jaeckel, player and “de facto coach” with providing great leadership and coaching.
“Gretchen is the Paul Newman in Slapshot of our team,” she said.
Other members of the team are Victoria Elkins (Lawrence), Kyle Foster and Jacqui Yost (Lambertville), Laurie Seliger (Kendall Park), Beverly Radice-Cream, Jackie Zohn and Ashley Quinlan (West Windsor), Lorraine Whitman (Woodbridge), Carrie Kirshner (Toms River), Carol Ann Mundy (Newtown, Pa.) and Lee Grotz (Califon).
The season is scheduled to start Oct. 5 with an away game in Bucks County, Pa. For the women of the Queenston Ice Hockey Club, friendship combines with a game that they share a strong passion for to give them an opportunity to once again answer the age old question: “Who is going to bring the cooler?”