[ back ]
This girl mixes it up with boys on ice
(by Tony Lange - February 03, 2011)
This girl mixes it up with boys on ice
By TONY LANGE
She has played hockey since she was 5 years old. She skates year-round. Other school sports are not her thing.
At 5-foot-3 and weighing 100 pounds, Rachel Mangan checks in as the smallest player on the Kenston varsity boys' ice-hockey team and the first girl to play for the high school team since the 2006-2007 season.
Her friends think it's cool, while other people might think it is weird and kind of crazy, Mangan said.
"It's just nice to represent my school. I mean it's the sport I love, and I wouldn't give it up for the world," said Mangan, a sophomore who played hockey with Geauga Maple Leaf last year.
"I think there are certain people that say girls shouldn't play hockey, but my opinion is completely different," she said. "It is labeled as boys' varsity ice hockey at our school, and maybe some people don't think I should play, but that just makes me push myself even harder to prove that I deserve it just as much as they do."
Mangan is treated just like every other player on the team, head coach Jim Revak said.
"I think everyone has treated her as a hockey player like she is. We don't think there's anything different there other than using a different locker room," he said. "The kids seem to accept her no problems. The other teams respect it."
The ability to skate is a differentiator, and the ice is a good equalizer to size, Revak said. If a player is a good skater, then he or she can be successful at hockey, no matter what size he or she is, he said.
"There's hitting that's going on out there on the ice. She's a hockey player, and she understands that," he said. "She took a pretty hard hit into the wall down at Kent Roosevelt. It may have hurt a little bit, but it was nothing major, and she got back up. She knows that there's going to be the hitting that comes with the territory. She's a tough kid."
Mangan has good hockey sense, knows how to move the puck and plays with awareness, Revak said.
Mangan said she thinks of her small size as an advantage, because the bigger and faster skaters aren't inclined to go out of their way to hit her.
"I'm playing guys who are 50 to 100 pounds heavier than I am and twice as tall as I am, so it's definitely more competitive," Mangan said. "In high school, you're playing kids who are four years difference."
Mangan decided to join the high school team this season, because her older brother played hockey as a Bomber, her dad is an assistant coach, and she wanted to be able to call herself a Bomber, she said. "I just really wanted to represent my school. I mean, what kid doesn't?" she said.
It's not her first time playing for a boys' team, but this season is challenging, Mangan said.
"Kenston, it's been difficult this year, because they haven't fully accepted me as well as my other teams have," she said. "So it's been difficult. They haven't included me as much as they've included the freshman on the team. It's just been hard for them to welcome me and include me."
Playing for Kenston has made Mangan a stronger player and faster skater, because the games are more competitive and faster-paced than her previous team experiences, she said.
"My goal is just to improve my skills and try to get a couple of points in there and make friends with everybody else on the team," Mangan said.
[ back ]
