THE NGHL IS THRILLED TO SHARE THAT THE CT NORTHERN LIGHTS WILL JOIN THE LEAGUE FOR THE 2020-21 SEASON.  

The CT Northern Lights is the only all-girls ice hockey Tier 1 and Tier 2 hockey program in Northern Connecticut and Western Massachusetts. The program is committed to supporting the development of young women as athletes, leaders, and members of society through a competitive hockey environment that instills life values such as teamwork, sportsmanship, a consistent work ethic, and respect for self and others.

The Connecticut Northern Lights Girls Hockey program was founded in 2000 as part of the Avon-Canton-Farmington-Youth-Hockey organization. Connecticut Northern Lights Girls Hockey, then known as Avon Girls Hockey, had only one U-15 team in the 2000 – 2001 inaugural season. In the 2002 – 2003 season, Northern Lights also added an additional U-15 team and launched the Learn-to-Play and Learn-to-Skate (Foundation) program which was the first team called the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights became a standalone program in the 2003-2004 season. The program moved to the Newington Arena in Newington, CT for the 2003 – 2004 season and started a U-12 team and also a High School team. In the 2004 – 2005 season Northern Lights moved to the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury, CT, where the Northern Lights call home today. The Northern Lights continues to grow and offer programs to girls of all ages and abilities throughout the state of Connecticut.

The Lights have a great history of players who have gone on to play college hockey. Below is a list of their most recent alumnae and some of their current players who have college commits.

Girl’s ice hockey is far from being sleepless in Seattle.  Just ask the Seattle Junior Lady Admirals.  The National Girls Hockey League is proud to announce its newest member in the Seattle Junior Lady Admirals for the 2020-2021 Season!

The Seattle Junior Hockey Association is a coed club founded in 1974. The association began hosting all-girl teams in the mid-1990’s.  The program has been home to a number of accomplished female hockey players, including:

The amount of registered USA girl hockey players has tripled in the state of Washington over the last 4 years.  With the coming of the newest NHL franchise, the number of girls in the region is expected to triple in size again.  Seattle Junior is working closely with the new NHL Seattle franchise to provide opportunities for girls to play hockey and just recently hosted a try hockey for free in collaboration with the NHL Seattle organization.

In addition, to growing the game for the girls, Seattle Junior will be the host of the Pacific Districts female divisions including teams from California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska this year and Seattle Junior has been host to both an all-girls Veterans Day tournament and Washington State Female District camp.

The Lady Admirals play local coed teams for league play and participate in a number of all-girls tournaments during the season.  The NGHL will allow the Lady Admirals to play on a national stage with some of the best teams in the country while still having time to play league games locally.

“Seattle Junior is excited to join the NGHL league.  We are committed to the growth of girls hockey and giving our girls the opportunities to play nationally that we believe the NGHL will provide.” – Nick Fouts, Seattle Junior Athletic Director.

The National Girls Hockey League is proud to announce its new member in the LA Lions for the 2020-2021 Season!

The LA Lions is an all-girls hockey club founded by Becki Winckler and Megan Rivera (BC alum and former LA King employee) and operated by the LA Jr. Kings. It started with a small core group of girls that were playing on different boys travel teams. This group had all been on the same in-house team previously for several seasons and had developed a special bond. 

LA Lions logo

 Becki was instrumental in working to keep the team together, amidst doubt that it could not be done successfully, due to past attempts that failed. Gaining the support of the LA Junior Kings, the young LA Lions teams entered their first tournament over Labor Day weekend in 2015 as a single Mite team and placed 3rd out of 7 against all-boys teams ( having never practiced as a team). The families were ecstatic, and Becki knew this team had something special. This began the grassroots efforts to grow girls hockey in LA. The Lions started having open clinics and pounding the pavement getting the word out looking for girls. Within a month they had about 25 girls. Shortly after, they were branded by the NHL Club, LA Kings. The Kings provided an amazing name and logo and announced the new program during a game at the Staples Center. 

While the La Lions flagship girls team at the Peewee level is successful on the ice, they continue to face struggles as a new club. Retention, travel and the cost to play are the three main hurdles they hope to overcome as they continue to grow. There is not a local “girls league” to play in so their weekly games are against boys teams and most of their teams don’t typically experience success in this model.  GM, Tori Pizzuto and Becki are constantly trying to find a solution for and also change/create the culture in LA for girls hockey. ”We think the NGHL is a crucial step in that direction and supports our vision. We are extremely excited about next year!!”

This year for Thanksgiving weekend, the National Girls Hockey League hosted the first annual Country Classic Showcase in Nashville, Tennessee. The event brought 28 teams of which 24 American Teams and 4 Canadian Teams to Nashville for the weekend where they competed at the Ford Ice Centre in Bellevue and Antioch, Tennessee. 

The three-day event showed great competition across the U12, U14, U16, and U19 divisions. 

Congratulations to the 2019 winners of each division!

2019 Country Classic Winners: 

In addition to the youth event, the Country Classic also played host to the D1 Girls College Showcase which saw Harvard, Boston College, Minnesota, and Wisconsin compete in a 2 game showcase. Each game saw an amazing turn out with over 800 fans composed of both NGHL member teams and local hockey fans enjoying a great display of Women’s Division 1 Hockey.  A special thank you to members of each college team who took some time to meet with NGHL players post-game! The meet and greet was a memorable experience for all youth players who were able to attend! 

College Showcase Results 

Friday, November 29th, 2019 

Saturday, November 30th, 2019 

In addition to the hockey, Nashville had many sights to offer our families including Music Row, honky-tonk bars, great shopping and of course chicken and biscuits!  

We want to thank the Nashville Predators and the Ford Ice Centre Staff for their support for our girls’ and women’s hockey events.  Lastly, we want to give a big thank you to all the teams and their families who traveled to Nashville over the holiday weekend and made this event such a success! 

We hope you’ll join us next year as we return to Nashville, November 27-29, 2020!

The NGHL works to put in place quality events for girls hockey programs across the country. Our goal is to support a healthy environment for our member’s teams to thrive. We know that hockey requires a large commitment from both the player and their families, and we want to thank you for your commitment.

As we end the first half of our inaugural season, we’d like to share our first NGHL Newsletter with you. Click here to read, download and share

If you’re interested in joining the NGHL contact us at info@nghlhockey.com

Combine, Develop & Promote

As the landscape for girls hockey has been changing the mindset in Raleigh, NC has adapted to keep up with the needs of its players.  In the Raleigh area, there has always been an interest in girls’ hockey. The area had the RYHA (a precursor of the Junior Hurricanes), Team Carolina then the Lightning and a rejuvenated Junior Hurricanes program 3 years ago, and the Carolina Lady Eagles.  While both were girls’ programs, they starkly contrasted each other – one was a local weekday program, the other a regional program that drew from all areas in North Carolina that did not have all-girls teams.  

For the 2019-2020 season, the two organizations merged and became the Carolina Jr Hurricanes with the goal of:

The challenges the Hurricanes faced were varied but the largest was losing players to prep schools, travel, costs and lack of local girls teams for gameplay. Compounding those issues is the cost of 50 minutes of ice – over $500 in North Carolina – and the fact that the closest girls’ teams are 4+ hours away. 

David Reaugh, the Carolina Hurricanes Hockey Director, did not play ice hockey. He is a former soccer player who was inspired to try and solve at least two of the challenges above along with the help of 3 minor league pro players:   

The result of the collaborative efforts was a success. During the tryout process, the Jr. Hurricanes formed 8 full-time teams and 2 part-time U10 and U12 tournament teams. They’ve been able to show that local girls can stay at home with their families and still succeed.  David’s daughter Shelby Reaugh is a prime example of this success. Shelby was born in Raleigh, played in Raleigh and signed in Raleigh.  

Like many other female hockey players, Shelby’s introduction to hockey came when she was dragged from rink to rink to watch her older brother play. In December 2013 Shelby said “Dad, I want to play ice hockey and I will pay for it” and she did. She started playing hockey at 12 ½ years old at a local rink public program and quickly became hooked.  Being the only girl on the team she was only allowed in the team locker room during the coach talk, which made her feel like an outsider. David, Shelby’s father, began reaching out to people to get guidance on how to nurture Shelby’s new love of hockey. Don Schaap, the president of Carolina Lightning at the time, worked on her skating and soon Shelby was playing on the 14U all-girls Lightning team.  

Working with some great pro (minor league) coaches over the next few years, like Marc Genest, Dean Whitney (brother of beloved NHL Ray Whitney) and Jocelyn Langlois, Shelby worked harder and harder on and off the ice. 

Shelby has used her daily off-ice training and her synthetic ice sheet as a substitute for the ice time girls up north get but is too expensive to have in Raleigh. Shooting 200 pucks a day, working out 4-5 days a week, and playing for multiple teams during any given season was a way to get the development she needed.  

Most players from the area who have a goal to skate in college must leave for prep schools or hockey-centric schools for exposure. Local stars Alyssa Gagliardi and Colleen Murphy went from prep school to college hockey and now skate in the NWHL. The Carolina Hurricanes hope to change this exodus by providing an organization that meets the needs of its athletes.  For Shelby, the lure of Becker College was its top-50 D3 ranking, a great scholarship offering, and its top-10 Pre-Vet academic program. 

With the newly combined program, a strong focus on development and leagues like the National Girls Hockey League (NGHL), the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes hope the advancement of its players will soon be a common occurrence.

Watching your daughter play a sport on a college campus offers an insight that playing on a regular rink can’t. It offers the vision of what could be – what it could be like if your player was drafted by a college and you made campus visits to see her play.

This past weekend was like that. The NGHL’s Ohio State “Big Ten” (September 13-15) hosted teams across 3 divisions. The skaters had the opportunity to play on the Ohio State University Ice Rink, home to the Ohio State Buckeyes women’s ice hockey team, and the aptly named Chiller Dublin Rink.

7 Clubs traveled to play in the showcase, most brought multiple teams. 

The showcases throughout the season, help us get a clear gauge on what level the teams should participate at the end of season NGHL Championships to be held in St. Louis in February.  One of the goals of the NGHL is to promote girls’ hockey so that those who want to play college hockey will have the opportunity for exposure and hopefully reach their goal.

Division results from this weekend are:

The next NGHL event will be the Nashville Country Classic, November 29 – Dec 1, 2019, which will host T1 & T2 girls’ hockey teams across four divisions, from 12U to 19U. The event will also give the teams the opportunity to watch Women’s NCAA hockey. Four top 20 ranked women’s teams – Wisconsin, Minnesota, Boston College & Harvard – will be playing in a showcase tournament. Looks like a great weekend for girls and women’s hockey!

Training is part of every ice hockey player’s routine. Players learn how, and progress in their ability, to execute skills at higher speeds and in smaller areas, with more resistance. At the end of August, the NGHL College Exposure Camp hoped to amp up that training, if just for one day, and brought together competitive female hockey players and college coaches to train and talk hockey.

The athletes ranged from 13 – 18-year-olds, all striving towards the goal of playing hockey in college. The Exposure Camp provided personalized instruction and attention from some of the best coaches in the country, from all divisions and levels of the game, including

During the day, athletes were given the opportunity to sample various coaching styles while on the ice and got to know the coaches on a personal level. Lunchbreak took advantage of the perfect late summer weather and included an outdoor discussion on “What it takes to be a college hockey player.”

Based on the resounding success of this event, the NGHL will present another camp this season. Stay tuned to our social platforms at @nghlhockey for that update.

This Labor Day weekend, in partnership with the MidFairfield Connecticut Stars and Ironbound Elite, the NGHL hosted the 2019 Labor Day Challenge. Fifty-two teams across 5 divisions – 12U – 19U – played across three days. Most games were played at the Northford Pavilion Rink but some teams had the special opportunity to play on Wesleyan’s beautiful Spurrier-Snyder Rink. 

It was gratifying to see such passionate and talented players.  Feedback from the college scouts that were there was very positive. We were fortunate to have a section of coaches from D1, D3 and NESCAC schools: 

Alvernia • New England College • Nazareth • Trinity Kings • Quinnipiac • UMass Boston •  Wesleyan • Manhattanville • Yale • Amherst • Maryville Buffalo • St. Lawrence • UConn • Bowdoin • WNE • SUNY Oswego • Post • Merrimack • Colby • Becker • Chatham • Sacred Heart • Aurora • CT College • Nichols • Elmira • Brown • Wilkes

We’d like to congratulate all the division winners:

We truly appreciate all the teams that came out to skate and those who posted pictures and #GameDay creative on social media (@nghl_hockey), raising the level of awareness of our new league. 

It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention.  As we started to plan for next season we could not find a league that served the unique needs of girls ice hockey programs.  

We saw a glaring need, and not wanting to shy away from the size of the task, the National Girls Hockey League (NGHL) was born. To support other programs in the same situation, the NGHL is dedicated to the promotion and growth of girls ice hockey programs across the nation. Our mission is to enhance the overall hockey experience for athletes by partnering with like-minded programs in order to build a competitive schedule that geographically benefits all league members.

The league was inspired by the NHL and the NWHL with the thought of eventually bringing that level of success to girls hockey. Because many of our programs wear jersey’s that represent NHL teams, we will hold the League to high standards. Each team member in the NGHL is expected to provide an environment that enables the players, volunteers, and staff a chance to acquire the skills needed to be successful.  Members of the NGHL are expected to instill the following core values:

The goal of the league is to:

THE SEASON

The NGHL has planned a well-rounded showcase schedule for the 2019-2020 season. These weekends serve many different purposes – exposure, competition, NCAA experience, and last but not least, fun.

The League’s members will compete in five-weekend showcases against other league members and guest teams, culminating with championships in February 2020.  The showcases will be held at top venues and desirable locations for maximum exposure to college scouts.

2019-2020 Showcase Dates & Locations:

League members only will play in Championships,  held at the new St. Louis Community Ice Center, practice home of the St. Louis Blues, the 2018/19 NHL champs.

The Granato Cup is the championship trophy of the National Girl’s Hockey League, honoring Cammi Granato, a founding member of the USA Women’s National Team.