From The Columbus Dispatch February 22, 1996:

OSU women take hockey game seriously

By Ray Stein

Dispatch Assistant Sports Editor

She grew up tall and athletic in Williamsville, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo. She played volleyball, ran track and was a member of the gymnastics team in high school, then was a high jumper for the Syracuse University track team.

Today, Jill Baran plays hockey.

"But when I tell people that, they automatically assume I'm talking about field hockey," Baran said. "If a man were to say he plays hockey, people think of hockey. When a woman says it, they get this shocked look and say, 'You mean with ice skates?'"

You'd better believe she does, and so do 45 or so of her teammates on the Ohio State women's hockey--ahem, ice hockey--team.

"Why hockey? It's a great sport. What better way is there to get out a little aggression than by running someone into the boards? It's faster than anything out there for women."

Baran, who will receive her master's degree from OSU in March, is president of the club and a member of its advanced team. There also is a novice team, consisting mostly of undergraduates.

Though not exactly a rage, women's hockey does appear to be catching on, perhaps best does appear to be catching on, perhaps best evidenced by its being awarded medal status at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

On the college level, the sport has spread slowly but surely from the East Coast, where the game has been played for more than 20 years, to the Midwest and beyond.

"A few years ago, you couldn't find anything," said Amy Mulvey, a four-year player at Cornell University who is coach of OSU's novice team and an advanced player. "It's changing, but I would doubt that most people in Ohio even know there's such a thing as women's hockey."

That certainly was true when Ohio State started in 1991. But int he last five years, Bowling Green State University has launched a team, as have community programs such as the Ohio Flames in Cleveland and the Central Ohio Girl's and Women's Hockey Association in Columbus.

Besides Ohio State, there are teams at Big Ten universities such as Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan State and Wisconsin. At Minnesota, in fact, women's hockey will become a varsity sport starting next season.

"That's where we want to be, but we know it's going to take time," Mulvey said. "We're very serious about this...but we know that it's going to take funds. Once you have funding, you can recruit."

In its push for varsity status, the OSU women's hockey team is doing some recruiting of its own for Saturday's game against Minnesota in the OSU Ice Rink. The team has invited university president Gordon Gee, athletic director Andy Geiger and other OSU officials to show their commitment to the sport.

"We've invited all the big cheeses," said Carol Ritchie Schoepf, an advanced player. "We want to show that we're equal to the Minnesota team."

Women's hockey differs from the men's game. Because most women's skating and skill levels are lower than men's the women play more of a finesse game.

There isn't supposed to be any checking in women's hockey, though Baran said, "a few good hits have been known to happen."

Legalized hitting or not, hockey clearly is more physical than most organized sports women play. And most participants, even the beginners, prefer it that way.

"I played softball, soccer, basketball and volleyball in high school," said Amanda Boatwright, an OSU sophomore from Cincinnati, "and this is my favorite sport by far."

I like that it's fast-paced and that it's really a mental game. And it's a great way to get all my frustrations out."

Like Boatwright, Amy Buckley didn't even know how to skate when she signed up. "I'm still working on that," she said. "If you're going full speed and can't stop, you can cause some damage."

But Buckley, a senior from Alliance, Ohio, loves the experience.

"I'm definitely a beginner and I'm on the bench a lot," she said. "But I like the idea of exploring new things. And this is a new thing."