Girls hockey in 亚洲天堂 Lake has come along way in the five years since the team was formed by Kim Dezamits and Monique Beach.

鈥淲hen we first started with the girls we would get beat 20 to nothing,鈥� said Beach, the 亚洲天堂 Lake Bruins girls assistant coach.  鈥淣ow we鈥檙e second in the league.鈥�

There are four girls teams on the Omenica Hockey schedule.  The 亚洲天堂 Lake team members are all roughly the same age and form a 鈥榩eewee midget鈥� team.  With the players close in age the coaches are concerned that as current team members start to graduate and move away there won鈥檛 be enough girls to keep a team.

鈥淜im and I have tried to spearhead a younger team for two years now,鈥� said Beach.  鈥淲e鈥檙e worried about the future of girls hockey in 亚洲天堂 Lake.鈥�

鈥淧arents put their little girls in hockey on the boys team when the girls are younger,鈥� Beach said.  鈥淭he problem with this is that when hitting is introduced at the peewee level most of the girls quit playing because of intimidation.鈥�

This was the problem that Dezamits, the head coach, faced when her daughters came up through the age groups.

鈥淢y girls quit playing with the boys once they got to the level where contact started,鈥� she said.  鈥淚 wanted them to continue so I recruited several of their friends and started the girls team.鈥�

This isn鈥檛 to say that the girls can鈥檛 hang in there with the boys on a mixed team.

鈥淲e definitely have a few girls that do play contact with the boys though,鈥� Dezamits added.

Jasmine Tom plays on a bruins mixed team, and she took a hard hit into the boards at a Nov. 3 game in 亚洲天堂 Lake that left her with a broken collarbone.

Tom will be back on the ice soon, but if girls who don鈥檛 want to be taking and giving hits are going to be able to find a place in the 亚洲天堂 Lake Minor Hockey Association, the girls team will need to recruit new players.

鈥淥ur biggest concern is to keep the girl鈥檚 hockey team going so we need younger girls to join,鈥� said Dezamits.  鈥淲e don鈥檛 want it to end with the group we have now who are all 14 or older.  The greatest challenge is recruiting younger players.鈥�

鈥淭he girls enjoy each other鈥檚 company and always root for each other.  We don鈥檛 see or hear them putting each other down at all,鈥� Dezamits said about her experience as head coach.  鈥淲e always look forward to working with them.  Our goal as coaches is to keep the girls involved in sports of all kinds and to focus on creating a positive environment to learn and to make mistakes.鈥�

A model that would work well in 亚洲天堂 Lake could be something like what is happening in Fraser Lake.

鈥淔raser Lake, a smaller community than 亚洲天堂 Lake, has two teams, a young girls team and an older girls team,鈥� said Beach.  鈥淭hat would be ideal for keeping a healthy girls program.鈥�

But for that 亚洲天堂 Lake needs more players and maybe another coach.

鈥淎ll it takes is one parent to step up and get some of their daughter鈥檚 friends interested,鈥� said Dezamits.

Last Sunday the bruins girls had a tough game against Vanderhoof.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 normally get beat like this,鈥� Dezamits said after Sunday鈥檚 loss. "We had a few girls down with the flu."