History of women's ice hockey in the United States

The history of women's ice hockey in the United States can be traced back to as early as the late nineteenth century, although more serious, structured teams were not formed until the late 1910s.

Early History

The Era of "First Starts" (Pre-1915) Dr. Andrew Holman, professor of history at Bridgewater State University, has described the period of women's hockey in the United States prior to 1916 as "the era of 'first starts'". Given the dates many hockey teams were established in the United States (see "Structured Hockey Begins" below), in this article, the time has been amended to pre-1915. There is evidence of women playing hockey as early as the 1890s, for instance:

1896 - Students at Mount Holyoke College, an all women's school, are photographed skating with ice hockey sticks in the newly erected John D. Rockefeller Skating Rink. 1899 - A women's ice hockey match between Ottawa and Philadelphia is reported on in the Ottawa Citizen. 1907 - A photograph displays the Hens, a women's ice hockey team formed in Hannah, North Dakota,who played against men's teams. 1909 - The Star Tribune reports that the Minnesota Amazons, a team made up of women from Macalester College in St. Paul and elsewhere, planned to play women and men's teams.

Structured Hockey Begins (1915 - 1922) Women's hockey became more structured and organized during and in the years after World War I. Cities with confirmed women's teams included Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle. There is also evidence that Cleveland, Syracuse, and Maine may have had women's teams. The table below shows a list of women's hockey teams between 1915 and 1922. This list is likely non-exhaustive, as many teams did not have formal names or were not written about in newspapers.

Consistent with other early 20th century hockey, teams generally had seven players on the ice: a goaltender, two on defense, three forwards, and one rover. +List of Women's Hockey Teams 1915-1922TeamCityYears active (Approx.) Home RinkPolar MaidsPittsburgh, PA1915–1917Duquesne Garden Ice PalaceArctic GirlsPittsburgh, PA1915–1917Duquesne Garden Ice PalaceWinter Garden GirlsPittsburgh, PA1916–1917Winter Garden RinkSt. Nicholas BluesBrooklyn, NY1916–1921St. Nicholas RinkBoston Girls' Hockey ClubBoston, MA1916–1918Boston ArenaMinerva Hockey ClubOakland, CA1916–1918Techau Tavern Ice PalaceDiana ClubSan Francisco, CA1916–1918Techau Tavern Ice PalacePrincess PatsSan Francisco, CA1917–1919Techau Tavern Ice PalaceWanderersSan Francisco, CA1917–1919Techau Tavern Ice PalaceSeattle HockeyettesSeattle, WA1917–1918Seattle Ice ArenaSeattle MetettesSeattle, WA1917–1918Seattle Ice ArenaGlacier GirlsSeattle, WA1917–1918Seattle Ice ArenaManhattan RedsNew York, NY1916–1917St. Nicholas RinkSeattle VampsSeattle, WA1920–1921Sticks (later referred to as "Debs" short for Debutantes)St. Louis, MO1920–1921St. Louis Winter Garden St. Louis Ice PalaceClubs (later referred to as "Debs" short for Debutantes)St. Louis, MO1920–1921St. Louis Winter Garden St. Louis Ice PalaceWashington University Inter-Sorority TeamSt. Louis, MO1921University of Washington Women's TeamSeattle, WA1920–1921Back Bay Hockey ClubBoston, MA1920–1921Boston ArenaGirls' A.A.Boston, MA1921ThornsPhiladelphia, PA1920–1921Philadelphia Ice PalaceRosesPhiladelphia, PA1920–1921Philadelphia Ice PalacePhiladelphia Cricket ClubPhiladelphia, PA1920–1921Merion Cricket ClubPhiladelphia, PA1920–1921Quaker City Maids (Philadelphia all-star team) Philadelphia, PA1920–1921Philadelphia Ice PalaceUniversity of Minnesota "Reds" v. "Greens" (1916–1917) Freshman v. Sophomore v. Junior v. Senior (1917–1930)Minneapolis, MN1915–1930 Outdoor rink behind the Armory (1915–1920) Northrop Field rink (1921–1930)Carleton College "Maize" v. "Blue"Northfield, MN1921–1922Lyman Lakes

Overview of Select Early Teams by City

Boston Tryouts for the Boston Girls' Hockey Team were held in late 1916, with try-out advertisements reaching as far as Cleveland. According to the Boston Globe, the first practice and first round of tryouts, were held at the Boston Arena on Friday, December 30, 1916, with fourteen women in attendance: Ruth Denesha, Gertrude Hawkes, Agnes Seamans, Lina Bowen, Agnes Seamans, Mary Campbell, Katherine McDougall, Mildred Copley, Helen Sheehan, Betty Hawkes, Marjorie Olsen, Esther Carr, Elsie Butler, Lena Doucette, and Frances Goldberg. The same article noted that Ruth Denesha and Gertrude Hawkes were responsible for forming the team. Denesha's brother, Harry, served as a volunteer coach, and a Miss. Mary Hawkes—a relative of Gertrude Hawkes—agreed to chaperone the women for out of town games and serve as manager. While the game schedule was not set at the time of tryouts, women's hockey clubs in New York, Syracuse, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Maine, and Canada were noted as potential competitors. Ruth Denesha captained the team, with her brother, Harry—a hockey player for the New York Athletic Club—coaching.

The Boston Girls' Hockey Team dissolved by the end of 1918, likely due to a fire that destroyed the original Boston Arena in December 1918. When the arena re-opened in early 2021, the team reformed, now branded as the "Back Bay Hockey Club." In a December 1920 article, the Boston Daily Globe stated the team was to be led by Dorothea M. O'Donoghue, a goaltender who "weighs only 115 pounds and is only 5 feel 2 inches tall. She has grit, however, and the muscle, for she says she is as strong as many men who weighs twice as much as she." The article additionally stated that many of the original Boston Girls' Hockey Team players would return, including Gertrude Hawkes (now as player and manager), Agnes Seamens, Mary Campbell, Helen Sheehan, and Dorothea O'Donoghue. The new coach was to be a "Coach Myers, now with Boston University." Concurrently, an attempt was also being made in Boston to form women hockey teams at Boston University, the Posse Normal School of Gymnastics in Boston, and the Sargent Gymnasium in Cambridge. Later in 1921, a second women's team in Boston, Girls A. A., was formed.

Notable players of this era in Boston included:

Ruth Denesha - Co-founder and captain of the Boston Girls' Hockey Team. Gertrude Hawkes - Co-founder of the Boston Girls' Hockey Team. Later manager of the Back Bay Hockey Club. Agnes Seamans - From Somerville, MA. Also accomplished runner and holder of the mil women's championship of New England. Player on Boston Girl's Hockey Team and Back Bay Hockey Club. Helen Sheehan - From Natick, MA. Also played basketball at Boston University. Player on Boston Girl's Hockey Team and Back Bay Hockey Club. Mildred Conley - Wife of Farrell "Pop" Conley, a male hockey player on the Arena Hockey Club of Boston. Lina Bowen - From Belmont, MA. Dorothea O'Donoghue - Goaltender. Captain of the Back Bay Hockey Club. Mary Campbell - Player on Boston Girl's Hockey Team and Back Bay Hockey Club. Frances Goldburg Lena Doucette Katherine McDougal

New York City The St. Nicholas Blues were initially organized by Kathleen Howard in 1916. Howard initially moved to New York City from Winnipeg with her husband, Tom Howard, after he accepted a job coaching Yale and Columbia's hockey teams and playing for the New York Athletic Club. Tom Howard had previously won a Stanley Cub wit the Winnipeg Victorias.

The earliest record of a structured game in New York City was in 1916, when the New York Times reported that the St. Nicholas Blues played the Manhattan Reds at St. Nicholas Rink on November 16. The game tied 1:1, with Hallie Twombly scoring for the Blues, and Elsie Muller scoring for the Reds.

Notable players of this era in New York City included:

Elsie Muller - Played for the Manhattan Reds in the inaugural St. Nicholas Blues - Manhattan Reds game. Later, captain for the St. Nicholas Blues. Represented the United States in speedskating at the 1932 Winter Olympics. She was inducted into the National Speedskating Hall of Fame on May 18, 1968. Hallie Twombly - Described as "a miss who was able to out-skate and outskirmish most of the girls on the ice" in the inaugural St. Nicholas Blues - Manhattan Reds game.

Seattle

The Quiet Decades (1922 - 1963) Hockey and other women's sports declined in the 1920s and for the next several decades for a multitude of reasons, including the belief that sports made women "competitive, masculine, and unbecoming" and the belief that women's sports would never be profitable. These reasons may have been further compounded by the Great Depression and World War II, which led to rink closures and reduced programming.

In 1923, the National Amateur Athletic Federation (NAAF) was created to coordinate and regulate amateur sports in the United States. While the federation's Women's Division did promote women playing sports, it urged that they must "play for play's sake," meaning women should not play competitively. Consequently, there was a decrease in women's collegiate and club sports, including hockey.

Collegiate Hockey

1960s: The Pembroke Pandas In 1964, Nancy Schieffelin—who grew up playing hockey in her home state of New Jersey—began her freshman year at Pembroke College, the women's college in Brown University. After the Brown Bears men's coach, Jim Fullerton, saw her skating at the school's new rink, he arranged for Schieffelin to attend a team practiced disguised as a man. In an interview with Mary Byrne of The Belmont Voice in 2025, Schieffelin recalled:The coach of the men's team saw me fooling around by myself with a stick and a puck...and he asked if I would come to practice for the men's team...The men's team was doing really poorly, and he wanted to get something fired up in them.After the practice, Schieffelin approached Arlene Gorton, Pembroke's Director of Physical Education who was tasked with running all women's club-varsity teams, about starting a women's hockey team. Gorton agreed to support the creation of the team and became the driving force for its establishment.

The team, originally named the Pembroke Pandas, is recognized as the first varsity women's college hockey program in America (although non-varsity collegiate teams briefly existed at the University of Washington, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Minnesota, and Carleton College in the 1920s). The team had a scant budget—players initially wore hand-me-down Peewee jerseys and helmets and field hockey shin pads over field hockey pants or blue jeans. As there were no other collegiate programs, the Pandas played pick-up games against faculty and spouses and a Rhode Island men's club in their first season. In the next few years, they played against the Walpole Brooms, a women's community team in Massachusetts. In the late 1960s, the team travelled to Canada to play Canadian collegiate women's teams, selling chocolate bars to charter buses to these away games.

1970s: Collegiate Hockey Spreads

Cornell Big Red In 1971, Cornell freshman Reggie Baker recruited 23 women for an ice hockey team. Baker, who grew up close to campus and whose father was a professor at the school, had been planning to start the team for years prior to matriculation. In eighth grade, Baker approached her science teacher, Gail Murphy, about coaching the team. Baker also distributed fliers around campus about the team during her senior year of high school.

While the club team was officially formed in 1971, the athletics office denied them ice time as they were not an official varsity sport. Consequently, the first season was spent doing off-ice conditioning at Schoellkopf Field. Baker continued to push the athletics department for ice time, and with the help of her father got the team recognized as a varsity sport for the 1972–1973 season.

Providence Friars