A group of 25 Central women are sliding into the record books as Alexandra’s first women’s ice hockey team. 

The group consists of women ranging from 15 to their 50s, who live within an hour’s drive of Alexandra, with some travelling from Naseby and Queenstown to play weekly. 

Their skills and experience vary; some are completely new to the sport, others are former figure skaters and some have played in men’s ice hockey teams for years. 

Alexandra Flames Ice Hockey Club (FIHC) president Trevor Lawrence said he’s thrilled with how the first three weeks of women’s ice hockey has gone.

“Women’s sport started exploding in general last year, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Rugby World Cup and then the under 18 New Zealand women’s ice hockey team cleaned up in South Africa.

“A group of us got together and we wanted to give this a shot.”

Trevor said FIHC wants to grow the number of people playing the sport across the board, irrespective of your age, experience or gender, and having a women’s team was awesome for local women and girls. 

“Ice hockey is the ultimate leveller, it’s not about the biggest or strongest, it’s how fast you are, how smart . . . and how agile you are.”

Trevor thanked Contact Energy and Ice Inline for backing the women’s ice hockey team.

“Also a big thanks to Pip Thomson and Heather Lindsay for being the nightly organisers and managers.”

Alexandra resident for 21 years and mum of two Andrea Murphy, said playing ice hockey brought her “pure joy.”

“When I started playing hockey here 12 years ago I was the only girl.

“My heart is so happy to see [these] women on the ice . . . credit to the women and the club, it’s an open and inclusive group.”

“Everyone is welcome, all you need is a smile . . . a base level of physical fitness.

“If you think you want to have a go, we’ll help you.”

Andrea said kudos was also due to Michelle Wallis for being a driving force behind getting the team off the ground.

Both Trevor and Andrea said Saturday night had an amazing community feel with four hours of ice hockey under the new roof at Ice Inline.

“It makes the dark winter nights . . . to see the joy created from the ice hockey community getting together,” Andrea added.

The women play on Saturday afternoons from 4.15pm for an hour, there is no cost and equipment can be borrowed from FIHC. 

Plans for future seasons are to introduce a women's practice night and play more organised games, along with potentially travel to women’s tournaments. 

For more information see Alexandra FIHC listing or contact FIHC secretary Pip Thomson on [email protected]

The club is also looking for any ice hockey gear that people would like to donate to the women's team. Email Pip if you can help.