The Malone Minor Hockey Association is hosting a girls 12 and under tournament at the Malone Civic Center on Saturday and Sunday, March 12-13. Along with the Malone Huskies, teams will be coming from Oswego, Plattsburgh, Norwood-Norfolk and Vermont to compete in the Jacob Dievendorf Memorial.

“We have received approval from the Malone Minor Hockey Association board last week to have a fully dedicated girls-only program next year for 12/14U, 10U and Mite Pink (8U) teams within the Malone Minor Hockey program,” said girls 12U coach Matt Jones, who is also an assistant coach for the Franklin Academy varsity Huskies. “This is a big step as we are trying to establish a sustainable girls program that could, hopefully, show sustainable numbers and be a feeders for FA to have its own high school team.”

Currently, female student/athletes at FA who want to play varsity hockey participate for St. Lawrence Central.

Jones went on to point out that the MMHA girls program for the 2015-16 season was a free program that was approved by the MMHA board of directors to try and encourage girls to try hockey. Several of the members are first-year players, who took advantage of the “Play Hockey for Free” program, which was offered the past couple of years in Malone for first-year hockey players.

It was a successful idea, as this past season there were 55 girls in the program out of a total of 214 total participants, which translates to approximately 25 percent of the Malone Minor Hockey Association’s player being female.

“This year, the girls program had a mix of girls that participated on co-ed teams and some girls that only wanted to play on a girls team,” recalled Jones. “We have a great mix of girl hockey players with several years of experience and some who are in their first or second year of playing.

“The experienced group of girls have been very welcoming and willing to help and make the beginners feel welcome to the program. We are hoping to grow this program in numbers and get as many girls interested in playing and learning the game of hockey as we can.”

Jones added that the St. Lawrence varsity hockey program has been “a wonderful partner for the girls who move on from MMHA to compete at the next level.”

During the regular season, the SLC lady Larries – under the direction of St. Regis Falls native Dan Rondeau, whose daughter Kerrigan began her hockey career in Malone – hosted the Malone Minor Hockey Associations’ female skaters to skate with them during the warm-ups to a regular season game and, both new and experienced MMHA players, had a wonderful time, according to Jones.

“With this tournament, we are hoping to expose the 12U girls, and the younger girls in the program, that there are other girls programs out there. Norwood-Norfolk just participated in the 12U Girls Tier II State Championship and made it to the semifinal round, losing to Potsdam. Potsdam ended up winning the 12U Tier II state championship, beating Chazy 3-1,” pointed out Jones. “Three of four teams in the 12U girls Tier II final four were North Country programs.

“Girls hockey has gained a lot of popularity in the last five to 10 years, especially in the North Country,” summarized Jones, who graduated from Brushton-Moira Central School and was a standout goalie for the Salmon River Shamrocks. “There has been a lot of work that has gone into making this weekend’s girls tournament a fun and successful event.”

Jones added that any girls interested in hockey are invited to come and watch the “Dance Competition” at 2:40 p.m. on Saturday, where teams will participate in full hockey equipment.

Malone Huskies Roster

5-Abby Monette

6-Olivia Cook

8-Alyx St. Hilaire

10-Whitney St. Hilaire

12-Julia Perras

14-Alyssa Eddy

16-Claudia LaPlant

17-Leah Beth Guerard

23-Kayli Dustin

25-Emma Gibson

26-Cami Stone

29-Vail St. Hilaire

31-Gina Norcross

Schedule

Saturday, March 12

Malone vs. Plattsburgh, 9 a.m.; Vermont vs. Norwood-Norfolk, 10:10 a.m.; Oswego vs. Plattsburgh, 11:20 a.m.; Malone vs. Vermont, 12:30 p.m.; Norwood-Norfolk vs. Oswego, 1:40 p.m.; Dance Competition, 2:40 p.m.; Plattsburgh vs. Vermont, 3:50 p.m.; Malone vs. Oswego, 5 p.m.

Sunday, March 13

Malone vs. Norwood-Norfolk, 9 a.m.; Oswego vs. Vermont, 10:10 a.m.; Plattsburgh vs. Norwood-Norfolk, 11:20 a.m.; Malone 8U vs. Canton Blades 8U, 12:30 p.m.; 12U Team #1 vs. 12U Team #2, 1:40 p.m.; Malone 10U vs. Canton Blades 10U, 3 p.m.

TOURNAMENT RULES: 1 point awarded for each period won, 2 points awarded for winning a game. More than 7-goal difference in third period will result in running time. Any tiebreaker needed will be determined by (1) head-to-head, (2) goals against, (3) penalty minutes. Each period will be 12 minutes, penalties will be 1:30.