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5-foot-2-inch female hockey player suits up with men's hockey team
Meagan Marquett
Posted: 11/14/06
Katherine Dunn doesn't mind sharing the ice with the boys. The Western sophomore is the only female ice hockey player on Western's 2006-2007 club hockey team, and the second in the last three seasons.
Being the minority on the ice doesn't mean hanging back or staying out of the action. Dunn said she gets checked against the glass like the guys. The only distinguishable differences are a ponytail hanging from her helmet and the number 41 on her jersey.
"It's kind of awkward sometimes," Dunn said. "I share the locker room with the guys. They are really supportive and at first toned down the locker-room discussions, but now they just don't care."
Dunn, a forward, joined the team after reading about tryouts on the ice hockey team's Web site. She played competitive girls youth hockey in Portland, Ore., until she graduated from high school.
Before transferring to Western this fall, she attended college at the University of North Dakota, where she played intramural hockey.
"I like hockey because it is a fast-paced game," she said. "It is exciting. You do a lot of thinking on your feet because you only have 45 seconds on the ice."
Her slender frame stands only 5-feet-2-inches, and many of her competitors tower more than a foot over her.
This is her seventh season on the ice, which has honed her skills in the hockey arena and allowed her to play with the men, she said.
"It's definitely harder to play when the competition has 50, 60 even 70 pounds on me," she said. "I make up for that difference by reading the ice well - knowing what's going on and predicting where the puck is going."
Western graduate student and current goalie Adam Railing said he has played alongside girls on several hockey teams.
"Dunn is cool," Railing said. "I found out she used to play goalie, which means she likes hockey a lot, because it takes a lot of commitment to be goalie. It is a different mindset than any other position - you're either getting beaten up or you're standing around waiting to get beaten up."
Dunn said she thinks the supportiveness and acceptance she has encountered as member of the team can be attributed to the current generation's co-ed team experiences since childhood.
Northwest women's hockey became more competitive three years ago, said Kent Lane, Dunn's former coach.
Dunn played for Lane's Northwest Select team in 2004. She belonged to the team that pioneered girls' competitive hockey in the Northwest, he said.
Dunn always scrambled in front of the goal to come out with the puck and earned one or two rebound goals a game, Lane said.
Team president and Western junior Peter Sreibers said that even though Dunn isn't a high-scorer, she plays her position consistently, making good, strong passes to teammates, which contributes to the team's overall scoring.
"I try to do what I can, to be where my team expects me to be, make good passes and be supportive while I am on the bench," Dunn said.
Dunn said her greatest contribution to the team is her work ethic - she makes all of the practices. Practice ends at 11:45 p.m. every Monday, which makes getting up for an 8 a.m. class difficult every Tuesday morning, she said.
"You can always count on her to give 100 percent on the ice," Sreibers said. "She plays against guys who are a lot bigger than she is - some of the guys are 6-feet-7-inches tall."
© Copyright 2006 The Western Front
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