Stamford
Spinnakers
The Girls & Women's
Ice Hockey Association
of Stamford, Connecticut
www.spinnakers.org
Since 1998
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ICE HOCKEY |
UPDATE: May 2012
Stamford Spinnakers, Inc. is a non-profit corporation, dedicated to facilitating the enjoyment of ice hockey by girls and women. It was created in 1998 and supported a variety of active programs until mid-2011. Although it currently conducts no programs, these things change, so we will maintain the entity and its domain name, suspend the web site, and keep the jerseys dry.
In early 1998 a wave of enthusiasm was set off by the US Women's Ice Hockey Team winning a gold medal in the Nagano Olympics.
Stamford families formed a spring league, involving about 150 girls of all ages, in Junior and Senior divisions. Girls Spring Hockey ran for ten years, and helped jump-start girls ice hockey programs throughout Fairfield County.
In the fall of 1998, local teenagers formed the Spinnakers Girls High School Team. The "spinnakers" name originally reflected this gathering of athletes from five different high schools, and all their school colors are still represented in the team's logo. The high school team had a good run for 11 seasons, but failed to reorganize in 2009, due to a shortage of younger hockey-playing girls in Stamford.
Without missing a beat, a core of team graduates, having returned to Stamford after their college years, put their old uniforms back on and organized the Spinnakers Women's Team.
The transition to adult hockey was not easy. Nearby opponents were hard to find, and ("You want me to pay HOW much?!") parents and schools were no longer paying the ever-increasing costs of ice and referees. Yet, the skill and the love of the game were still there, so we eked through a couple of years. In late 2011, it was apparent that too many players had been drawn away from the Stamford area by grad school, jobs and wanderlust, and we no longer had the committed roster needed to maintain a schedule.
To be continued...
