Girl’s hockey tournament hits the ice this weekend in Fredericton

A hockey tournament in New Brunswick is building on the game’s growing popularity with girls.

A total of 12 all-girls teams are taking the ice this weekend in Fredericton with three age categories: Under-9, Under-11 and Under-13.

“Girls are playing more now, and it’s fun,” says Blakely Grandy, a member of the St. Thomas University Tommies Juniors team.

Organizers of the all-girls tournament are looking to create early opportunities for girls to join hockey.

“I think on the all-girls team, they have both the possibility to take on some of those important hockey roles in the game, which maybe they wouldn’t get to do in a co-ed team, but also just to have that fun of being an all-girls team,” says Peter Murphy, the head coach of STU Women’s Hockey team and a tournament organizer.

“Traditionally, that’s been really reserved for ringette, and now we’re getting a lot of female hockey associations starting up.”

Murphy is expecting teams from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to join the tournament next year. Georgia Tait, a member of the STU Juniors Hockey team, expects to be there too.

“I think I will keep on doing hockey,” says Tait. “Because I really enjoy it and it’s super fun.”

The tournament ends with a championship game on Sunday.