With the dawn of the Women’s Professional Hockey League (WPHL), women’s hockey is very much in the spotlight lately and Renfrew has its very own unique, growing program.
Tania Leclerc is a mom of three who helps organize Valley Elite Women’s Recreational Hockey, a program that runs Sunday nights at the myFM Centre at Ma-te-Way Park.
The program is open to all skill levels.
“This is my very first year ever playing, I’ve been watching my kids play for 10 years and this was my first go at it and there are a couple other ladies who are also brand new to the game but there’s some who have been playing since they were kids. I really think it’s for anybody,” said Leclerc. “It’s probably not for someone who’s looking for something competitive. But anyone who wants to come out and have fun and build their skills, absolutely there’s room for every skill level.”
Earlier this year, Leclerc posted on Facebook asking if anyone was interested in the program, and there was plenty of interest. Then she discovered that Ryan Leonard of Renfrew’s Junior A Wolves team was helping to organize a similar program, which was being held at the rink in Eganville.
With the opening of Renfrew’s second ice pad, Leclerc’s group linked up with the existing players and a solid Sunday night program came together.
“We’re generally starting with warming up, skating around, shooting pucks and stuff then we’ll run through a couple drills and then we split up. Usually Ryan tries to split us up according to ability because there is a range of abilities and then we play a scrimmage,” said Leclerc. “Sometimes we play three-on-three, sometimes we play four-on-four, sometimes we get to play five-on-five. It’s just been challenging sometime with numbers but I’m really hopeful this is just a good start to a more hardy women’s program in Renfrew.”
Leclerc, whose 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter both play hockey (a third six-year-old daughter is honing her skating skills), is loving the new WPHL.
“I am super excited about the PWHL, we’ve been watching all the games in our house and I’m hoping to get my oldest girl out to one of the games this season in person. I think it’s really, really exciting for women’s hockey and I’m really excited for girls that there’s more opportunities for them that certainly weren’t there when I was a kid,” she said.
There are still nine weeks left in the program for anyone interested. For more details, visit ‘Valley Elite Women’s Recreational Hockey’ on Facebook.
(Written by Sherry Haaima)
