USA Hockey Magazine

26 // MAY 2024 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM "One of our goals for the fall is to try to balance that out and get more girls out on the ice. Of course we want the boys, but we also want to leverage the success of the Women's Worlds as part of our marketing campaign to say, 'Come out and try it.'" The Jr. Comets program already has a lot going for it. In addition to skating out of a beautiful two-rink facility at the Nexus Center, the organization has the support of the Utica University women's hockey team, whose players have long served as mentors for local girls and boys. "That's been a huge impact giving these young girls an opportunity to see this level of women's hockey," Martino said. "(Women's Worlds) is another level, and it allows girls to see a goal that's much higher than the one they've been looking at in the same way as when you take a youth player to an NHL game. They can see a goal that is so much above what they've been watching and understand how hard they're going to have to work to get there." Staging an international event of this magnitude takes a team effort on the local, national and international levels. Organizers tapped into the local hockey community to help with a variety of tasks, from promoting ticket sales on their association websites to using youth players to help scrape the ice during breaks in the action. "One of the things that [local organizers] really wanted to do here was use this not only as a chance to showcase the facility and the area, but also to try to invigorate even more interest in the sport, especially among the girls. That's really where we came in," Martino said. Fans weren't the only ones who got caught up in the energy of the tournament. A trio of homegrown players—Aerin Frankel (Chappaqua, New York), Haley Winn (Rochester, New York) and Hayley Scamurra (Getzville. New York)—all said that being able to represent their country in their own backyard was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. "I have a lot of family in the stands, so it was super special just to have them all here. It's their first time probably seeing me play in person, so that was really special," said Winn. "It was just really cool to not only play close to home but just play on home soil and have a lot of USA fans here." Even the coaching staff got caught up in the atmosphere. Each of the U.S. games was a sellout, or close to it, and featured a large number of young girls and boys carrying signs to celebrate their favorite player. "I haven't been around a home ice international contest in a really long time where we had a favorable crowd and you could feel it on the bench, the U-S-A chants," said John Wroblewski, head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team. "I've been able to coach here [in AHL games] and the fan base was electric back then. It's a prideful area and I love it that they came out rep- resenting our country because we love representing our country, too." The impact of hosting this year's tournament will be felt not only in Utica, but in the surrounding towns and around the state as more girls discover their own place in the game. "This has been great for the whole area," Zizzo said. "The kids that already play are going to keep playing and maybe it motivates them to try to work harder and put more into it. But it's the kids that don't play that are getting a chance to see this and maybe go home to mom and dad and say, 'Hey, can you find me a place to learn how to play?' "That's the best part about the whole thing." P PHOTOS BY Images on Ice "The skill is unbelievable. It's a great example for what the younger girls are looking up to be." –Steve Zizzo Aerin Frankel set an IIHF Women's World Championship record with four shutouts in Utica.

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