Less than a month ago, a unique reunion was held at Edge Ice Arena in Littleton.

On one side of the ice was the Under-19 AAA team from the Colorado Select girls hockey club program. Their opponents were almost two dozen women's college players.

What made this lighthearted-yet-competitive exhibition unusual was that the college players were all Colorado natives who began the journeys to their respective campuses by honing their skills in the Select program.

The match between past and current Select players illustrated the growth girls and women's hockey has enjoyed, not only locally, but nationally and internationally.

"It was amazing to see all those girls out there," said Dan Minnick, who founded the Select program in 2000. "If you would have told us eight years ago that there would be that many girls from Colorado playing college hockey, I would have never imagined it. No one out East even knew where Colorado was. We were maybe kind of a joke at first. But within three or four years, we were one of the best clubs in the country."

Now the largest girls-only youth hockey program west of the Mississippi River, the Colorado Select program is fulfilling its original mission - to provide an atmosphere in which young female athletes can compete against their peers - more thoroughly than ever.

Girls club

Ashley Furia and Jordan Slavin are not unlike many of their teammates on the U-19 team - or most of their predecessors in the Select program, for that matter.

When Furia and Slavin began playing hockey, they had little choice but to play for boys teams in boys leagues. Slavin has an older brother who took to the sport after becoming enamored with the movie The Mighty Ducks, while Furia also was influenced by her family, inheriting her father's love of the game.

As young girls, they both played with the boys out of necessity, and they never complained. In fact, Furia and Slavin each cite the skills they sharpened and the typical juvenile teasing they survived as positives they gleaned from the experience.

Yet those teams never offered the same camaraderie as being on a team of peers, as they have enjoyed with Select.

"My dad was always into hockey," said Furia, a senior at Castle View High School. "We moved out to Colorado and he showed us this brochure for hockey for 10-year-olds. He signed us up. And I've just stuck with it. Then I got started in the Select when I was 12. It definitely has pushed me.

"We've gone out of state and played really good teams. We practice five times a week, so that definitely has made me a better player. It's definitely exciting to be part of. You can look back and say, 'I was part of that.' If you stick with it, you can be one of the ones that helps build it."

Minnick began the Select program to combat an almost identical hurdle. Minnick had no problem watching his daughter play for boys teams, but as she got older, Minnick was worried about her competing in checking leagues with growing boys. By starting a competitive girls league, that problem was solved.

"This will be my second year (with Select), and in girls, you have a little bit more time with the puck," said Slavin, a senior at Erie High who will be joined by Furia on the women's team at the University of North Dakota next season.

"I'm defense, so my hands have improved a little bit and I'm scoring a lot more goals. When I played (with) boys, I didn't really score any goals. And I really like the camaraderie with the girls. I love being with the girls rather than the boys, because they make fun of you.

"I played Bantam-AAA with the boys, then I switched. It made me a lot faster, a lot tougher. I'm not afraid to take the body now, so it had its positives."

Growth spurt

The women's U.S. Olympic teams of the 1990s, starring recent Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Cammi Granato, helped elevate women's hockey to the public consciousness.

And like their male counterparts, local girls were equally impressed and awed by the arrival and immediate success of the Colorado Avalanche.

Minnick recalls a "test drive" Select put together before the program's third season. Minnick and other parents canvassed elementary schools, distributing fliers that invited girls to try out for their blossoming program.

Minnick and his crew were hoping about 30 skaters would turn out. After roughly five times that many girls showed up, the Select program grew to more than 10 teams and has thrived since.

"I was in the program since I was 13, and it meant everything," said Emily West, a Select alum who is playing on a full scholarship at Minnesota. "We built it as a team, then built our skills around it. If it wasn't for the Select, I wouldn't be where I am right now. We traveled and got tons of exposure, and the coaches are second to none in getting you exposed to college coaches and exploring schools to see where you really fit in.

"I know when we first started playing, it was slower, I guess you could say. Now that there is more numbers and there are more kids, it's awesome to think we might have had something to do with the progress of it. I think everyone is pretty proud where the program is today."

Minnick was in the stands the day West and other Select alums took on the program's current stars.

With 34 collegiate programs competing at the Division I level and 50 others fielding teams at the Division III level, Select routinely sends its seniors to the next level.

No doubt, the clash between Select's top team and its alumnae will become an annual rite.

"We graduated so many, and there was a big chunk of them that went into college, either this year or last year," said Marnie Hill, Select's director of hockey. "It's just tremendous that we even have the base after eight years to be able to get some of the founding kids to come back. The 12 teams we have in our association is the largest we have west of the Mississippi in this country. That's solely girls' association. It's not just Massachusetts, it's not just Minnesota. We're developing our athletes here."

Back to Top