Girls driving minor hockey numbers up despite population decline

Girls are helping Newfoundland and Labrador minor hockey buck demographic trends in the province.

While the number of minor hockey aged residents in this province has dropped over the years, the number of people signed up to play minor hockey has grown from 8,355 in 2008 to 10,664 in 2018.

Hockey players like Skye Evans, 10, are part of the reason why.

"I love hanging out with my friends and playing hockey with them," said Evans,who plays for the under-12Northeast Eagles.

If we don't get more femalesin hockey, then we are not going to grow.- Jack Lee

"They have a team now of only girls now. It's really fun."

Hockey NL president Jack Lee says he's seen the number of female players in minor hockey mushroom in recent years.

"We have over 2,000 girls playing now. Five, six years ago we probably only had 1,000 girls and I would say next year in the 2018-2019 season we'll see another jump in female hockey," he said.

"And you know what? There are more females being born than males. So if we don't get more femalesin hockey, then we are not going to grow."

Not just St. John's area

The northeast Avalon Peninsula has watched minor hockey enrolment grow as more young families move in.

The Northeast Minor Hockey Association has seen registrationalmost double to 700 players over the last 10 years but smaller communitiessuch asBonavista, Clarenville, Deer Lake, Fogo Island and Marystownhave also seen increases over that time.

In fact, Lee says, girls have probably saved some minor hockeyassociations in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Without the females participating in the game, we probably wouldn't have grown as much as we did and we probably would have lost some minor hockey associations in some smaller parts of the province," he said.

Rejecting the naysayers

For her part, Skye Evans says she's not listening to critics who say hockey is only for boys.

"I don't believe them," she said.

She says she and her friends plan to keep playing hockey and may even let the boys join their gamessomeday.