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Breaking the ice Women lacing up their skates to learn how to play hockey

By Justin Pelletier , Lewiston Sun/Journal, Assistant Sports Editor, Online
Friday, April 3, 2009 05:00 am

AUBURN - Anna Feldman sat back in the bleachers, a black 'Survivor' buff pulled over her hair like a bandanna, her feet dangling over the side of the wooden seats.

Ben Feldman tugged on one set of laces, trying to pull them tight enough for Anna.
It's a scene that plays out time and time again across the hockey-playing world, in rinks near and far, with one notable exception: Anna is 9-year-old Ben's mother.

"I won't tie them for her anymore," Anna's husband, Lane, said with a smirk. "I'm a mean guy, I guess."
Anna Feldman is one of dozens of women who have started out the same way in recent years: Clueless, but willing to learn a game so many sons, daughters, husbands and boyfriends have been playing for too long without them.

"What I'm finding is that a lot of these ladies are mothers of girls or boys who play hockey, and all of a sudden these women are tired of having their husbands and kids having all the fun, so they're coming out to have their own fun," Gary Rousseau said.

Rousseau runs Rousseau's Hockey Clinics, a business that has helped thousands of young Maine hockey players learn to play better since opening up shop in 1986.

"We started running adult clinics, back in 2003 ... it was co-ed, but over the next couple of years we started to see more women involved," Rousseau said. "In 2005, we decided to do an all-women's clinic. They filled."

And they keep on filling - quickly.

When Anna Feldman hit the ice Tuesday night at Ingersol Arena in Auburn, she was one of nearly three dozen women at the Rousseau's basic skills session.

"The way our program is structured, each session is an hour of drills and an hour of scrimmage," Rousseau said. "During the scrimmage, we control it, and our instructors are on the ice with the ladies, giving them different perspectives, telling them where to be and how to go."

Donna Racine and Donna Rousseau - yes, that's Gary's wife out there - were among the skaters at Tuesday's 'basic' session. Aside from Gary, Donna's husband, John, is also an instructor, as is Lane Feldman. John Racine is also an assistant coach at St. Dom's, and the couple's son, Zac, played this season as a senior at Lewiston High School.

"I figured, they were always gone and playing hockey. Why couldn't I?" Donna Racine said.
"I had been around it all my life," Donna Rousseau said. "Both my sons played, and they're in their 20s now, and my daughter plays."

Despite being around the sport for years, neither had been active themselves - until this clinic came around. And even then, it was a battle at first.

"In their first hour, they were deer in the headlights," Rousseau said. "After the first five or 10 minutes, they were going to do the first night, but they were never coming back. At the end of the two hours, they just couldn't wait to get back here."

On the other end of the spectrum, of course, are those who have been with the program since its inception, like Grace Brown of Portland.

"My son played with Casco Bay hockey in Portland, and it looked like so much fun, so I tried it," Brown said. "This is five years ago, and there were only co-ed groups, and there were only a few women. The second I stepped onto the ice - I had never skated before - I was addicted to it."

In five years, Rousseau expanded the program, started the women's-only clinic and even has to expand again this summer due to the overwhelming interest. Skaters like Brown are a big reason why.
"I go to women's clinics now, play on about three different teams," Brown said. "There's never enough hockey."  Brown even coaches in what spare time she can find.

But the majority of the women Rousseau has in the clinics are first-timers, estimating that about 80 percent of the participants are new to the sport. It adds an element of fun to the game, he said.
"It's almost a break for us, because we're away from the competitive part of it," Lane Feldman added. "We get to instruct and teach and have fun."

But are the women learning anything more than how to skate?  "I was talking to my son about a game we played the other day," Donna Rousseau said. "And I told him, I was over here, and this other women was in a spot I didn't think she should have been, given the situation. He was like, 'All right, mom, you're right.'"
As for watching the game, Donna Racine said she'll never look at the way her son plays the game in the same light.  "I used to be a bit harder on him, honestly," she said. "Now, I can really appreciate the skill involved in what he does, to see how fast he can go and do what he does with the puck at that speed. I understand more about what it takes now, having done it myself."  Even at home, John Racine said, his wife is taking note of what's being taught on the ice.  "We were at home watching the Bruins' game, and she said, 'Gary was talking about that.'" John said. "They're seeing things differently now, and have more of an appreciation for the game, even at the NHL level."

As for the skate tying?  Yeah, the staff still helps some of the women out with that, too. But they better learn how to do it themselves pretty quickly.

8 Danbury Drive   Auburn, Maine  04210        Phone & Fax: (207) 784-2821

E-Mail:  gary@rousseaushockeyclinic.com