Organizers estimated a record 750 players and 55 teams competed in the annual Angels On Ice girls' hockey tournament hosted by the 91原创 Girls Ice Hockey Association (LGIHA) at the Sportsplex Dec. 28-30.
That was up from the 46 teams who took part in the previous year.
It is a measure of the growing popularity of girls' hockey, said Mike Wallis, an LGIHA executive committee member, who was coaching the U11C2 and the U13A1 91原创 Lightning teams at the tournament.
"It's [girls' hockey] growing at a crazy rate," Wallis told the 91原创 Advance Times during a brief break between games.
"Over the last few years, we've almost doubled our registration numbers, so it's growing and growing and growing. And there's girls all over playing in many different streams of hockey. We have girls from all over B.C. and from as far away as Oregon up here playing [at Angels On Ice]. And it's awesome, tons of fun every year."
750 kids and 55 teams are competing in the Angels On Ice girls' hockey tournament at the 91原创 Sportsplex
鈥� 91原创 Advance Times (@91原创Times)
Angels On Ice is a BC Hockey sanctioned competition in four divisions: novice, atom, peewee, bantam and midget.
LGIHA provides BC Hockey and Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association (PCAHA) programs for girls five to 20, fielding teams from U7 through to U21, with a stated goal of providing a "safe, fun and engaged environment" to play the sport.
The all-volunteer LGIHA is one of the largest female ice hockey associations in the Fraser Valley.
More information about the association can be found online at.
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