Wednesday, May. 12, 2010

Four women from area seeking spots on USA inline hockey team

On a recent night at Dreamsports in Apex, Michelle Vedder prepared to play goaltender with a men's inline hockey team, suiting up like a Transformer, changing her slim, athletic body into a behemoth. Crouching at the net, she resembled a fat spider guarding her web.

Vedder, who lives in North Raleigh, is logging as much playing time as possible. On May 14, she and three other local women will travel to Harmarville, Pa., to try out for the USA Senior Women's Inline Hockey Team, which will compete for the Women's Inline Hockey World Championship July 2-8 in Beroun, Czech Republic.

Vedder knows how good it feels to make the team. She has been on three previous USA teams and has brought home two gold medals and one bronze.

"Hockey is such a great sport; I couldn't live without it," she said.

Vedder hails from Toronto, Ontario. She made her first USA team just days after earning her U.S. citizenship. She had never thought about trying to make it to the world championships, but a friend encouraged her to travel to a regional hockey tournament in New Orleans.

"It turns out that tournament is one of the required events for women trying out for Team USA," Vedder said. "I was noticed at that tournament and invited to try out for the national team."

She snagged the goalkeeper's position on that team, which won a goal medal in the International Federation of Roller Sports' 2006 World Championship in Taylor, Mich. Vedder followed that with a gold medal in the 2007 World Championship in Bilbao, Spain, and brought bronze home from the championship in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2008. She wasn't on the USA team in 2009.

Growing up skating

Vedder has been playing hockey her entire life.

"Playing hockey is what you do in Canada," she said.

Growing up in Toronto, she played on ice. After moving to the Triangle a decade ago, Vedder kept up with her sport, but in these parts, ice is not so common, and ice rink time is expensive, so she took up inline hockey.

She plays on two men's teams: Five-Hole Sports and the Weevils, and she substitutes on other teams whenever she's needed.

"There are not many women's teams in this area, and it's more challenging playing with men," Vedder said. "Men shoot the puck a lot faster, and the faster the game, the better I like it."

Thanks to the Carolina Hurricanes, ice hockey and inline hockey are becoming familiar in North Carolina, and more women are starting to play. Before 2010, the USA Women's Inline Hockey Team tryouts were invitation-only. In an effort to build up women's hockey in the United States, USA Hockey opened tryouts to any woman interested in getting on the team.

Others who are trying

Kelsey Farson and Katrina Knapp are signed up and ready for action.

Farson, 20, grew up in Charlotte and is now a student at UNC-Chapel Hill. She started Rollerblading in her neighborhood as a kid. She plays on a men's club hockey team at Carolina and likes the idea of transferring her hockey skills to a high-level women's team.

"The advantage of being a woman playing with guys is you can excel as a female player," Farson said. "It's really cool to be a woman who plays hockey."

Knapp, 19, is a senior at Green Hope High School. She has embraced hockey as many young women embrace soccer or softball, but admits it hasn't been easy to penetrate a men's game.

Knapp was attracted to the sport while growing up playing street hockey with her two brothers. She currently plays on the same team as her older brother.

"It's not an easy ride," Knapp said. "You have to be self-motivated and work hard to keep up with the guys, but that's part of the fun."

The fourth North Carolina woman trying out for the national team is Charlotte Nicholson, 22, of Morrisville. If she makes the 2010 team, it would mark her sixth year representing the United States at the World Championship level.

Vedder knows how it feels to play against the best women's hockey teams in the world, and win.

"It's an amazing feeling to stand and hear the national anthem. Just surreal," she said.

At 36, Vedder admits she would be among the older women on the team, but she points to Canadian hockey, where players seem to stay on the ice forever.

"In Canada, we have an over-80 league," Vedder said. "I'd love to still be playing when I am 80. I believe I keep getting better as I get older. Who knows, I may make it."