By Susan
Hickman
Thirty
women on the
ice, geared
up from head
to toe,
their
feminine
wiles hidden
behind caged
helmets,
bulky
padding and
loose
sweaters.
The knees of
some a
little
wobbly. The
eyes of
others a
little
guarded.
They’re
newcomers to
a sport
they’ve
watched, but
never
played.
 “Don’t be
afraid,”
says their
instructor
whose words
echo across
the hollow
arena.
“You’re
going to
feel the
wind in your
hair. You’re
going to
feel
euphoric and
then you’re
going to
score. Woo
hoo! Then
you’re going
to feel
really
good!”
Ruth Gates,
51, and a
newcomer to
the game
herself just
11 years
ago, imparts
her own
passion to
the
reluctant
but riveted
rookies in
front of
her.
She drills
her girls;
balancing on
one skate,
other leg
thrust
forward;
skating
backward
(“not
pretty,” she
tells them,
“wiggle your
hips”);
falling flat
on their
faces –
gracefully;
cutting
left,
cutting
right…
“I’m still
learning,”
says Gates
who leaped
into the
unknown
world of ice
hockey when
she turned
40.
She and
seven fellow
nurses
wanted to
become
involved in
something
they could
do on a
regular
basis. They
soon found
themselves
at the Minto
Arena.
“We went to
hockey
school every
week for a
year. All
eight of us
still play.
I play six
times a week
now. I teach
hockey, I
ref and I
coach. I
love hockey.
It’s a
passion.”
Gates admits
she couldn’t
even skate
when she
started.
“As a kid, I
was a total
girl. I
didn’t play
any team
sports. I
watched
basketball
and
volleyball
as a child,
but I had no
concept of
what a team
was.”
Last year,
Gates’s
team, with
only nine
skaters,
came in
second
place. The
players
“clicked,”
she says,
“and gave
100 per cent
every game.”
Now
thoroughly
hooked on
the game,
Gates leads
a “team” of
some 650
players as
president of
the
Gloucester
Women’s
Hockey
Association.
Started in
2000 by
eight
players, the
association
features
Gates’s
“fundamentals”
hockey
school for
women who
have never
played the
game. Every
year, it
attracts 30
new
registrants
ranging in
age from 18
to 60.
“This is an
opportunity
for women to
play,” says
Gates.
“There was
nowhere to
play
before.”
Gates loves
the
anonymity of
the players
on a hockey
team.
“You could
be a doctor
or a garbage
picker. On
the ice, you
are
incognito.
You get on
the ice and
you forget
everything.
You come
together as
women who
are on the
same page.”
Although
Gates works
and has a
family, she
has no
difficulty
finding time
for hockey.
“I’m very
organized.
You make
time for
what you
love. I’ve
only ever
missed one
game. My leg
was broken,
but I
refused
surgery
because I
wanted to
finish the
season. I
was playing
10 days
after the
cast came
off.”
 The
game has
taught her a
new “secret”
language she
can share
with
like-minded
people.
“You meet
the people
you play
with and the
people you
play
against, and
I’ve met
some
wonderful
women. We
socialize
and talk
about our
families and
our lives.
Hockey,” she
adds, “has
eaten my
life.”
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