Throughout the year we will include highlights from our current exhibit 'A Sporting Chance: On and Off the Field' to connect those readers who haven't gotten to visit in person yet! This Women's History Month we want to highlight the history of women and girls hockey in Tompkins County. 

We Broke the Ice: Girls & Women's Ice Hockey - A collaboration with Mary Grainger and the  Tompkins Girls Hockey Association

With the passing of Title IX in 1972, the Tompkins Girls Hockey Association became the first all-girls hockey program in New York State, and the third in the country. 

Ithaca High School sophomores Linda Dominick and Margaret Stanton got things started recruiting other girls for a June 1972 camp with Cornell Men’s Hockey Coach Dick Bertrand. Parents (including Ithaca Youth Bureau President Bruce Wilkins) worked to prepare for the first TGHA season with 60 participants. In 1973, the Ithaca Shooting Stars travel team was also offered but all participants practiced and played in the house league, too.

A school sponsored team was not available for girls hockey in Tompkins until the state-wide GREAT campiagn was launched during the 1998 Olympics. “Girls Really Expect A Team” founder Mitzi Witchger educated and inspired Ithaca decision-makers as well as those she met during her tour of NYS. Ithaca, Oswego, Canton and Saranac Lake school boards approved the first four teams. IHS proceeded to win the first three state titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003, and again in 2011.

Visit 'A Sporting Chance' now through December 2024 to learn more about TGHA and explore memorabilia from their first 50 years.