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Women of Scarlet Rebellion “Defy the Norm for Women’s Sports”

04/15/2014, 12:00pm MDT
By Greg Bates - Special to USAHockey.com

Lisa Martin stays plenty busy as a working mother with three kids who are 10 years old and younger.

When it’s time to unwind, Martin has the perfect solution: getting on the ice.

“I like the fact that when people ask, ‘What do you do in your spare time?’ I say, ‘Oh, hockey,’” she said. “And they think I mean I go to a few [Minnesota] Wild games here or there or watch the kids play.

“No, no. I play hockey.”

Martin is a team member for Scarlet Rebellion, which competes in the Adult Hockey Association (AHA) Women’s League in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

It was just two years ago that Martin was like the majority of her Scarlet Rebellion teammates, not knowing too much about the sport. That changed quickly. One of Martin’s neighbors played hockey in a Twin Cities league, and Martin and the woman would cross paths with their kids at a local park.

“One day she was like, ‘You should come play on this hockey team,’” Martin said. “I was like, ‘Ah, I’ve never had a stick.’ I grew up in Minnesota, so I figure skated some, but I’ve never had hockey skates. I’ve never done this. She’s like, ‘Just try it.’ I did it once and I was complete hooked.”

Aleida Zollman also got engrossed in the sport three years ago after watching her kids and husband start playing. Now Zollman is in her second season with Scarlet Rebellion and is one of the captains and veterans on the squad.

Scarlet Rebellion, which plays its home games at the Richfield Ice Arena, is comprised of 20 women whose skill set is pretty varied. The team ranges in age from early 20s to 50s, and has one player who competed at the NCAA Division III level at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. However, some of the women on Scarlet Rebellion are new to hockey and still picking up the basics of the game.

“I think the diversity we bring is pretty unique,” said Zollman, who played one season in the Women’s Hockey Association of Minnesota prior to helping form Scarlet Rebellion. “I think the thing that is especially cool about most of us is that we didn’t know anything about hockey before we played. There’s a driven part to who we are, and that’s kind of how we ended up coming up with our team name in the first place. We wanted to defy the norm for women’s sports. We’re going to be strong, athletic, determined, committed women who maybe don’t know anything about hockey, but we’ll learn, we’ll figure it out. We’re going to go out there and give it our best.”

In 2012-13, there were only two teams in the AHA Women’s League, and Scarlet Rebellion won the championship. In the second season, the league added four teams to bring the league total to six.

“Because AHA is just expanding into women’s-only hockey, there’s not a whole lot of different skill levels,” Zollman said. “Ideally, we would be playing in the lower division. But because they’re trying to recruit more teams, there’s only one division. So we are definitely outmatched in terms of skill, but we have a blast.”

The women’s league doesn’t allow checking, but games can get pretty physical. Martin enjoys that aspect of the sport.

“We want to be known as women who play hockey, not we play women’s hockey,” Martin said. “That’s a really important distinction for us, and I think the thing that has brought us all together is we want to play a little more physical, a little more gritty style of hockey.”

Scarlet Rebellion tries to play in as many tournaments as it can. For the second straight year, the team competed in Stick it to Cancer Tournament, a benefit to support the fight against breast cancer. Teams that compete in the tournament are able to fundraise and then make a donation. In 2012-13, Scarlet Rebellion donated about $7,000 and placed second in its division.

In May of this year, Scarlet Rebellion plans to compete in the Brew City Tournament in Milwaukee.

The women of Scarlet Rebellion played their league games on Monday nights and sometimes games wouldn’t get under way until after 10 p.m. That really put a cramp into the women’s schedules.

“At least eight of the women on the team have one or more children, so you start to talk about being a mom and then staying up late playing hockey,” Martin said.

Scarlet Rebellion was lucky to get 13-15 skaters for each game, since the women have so many other commitments off the ice. The AHA only allows a 20-player cap for each team, and Scarlet Rebellion is hoping to expand next season and have two Scarlet Rebellion teams.

Roster spots tend to open up frequently in women’s leagues, especially since four Scarlet Rebellion team members got pregnant last year and couldn’t compete in 2013-14.

“It’s a little unique and men’s teams probably don’t have to deal with,” Martin said, laughing.

The Scarlett Rebellion team members have become close friends off the ice and even attend each other’s baby showers. That’s made them even tighter when they are on the ice.

“The team has really gelled this year and it’s really cool and fun to see,” Martin said.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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