The giggles and sing-alongs happening on the Ridder Arena ice at the University of Minnesota on March 22 were a stark contrast from the screaming fans and blaring goal horn that dominated the space the night before for the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four semifinals game. 

But they were no less important to the growth and future of women’s hockey. 

The girls were players on Twin Cities-area 10U-16U teams with the Minneapolis DinoMights, MSP Starwhals, East Metro Stars Hockey and St. Paul Saints Girls Hockey, and they were invited to a Bring a Friend skating event as part of the Frozen Four and Patty Kazmaier Award ceremony, said Katie Holmgren, director of program services at USA Hockey. 

“One of the big focuses for us at USA Hockey is continuing to grow the game and exposing more people to the game that we are all passionate about,” Holmgren said. “We asked participants to bring a friend to skate. It wasn't necessarily a clinic, but it was more about having fun on the ice, and an opportunity for girls that are playing in the area to bring their friends and say, ‘This is what I love to do.’”

Hockey can’t grow without the local associations that make the sport fun and available to players across the country. The event can be replicable across the nation and this one gave the area players some motivation to keep going in their hockey journey. 

In the Twin Cities, hockey is incredibly community-based, Holmgren said. The Bring a Friend framework works well there because any of the friends who might be interested in playing can easily find a team or association in their neighborhood. That makes turning the enthusiasm they gain from the event into registration and playing an easy transition. 

When they finished skating, the girls walked a few blocks to the McNamara Alumni Center to be part of the live audience at the 2025 Patty Kazmaier Award ceremony. Adina Bond, an MSP Starwhals player, won the honor of being on stage to help present the award to Wisconsin’s Casey O’Brien. 

The event was a low-key way to not only introduce hockey to girls who might not have considered playing but also gave the girls who are already playing the opportunity to skate on collegiate ice, meet and get autographs from former Patty Kazmaier Award winners like Kendall Coyne-Schofield and Taylor Heise and get a first-hand idea of what’s possible for them to aspire to. 

“I hope they see there are a lot of opportunities to play collegiately around the country,” Holmgren said. “They got to skate on the Gopher women’s hockey team’s ice. I'm not even sure they’ll realize it now, but the impact of this later will be, ‘Wow, we were there in the room when this happened.’ As they get older and start to think about their own opportunities and what are the different pathways in hockey for them, they can remember this opportunity.”

While Try Hockey for Free, as well as Learn to Skate and Learn to Play events, are great tools for introducing more people to hockey, sometimes a different approach is needed, Holmgren said. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to introducing new people to hockey and USA Hockey is committed to using all those avenues to continue to grow the game.

The Bring a Friend events are more social and there’s less feeling of pressure. At Ridder, the girls played pick-up hockey, shot pucks on net, took pictures and even got to request which songs played over the loudspeakers. The friends who came along were exposed to hockey and even if they don’t become players, they might become fans and grow up supporting the sport in another way. 

“It's an easier introduction to hockey,” Holmgren said. “We're not going to do any serious hockey drills, but we're going to get on the ice, have a good time and get a taste of what that camaraderie is about and why the girls that are playing already love it.

“Introducing kids to the game, off the ice, on the ice, at all different age levels, is super important for USA Hockey. This provides exposure to the sport and awareness of the sport and shows them how important hockey is to those kids that are playing and shows them they might want to be part of that pretty special hockey family.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

In recognition of Women’s History Month, USA Hockey will be celebrating the women across our game throughout the month of March. To learn more about Women’s History Month, visit Womenshistorymonth.gov