Hockey Fever

hockey journey has covered much ice in her 40 years.

It started when girls didn't play the sport.

It continues to this day. 

In between she has seen resistance to girls playing give way to tremendous growth in its popularity among girls and women.

She loved the game from the beginning, growing up near Hartford, Conn., said Conner, a mother of three children, ages 6, 9 and 11.

When she was 6 years old she got up before sun rise to go to the local rink with her father to watch her brothers practice and play.

The rink's resonating voices, sticks slapping the ice and pucks thumping the boards must have impressed the girl because the next year she said to her father that she wanted to play.

She spent a year attending hockey clinics with boys, a requirement to play in a league.

The next year league organizers did not want to let her play, but her father said she had fulfilled the clinic obligation and she had the right to play.

Conner continued to play with boys until she was about 14 years old.

There were no public school hockey programs for girls but she attended prep school and played for the girls team.

She also played for a fledgling hockey program around Hartford, a team called the Polar Bears, and competed in the national championship.

Her hockey odyssey continued at the University of New Hampshire where in 1990-91 she played on the Women's ECAC Champsionship team.

Earlier this month, she played in Detroit in the Women's B Division National Championship.

Her team, the Wizards, include many players from the North Shore. They advanced to the quarterfinals.

This week she is competing in the Women's 40-and-over National Recreational Tournament in Florida.

Wizard teammate Taylor Walker said Conner's enthusiasm and skill is unmatched on the team, and you can't keep her off the ice.

"This season she even played a few games with a broken finger," Walker said.

Another teammate, goalie Kate Fallon, of Lynn, said Conner's spirit shines on the ice.

She anchors herself in front of the opposing net, and is the only player in the league who would even attempt to receive a pass from behind and take a shot on net while spinning around on her skates.

"She always seems to be smiling afterwards," Fallon said.

Conner had a special reason to smile when she witnessed the girls under-19 state championship tournament in mid-March at a hockey complex in Marlborough.

There were six rinks and girls were playing on all of them at the same time.

"Oh yeah, it was fabulous,"she said. "It's awesome to see the girls have the opportunity to play."

It's also great for women to have the opportunity to play.

Conner is determined to keep playing.

"Yeah, I'll be playing until they can't get me on the ice," Conner said. "I'll be 90."