W. Hockey plays for love of sport

When you ask somebody what words they associate with hockey, the majority will say "fighting," "violence" and "hard hitting" -- definitely a game for men. But don't tell that to the Penn women's club hockey team. This group plays for the love of the sport, and enjoys every minute. "It is a pleasure coaching because the girls are just learning," coach Scott Armstrong said. "We emphasize team play. We are not just out there to win." "When girls show up at practice at 7:00 a.m. it is because they love doing it," Penn assistant coach Brandon Power said. "It is not because the coaches force them to." Armstrong, in his third season as the club's coach, has led the team to a record of 3-7, which doesn't seem too good until you consider that last season it did not manage to win even one game. However, this past weekend the Quakers completed a 1-1 roadtrip to Washington. The trip started out on a high note as Penn toppled the Washington Red Coats, 5-3. However, the Quakers were plagued by penalties Sunday, and eventually lost 5-4 to Chevy Chase, a country club team. "Saturday we played one of our best games of the season," Penn co-captain Julia Miller said. "I don't know what happened on Sunday, if we were tired or what, but we could've played better." The key to keeping the games close was the stellar play of Quaker goalie Jill Maser. She consistently came up with big saves when the club needed them. On the offensive end, Penn center Ari Schoen came up strong, along with Miller, who added a goal. The Quakers will continue their season until early March when the rink closes for the summer. · This past weekend, the men's and women's ski teams completed two days of competition with consistent results, putting both in good shape to make regionals later this month. The men finished with a fourth- and third-place showing Saturday and Sunday, while the women scored second on both days. The results are a good indication of the season to date for both teams. The men have two second-place finishes, two third-place finishes, and three fourth-place finishes to their credit. The women have never finished worse than third. On the men's side, co-captains Randi Balik and Chad Sumner finished fourth and eighth, respectively, this weekend to lead the team. Other top performances were turned in by Mike Majewski, who finished in first place two weeks ago, Chris Coli and Jason Stoller. What makes this meet special was the unusual conditions the men faced. Not only did two of the skiers fall, but junior Marc Chang, usually a 'B' team skier, beat many of the regulars. Filling in for one of the Quakers, Chang surprised everyone, earning himself a spot on the a team for the rest of the season. "We are a lot stronger than I expected," Balik said. "Over the last two years our top four skiers graduated. The 'A' team reserves and 'B' team fill-ins are doing well. We should make it to regionals, which was our goal, but nationals is a long shot." The women are having a great season, which should end up in March at Great Gorge, where nationals are held this season. The captain on the women's side, Penn junior Vinita Sidhu, along with Schantie Mahalaha, Amy Ludvigson and Hindi Wilding-White have paced the Quakers this season. Although Wilding-White is coming off knee surgery, she performed well enough last weekend to earn a fifth-place finish. This year, the team's main competition has come from Penn State. The Nittany Lions have been consistently finishing first all season, leaving Penn, Princeton and Bucknell to fight it out for second place. In two weeks, on the weekend of February 12-13, the team is going to hold a special memorial meet at Seven Springs in honor of former president Dave Garner. Garner was killed by an avalanche two years ago while skiing. With regionals following the memorial meet, and nationals two weeks after that, it will definitely be an exciting last month for the team following up a good season.