Women's hockey eyes league attendance record
Jan. 29, 2002
KALAMAZOO -- The women's club hockey team at WMU has lofty aspirations for this coming weekend. The Mustangs host archrival Michigan State University on Friday, Feb. 1, in a 6 p.m. contest at Lawson Ice Arena. With help from the local Girl Scouts council and other youth groups, the Mustangs hope to defeat MSU in front of a league-record crowd.
The University of Michigan holds the current league single-game attendance record of 1,200 fans.
Jessica Ward, a junior elementary education major from Saline, Mich., is one of three team captains. "We have been looking forward to this weekend all season," says Ward. "This is our chance to introduce a lot of people to women's hockey at Western, and it would be great for our program if we could break the attendance record."
All WMU women's hockey matches are free and open to the public. Everyone in attendance Feb. 1 will be eligible for door prizes provided by area business sponsors.
Girl Scouts of Glowing Embers Council is sponsoring a program at the Feb. 1 Mustang hockey match, titled "Be a Hockey Fan," as part of this year's celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. According to council officials, more than 650 girls and family members have registered to attend, making "Be a Hockey Fan" one of the larger programs ever sponsored by the council, which serves Allegan, Barry, Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
The Mustangs are 1-1-0 versus Michigan State this season, with a 5-2 loss and a 1-0 victory in matches played in East Lansing in October.
Western Michigan's women's hockey team also will host Michigan State on Saturday, Feb. 2, at Lawson Arena beginning at 6 p.m. The Mustangs remain on their home ice the following weekend for two matches with Northern Michigan, Feb. 8 and 9, beginning at 10:30 p.m., following the varsity men's hockey contests, also versus Northern Michigan.
The Mustangs were formed in 1995 and are members of the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association. Other schools with teams in the CCWHA are Lake Superior State, Michigan, Michigan State, Northern Michigan and Oakland University. WMU won the league and national championships in 1996 and has finished second in the CCWHA each of the past three seasons. The Mustangs will host this year's CCWHA league championship tournament March 22-24.
Media contact: Thom Myers, 269 387-8400, thomas.myers@wmich.edu