Undefeated women's hockey team hosts Michigan State
Nov. 11, 2003
KALAMAZOO -- The women's club hockey team at Western Michigan University will try to break its own league attendance record versus arch-rival Michigan State Friday, Nov. 14, at Lawson Ice Arena. Admission is free to the 7 p.m. contest, which matches the top two teams in the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association.
The WMU Mustangs enter the contest with a CCWHA-best record of 6-0-1. Michigan State is the defending national champion and is second in the CCWHA this season with a 6-2-0 record.
WMU has the nation's leading scorer in Division I women's hockey, sophomore Kelly Gittelman from Novi, Mich. In seven games, Gittelman has scored a staggering 15 goals and carded five assists. During the same stretch, her teammates have combined for a respectable 14 goals and 25 assists. Veteran goalkeeper Rhonda Sheahan, a senior from Kentwood, Mich., has allowed just 11 goals this season for a 1.41 goals-per-game average.
With support from the Girl Scouts of Glowing Embers Council, Kalamazoo Optimist Hockey Association and other groups, the Mustangs hope to defeat Michigan State in front of a new league-record crowd. On Feb. 1, 2002, the Mustangs set the existing conference single-game attendance record, drawing 1,810 fans to Lawson for a contest with MSU. An estimated 800 girl scouts and family members helped lift the Mustangs to the record.
This year's Mustangs are actively involved as volunteers with KOHA to help increase participation by girls in Kalamazoo area youth hockey programs.
The Mustangs were formed in 1995 and are members of the Central Collegiate Women's Hockey Association. Other members of the CCWHA are Michigan, Michigan State, Northern Michigan, Notre Dame and Oakland University. WMU won the league and national championships in 1996 and finished second in the CCWHA three of the past five seasons.
Media contact: Thom Myers, 269 387-8400, thomas.myers@wmich.edu