Suburban girls to face boys in hockey
By Justin Kmitch Daily Herald Staff Writer

Megan Bozek's slap shot tops out at 70 mph. Corinne Boyles eats opponents' slap shots for breakfast. And Kendall Coyne is one of the smoothest defenders on the ice.

The three girls, none older than 13, boarded airplanes to Canada Thursday to prove to the world why they are considered some of the United States' best young female hockey players.

And they'll be proving themselves against the world's best teenage boys.

Thirteen-year-old Corinne of Wheaton, 12-year-old Megan of Buffalo Grove and 11-year-old Kendall of Palos Heights will represent Illinois next week in the Quebec International Pee Wee Tournament. It's been called hockey's version of the Little League World Series -- with
a twist.

Of the 2,300 players enrolled in the tournament, only 15 are girls, and they're all on the same squad: Team Powerade Iceport.

The team, made up of the nation's best 12- and 13-year-old girls -- 11-year-old Kendall got special permission to compete -- is the third squad brought to the annual tournament by coach Manon Rheaume. She's the first woman to play in a National Hockey League game in
1992.

The team has 15 girls from Illinois, Wisconsin, California, New York, Colorado, Alabama, Texas and North Carolina.

Rheaume called Corinne "one of the two best goalies around" and a "quality athlete," a reputation she has earned as the only girl on the all-boys Chicago Mission Tier 1 team based out of Woodridge.

Corinne, a seventh-grader at Hubble Middle School in Wheaton, said she's been on pins and needles since she was asked to join the team in November. She hopes her excitement level will calm down once she gets settled in Quebec later today. She plans to follow Rheaume's
footsteps and also play in the NHL one day.

"It's a great honor to be playing for Manon and in this tournament,"Corinne said. "But I'm preparing myself just like I would for any other game, except for that all my teammates will be girls and opponents will be boys, for a change."

The primary difference, she said, is that boys talk more trash on the ice while the girls tend to be more focused on the game at hand.

She said her Mission teammates treat her like one of the guys, but she expects some taunting from their tournament opponents.

"They can talk all they want until I stuff their shots and shut them out," she said. "Then, I get to talk."

Corinne is thankful that hard-shooting Megan will be on her side during the tournament. Corinne said Megan's slap shot is the hardest one she's ever defended.

"I get bored if I'm not blocking pucks flying at my face," Corinne said. "But Megan's got a rocket of a shot."

Following a practice Tuesday night at Bensenville Edge Ice Arena, Megan said she was forced to develop her shooting skills early on while playing in girls leagues because rules prohibited girls from playing physical.

So for the past three years, she's played defense for the Woodridge and Bensenville-based Team Illinois hockey program, where she's also the only girl on her team.

Megan, a seventh-grader at St. Mary School in Buffalo Grove, has her eyes set on the 2008 Winter Olympics, where she hopes to help the U.S. women's team win a gold medal. Rheaume won Olympic silver for Canada in 1998.

Rheaume invited Megan to the tournament last year as a co-captain on her team. This year, Megan will captain the all-girls team, but will also play for Team Illinois' boys team in a different bracket.

"I'll have a busy week playing for both teams, but hockey's what I do and what I love so I won't be bored," she said. "I'm thankful the schedules worked out the way they did and that both teams have allowed me to double my teams' chances in the tournament."

Kendall was invited to play with the 12- and 13-year-olds after her wrist shot caught the attention of scouts who saw her play for the Yorkville-based Chicago Chill Hockey Club.

Although slightly nervous about "being called up to play with the big kids," Kendall said she's been preparing for months and is ready to show up some the boys on the ice.

All three girls said they're ready to play their top games and work with their teammates, many of whom they don't yet know, to make history for themselves and all other female hockey players behind them. Their famous coach agrees.

"If we win this tournament and continue to turn the world on to how good U.S. women are at hockey, we'll be unstoppable," Rheaume said. "I've talked to the girls, and they're ready to make sports history."

The Iceport's first game will be Sunday against the Canadian boys team Trois-Rivieres.

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