MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — The St. Louis Blues have been steadily expanding the Girls Hockey Development Program they launched in 2020 as the organization’s NHL All-Star Legacy initiative.
The Blues marked a new milestone this weekend when they hosted the inaugural 12U Tier 1 Ice Breaker Invitational at Centene Community Ice Center from Friday to Sunday, bringing together elite programs for both on-ice competition and off-ice development.
Event coordinator Brittany Koch is Blues senior coordinator, community hockey, and an on-ice instructor for the program with playing experience at the high school and college level.
“This is really important because I grew up playing hockey,” Koch said. “I’ve been to plenty of youth tournaments, so I’ve kind of seen what’s been done, and I haven’t really seen anything like this. We’re just really focusing on the off-ice portion. I’ve went to games and either I made it to the championship game, or I left, but I never got to learn what to do off ice. We didn’t have anything. The tournaments were fun, don’t get me wrong, but there was nothing to do between games, but to do this and have something for the girls to keep them going and not have them sit in their hotel rooms, was really important.
“Games are great, but think we also need to focus on the off-ice aspect as well.”
Five of the nation’s top Tier 1 girls hockey programs — the St. Louis AAA Lady Blues, Carolina Jr. Canes, San Jose Jr. Sharks, Arizona Kachinas, and Milwaukee Jr. Admirals — took part in a round-robin style tournament with a four-game minimum and a championship game.
They also participated in a session on nutrition and leadership training from 1st Phorm, a Women in Sports Panel and Festival, and a Skills Competition.
Two-time Olympic medalist Alex Cavallini is an on-ice instructor and youth hockey ambassador for the Blues. The goalie won gold with the United States at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and silver at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
“It’s such a special event,” Cavallini said. “When I first spoke to the Blues about it when they came to me, I was so ecstatic for it. It’s something that I’ve been personally looking forward to just bring in teams here to St. Louis to see how great the Blues organization is because I just know how important girls hockey is to the St. Louis Blues and how much they want to grow the game. This is just a testament to what they are out here trying to do every day in St. Louis.”
