Girls making an impact at Spud Hockey Tournament

TheSpud Hockey Tournament in Charlottetown doesn'thave separate boys and girls divisions this year, but an organizer has noticed more girls participating in this year's event.

"Especially at the younger age groups, atom and peewee age groups, I'm noticing more [girls] this year than I have in the past,"said tournament co-chair Jeff Young.

A lot of female goalies

"Several teams seem to have two or three [female] players on their team, which is great. And, there also seems to be a lot of female goalies at all levels. I know there's a couple midget teams that have female goalies."

Coach Monte Emery of the atom division Truro Bearcats has two girls on his team Chloe Garcia and Brooke Williamsboth nine years old. He said they are competitive and two of the better players on the team.

This is the 42nd Spud Hockey Tournament. This year, 73 teams from across Atlantic Canada made up of novice AA, atom AAA, peewee AAA, bantam AAA and midget AAA divisions are participating. The tournament started on Thursday and wraps up on Sunday.

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