Ice hockey was once a male-dominated sport. But now, it’s one of the fastest growing sports among women.

It certainly attracted Loyola student Lindsey Langille, the sole female hockey player on Loyola’s hockey club team.

“I’m used to it,” Langille said. “Growing up, I usually was the only girl that played on the team. Luckily, the guys here don’t treat me different.”

The criminal justice senior comes from a family of hockey players. Her love for the ice started at an early age growing up in Quincy, Mass., about 10 minutes away from Boston.

“I began figure skating at two years old,” Langille said. “All of my siblings played hockey.”

Her gender never played a factor in her performance as a hockey player. She was part of the Assabet Valley hockey team, the second largest women’s ice hockey team in the world.

Langille said she became involved with the Loyola ice hockey team after learning about it through campus-wide e-mails sent by Fred Dewey, economics junior. She replied to the e-mail, and now she is a forward for the team.

“I also play center and wing,” Langille said. “I’m pretty good at any position.”

With only one semester left before graduation, Langille said she is currently applying to law school and several law enforcement agencies. She works at the Loyola Rec Plex as building manager. She will continue to play ice hockey and is considering joining a professional team after she graduates.

“It’s more for fun now, not as serious,” Langille said. “It’s a release.”

Though the city once tried and failed to host the New Orleans Brass of the East Coast Hockey League, the members of the newly-formed Loyola ice hockey team said they hope their efforts won’t have the same bad luck.

Born in the minds of Dewey and general studies senior Ryan Cullen a month and a half ago, Loyola’s ice hockey team has quickly risen in stature among the school’s club sports. Through several campus-wide e-mails, Dewey said he has about 15 people signed up to play, just enough to field a team.

“Surprisingly, a lot of people at Loyola play hockey,” Dewey said.

He said he has several friends who play ice hockey for Louisiana State University, and they encouraged him to start a team at Loyola.

Growing up in Detroit, Dewey began playing ice hockey at eight years old and went on to play in high school.

“I used to play with my friends all the time in Detroit,” Dewey said.

University administration quickly approved the team’s presence on campus. Players were ready and the Student Government Association was in the process of approving the hockey team as a campus organization. Yet there was one problem: where was the team to practice?

When New Orleans was the home of the New Orleans Brass, the city built the New Orleans arena and installed an ice rink to accommodate the team. When the team failed to be a success, the rink was shut down in 2002.

With no other local facility to practice in, the team had to settle for an ice rink in the next closest place: Leo’s Ice Land in Baton Rouge, La. Luckily, the University provided the students a campus van every Sunday evening to practice.

“We leave around 7 p.m., and practice begins around 9:30 p.m.,” Dewey said. “We usually get back to campus around 1 a.m. Monday.”

While the university approved the team’s charter, funding for the practices in Baton Rouge strictly come from the players. A one-hour practice costs $240.

The team still has a few things to work out, including games. Because it is a newly formed organization, the team will not have any official games until Spring 2008.

“We’re looking to play schools like Tulane, LSU, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and hopefully in the future, some out-of-state teams,” Dewey said.

Dewey said he is still looking for talented and interested hockey players, whether it be street hockey or ice hockey.

“We just want to have fun and win some games,” Dewey said.

Jaune Jackson can be reached at [email protected].