If you have anything you wouldlike to share with the rest of theEIHA clubs and teams pleaseemail:-

Geoff.hemmerman@eiha.co.uk

On Sunday 4th December2012 in Asiago Italy GBU18 Women will go donein history as being the firstU18’s female team to takepart in a IIHF World Cham-pionship event, not only didthey take part but com-peted with the best playersfrom Italy, China, France,Kazakhstan and the tourna-ment winners Hungary.

Only two of the girls Saf-fron Allen and CaptainKatherine Gale had any realunderstanding of what wasin store for the team, thedates had changed for thisqualifying event on a num-ber of occasions and it waswith much relieve in lateSeptember that it was con-firmed it would be in Italy inDecember, much work wasneeded in a very shortspace of time to get theteam prepared as much aspossible – to this end theteam staff worked tirelesslyto get everything ready,Sean Alderson Head Coach,Tim Healand Ass Coachand Manager Sally Taylorset training sessions and acamp up to do everythingthey could to prepare theteam.

The relationship that thesepeople had through theEngland Senior and 16’s

Female programme withplayers and parents wouldbe invaluable in the prepa-ration along with the muchneeded support of IHUK,

So the team was selectedand we departed for Italyon the Sunday 27th Novem-ber giving us one day tosettle in and get everythingin place and an extra icesession, this was withoutdoubt a very well worthand important part of thepreparation ensuring theplayers where focused onthe task ahead.

The first game saw GB haveto face the tournamentnumber one seed in Francein an in-credible firstperiod ofhockey GB3-0 France ,GB sawFrance reel-ing fromwhat canonly bedescribed asan out-standingperform-ance fromGB after thebreakFrance re-groupedand tried

Volume 1, Issue 4

9th December 2012

ENGLISH ICE HOCKEY ASSOCIATION WOMEN’S SECTION

Great Britain U18Women qualifyin italy History in the making

Breaking News.

GB U18 Women Qualifiers.

GB U18 Women Photos

GB U18 Women Team Photo

Could this be YOU

Players thank TASS

What is TASS

everything they could tobreakdown the GB defensebut an incredible perform-ance from Rachael Pullen inthe GB net made sure theshots would not be hittingthe back of the GB net thethird period saw GB con-cede one goal for the finalscore to end GB 3 France 1having beaten the FrenchGB was up for anythingthat could be thrown atthem , it was just as well asday two saw GB upagainst

GB U18 WomenRanked 12th in World

following IIHFQualifying Tournament

Judy Browne feels the weight of Italyon her back

echoing around the Arena, despite thisGB started strong and with just under 4minutes of the period gone Allen levelsthe scores, 5 minutes later GB take ad-vantage of the powerplay and Bloomput GB ahead, less then 3 minutes laterItaly equalized with a powerplay goalagain Italia rings out around the Arena.3 minutes later Italy breakdown the GBdefense to take the lead, this lasted foronly 2 minutes when Hill pushed the

puck past the Italian keeper to levelonce again end of second 3-3.

Still all to play for as the teams step outfor the final period 9 minutes into theperiod Italy score and go into the leadputting all the pressure back on GB with

Kazakhstan the second seeded team inthe tournament as they had been sentfrom Division I to take part in thechampionship while the 8-0 score linesounds as this game was easy it wasnot and it took its toll on the girls.Day three was a much need rest dayand chance to take stock in prepara-tion for what we believed to be thetoughest team in the tournament aswe faced Hungary in the third game offive, the gamestarted fast andfurious much asthe Frenchgame had at 50seconds SaffronAllen found theback of theHungary netthe lead wasshort lived andjust after twominutes thescore was leveland shortly af-ter that Hun-gary took thelead GB neverlooked like find-ing any wayback losing thefirst period 5-1 itwas an ex-tremely toughgame and Hun-gary where byfar the biggestteam in thetournamenttaking thegame 8-0 whilethe defeat wasvery disappoint-ing it wasadded to by thelose of 3 players through injury, thenext game was Italy and with bothteams on 6 points it was building for ahuge game, the team staff had someshuffling of lines to do to get the teamback in good shape in less than 24hours, for certain some of the players

just 10 minutes remaining Italy pick upa 5 and game for a check to the headwhich also see Rathbone take no fur-ther part in the game 6 minutes laterAdams finds the back of the Italian netto level the score and that how itstayed until the end of a very tenseperiod with both tiring teams nowlooking to face a 5 minutes 4 on 4overtime again players from both sidesgave their all to gain the advantageItaly picked up a 2 minute penaltywhich put GB on the powerplay andjust before the 64 minute mark Galefound the back of the Italian net onceagain to give GB the 2 points for theovertime win leaving Italy needing tobeat Hungary in regulation time totake the 2nd spot. Day 6 sees GB tak-ing on China which was an all or noth-ing game for China they need to winin regulation time to make it to secondplace it was once again a game that sothe lead change with the score after 3periods ending 2-2 even one pointdespite overtime and penalty shootout would see GB safe if Italy beatHungary something that would proofjust to much for Italy, and that justhow it ended.

This is only part of the journey qualify-ing for the U18 Women World Cham-pionship in Tromso Norway 29th De-cember 2011 to 4th Jan 2012 puts thisyoung team under immense pressureas they have less than 3 weeks to pre-pare and recover from the battles inItaly.

This group of young women not onlypulled the GB shirt on with the lion onthe front but wore it with pride theyalso had the heart of a lion insidenever faltering in their quest to win,please follow these young women asthey head off to Norway via the IHUKand IIHF websites

P A G E 2V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 4

GB U18 Women CaptainKatherine Gale

Thank you to everyone that

has worked so hard to make

this dream possible

P A G E 3V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 4

Hat Trick Girls

Captain Katherine Gale and3 against France and SaffronAllen 3 against Kazakhstan

Rachel Pulllen picks up her GBplayer of the game award againstFrance unknown to her she wouldbecome GB Team player of theChampionship

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 4 P A G E 4

The Girls are ready to go

Louisa Durnell, Shannon Jones and Louise Adams celebrate agoal against Kazakhstan

Helen EmersonGBSC Player of theTournament

Sean AldersonHead coach callsa time out in theHungary game

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 4 P A G E 5

Back Row, Diane Slater Physio, Sally Taylor Manager, Shannon Jones, Helen Emerson, Jodie Bloom, Saffron Allen, Amy Campbell,

Lily Highgate, Louise Adams, Beth Scoon, Kirsty Lake, Paige Henry, Loisa Durnell, Judy Browne, Beth Hill, Megan Rathbone, MillieHooper , Brian Miller Equipment Manager.

Front Row, Rachel Pullen, Monica Petrosino, Tim Healand Ass Coach, Katherine Gale Capt, Sean Alderson Head Coach, Sam Emer-son , Bea Fletcher.

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 4 P A G E 6

What next for these youngwomen— there is no doubt thateach and everyone went aboveand beyond what anyone couldhave asked. I am sure that there arevery few people that would haveever thought that when the abovephotograph was taken just beforewe set off to Italy that they wouldbe assembling again in less thanthree weeks to take on the might ofJapan, Norway, Austria, Slovakiaand once again Hungary in Norwayover the new year period, Italy wastough but what they now face willrequire every single ounce of effortdetermination, will power andphysical effort they can find.

Through their tremendous effortsthey have launched GB U18’sWomen into 12th place in theWorld Ranking a huge achieve-ment—the challenge we now face ismaintaining that position againstsome of the best teams in theworld, follow us in Norway via theIHUK , IIHF and EIHA Websites

The GB Team Staff and IHUK arenow pulling everything togetherthat is needed to enable us to goto Norway with the best possiblechance to succeed a huge task forthem in less than three weeks.

Sourcing ice and training timewith only two available weekendsis a huge ask but something thathas to be done to give the playersthe best prepared anything lesswould not be fair on them—to thisend if your players are requestedto attend a GB U18’s Women’straining session the weekend ofthe 16/17 December please givethem every bit of support you can.

To the parents of these players Ithank them for all the time andeffort they have put into gettingthe players to where they need tobe—to the players I know they willgive everything they can for GB

Bea Fletcher and Saffron Allen both members of theGB U18 Women’s team have been short listed to carrythe Olympic Torch look out for news as we get it.

P A G E 7V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 4

Then Rachel Pullen 2008 EIHAGirls School of Excellence HullEngland

NOW Rachel Pullen 2011 GreatBritain U18s Women Net-minder Asiago Italy

Then Shannon Jones 2008EIHA Girls School of ExcellenceHull England

NOW Shannon Jones 2011Great Britain U18s WomenForward Asiago Italy

COULD THISBE YOU

OR YOU

YES IT COULD BE IFYOU WANT ITENOUGH

Saffron Allen Forward

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 4 P A G E 8

Thank You To TASS For Your SupportFrom the Following Players

Jodie Bloom Defence

Paige Henry Forward

Megan Rathbone Defence

Katherine Gale Forward

Hard work, dedication, passion and

investment of time and money, all

these things have been a huge part

of getting women's ice hockey to

the level that it is now. When we

talk of investment, it's extremely

important to talk about an organi-

sation who have invested heavily

in our sport as for the last 3 years a

number of our top athletes at both

U18 and Senior Great Britain level

have been in receipt of TASS fund-

ing. The Talented Athlete Scholar-

ship Scheme, or TASS as it is better

known, is a Government funded

programme that represents a

unique partnership between tal-

ented young athletes, Women's

Ice Hockey and the Higher

(University) and Further

(college/school) Education sector.

TASS aims to help its athletes to

balance academic life with training

and competition as a performance

athlete, something that is vital to

the success of our ice hockey ath-

letes.

Supporting some of the countries

top athletes, the impact of TASS’s

investment was already evident at

the Beijing Olympic/Paralympics

Games in 2008, where TASS Ath-

letes and Alumni won 19 medals

(15 at the Olympics, four at the

Paralympics). Athletes such as Tom

Daley & Rebecca Adlington are all

TASS Alumni. Two years later at

the Vancouver Winter Olympics in

2010, the only GB medallist was

TASS Alumna Amy Williams, and

55 TASS supported Athletes and

Alumni won 85 medals at the 2010

Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

But what does TASS mean for our

women's ice hockey athletes? This

year we have 12 athletes receiv-

ing TASS support. Each athlete

receives financial support but

they also have a team of dedi-

cated coaches supporting their

athletic development through

their local hub, often their own

university. This support comes

as individually tailored Strength

& Conditioning coaching,

Physiotherapy & medical sup-

port and lifestyle mentoring giv-

ing our athletes the opportunity

to build an athlete lifestyle

while ensuring they succeed in

their education.

With a limited number of places

on the scheme we are always

over subscribed, with almost 30

applications this year for just 12

places competition is always

tough to secure a place. But this

year we are incredibly proud to

have 4 GBU18's and 8 GB Sen-

iors on the scheme. The

GBU18's receiving the invalu-

able support are Katherine Gale,

Jodie Bloom, Megan Rathbone

and new onto the scheme this

year Saffron Allen. GBU18 Paige

Henry is also a TASS alumni hav-

ing been on the scheme in 2010

2011.

All the athletes will tell you, be-

ing a TASS athlete isn't easy, it

takes commitment and dedica-

tion to attending all your train-

ing and assessment sessions,

but talking about her S&C

coach, GBU18 Katherine Gale

who is going into her 2nd year

as a TASS athlete knows how

important this support his to

her, ""I would like say a big

thank you to my S&C coach Phil

Price who helps me out on

a weekly basis" and on

missing her S&C session

while she was in Asiago,

she's hoping she wasn't in

too much trouble!! Kathe-

rine, I think Phil will let you

off!

Megan Rathbone, another

GBU18 athlete who is going

into her 2nd year as a TASS

athlete also has a great sup-

port team around her at

Nottingham University Hub

says, "It was an amazing

feeling winning the first

game against France which

was unexpected, but then

to go and qualify was a

whole different feeling. I'd

like to thank all of my TASS

support team, Anna, Jenn

and Natalie who have made

me a better hockey player."

When asking that question

again, what does TASS

mean for women's hockey?

I think Megan's words are

absolutely spot on.....what

does TASS do for our ath-

letes, it makes them better

hockey players! As a sport,

we still face many chal-

lenges in getting to where

we know we can be, but

with the support of TASS,

we are well on our way to

making the improvements

we need and we owe them

and their fantastic staff a

huge debt of gratitude for

investing in our sport and

our athletes.

Anna Walters - Women's Ice

Hockey TASS Manager

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 4 P A G E 9TASS & ICE HOCKEY