AUBURN - Throughout the history of the Auburn Ice Hawks, there has been a struggle to maintain the enrollment of girls interested in hitting the ice.

But steadily over the past three seasons the girls' 12-and-under squad has been fortifying its ranks and getting to a point where they have enough girls to compete against other teams. The squad has 10 players this year, and is a mix of both veterans and rookies.

“Our big thing is that we have been trying to build up the team so that the girls can play here and they don't have to go to Ithaca or some place else to play,” said Rob Van Liew, who has been coaching the team for two seasons now. “They can have a team right here in Auburn.”

This season's team is made up of several veteran players, including Marissa Tarby, 12, who has been on the team for four years.

“I started watching my brother play,” Tarby said. “I just saw how much fun it was, and I knew that I wanted to play. It has been a lot of fun being on this team with all my friends and it has been a lot of fun just getting out there and playing.”

Others, such as Sarah Wansor, 11, are still relatively new to the team, but have been rapidly finding their way.

“This is a good team,” Wansor said. “I like that everyone here always helps everyone else. We can watch other people and see how they play and that helps the rest of us get better.”

Van Liew said there is an age range on the team from as young as 6 all the way up to 12. With such a variety, Van Liew has to approach each of his players on her own level.

“As a coach, you have to do things a little differently,” Van Liew said. “You have players that are still really learning to skate and you have the more advanced ones. But it is a great team; everyone knows everyone else and they all get along and help each other out on the ice.”

There are a lot of stigmas attached to hockey, chief among them being that it is a rough and physical sport, better left in the realm of boys' sports. But for many of Van Liew's players this stereotype is what they are trying to dispel.

“I was helping on my brother's team,” said Karleigh Reilly, 12. “And he said that girls couldn't play hockey. I wanted to show him that I could.”

Many of Reilly's teammates share this attitude and are out to prove that girls can do anything the boys can.

“When we hear things like that we say bring it on,” said Valeria Fox, 11. “We don't think anyone should ever underestimate a girl on skates.”

With all of the energy and determination with which these girls hit the ice, it does make Van Liew's job a little easier as a coach, knowing that he can approach it the same as he would with any other team.

“It is the same game as the boys would be playing,” he said. “We do the same drills and work on the same things as the boys do. There really is no difference in what we try to teach the girls from the boys, and I think that is what draws a lot of them.”

With only 10 girls, it leaves a lot of room for the girls to find their own niche on the team, such as Madelyn Van Liew, 9, the team's goalie this year.

“I played offense last year,” she said. “That was a lot of fun trying to score goals, and goalie is a lot of fun. I've been practicing a lot.”

For a lot of teams, hockey means early mornings and long drives, but Coach Van Liew said many of the girls games are in the afternoon and reasonably close to home. But the girls love the chance to hit the ice against any team they can.

“It is fun just to be able to play,” Reilly said. “Any team, anywhere. It is just fun to be on the ice and just to get to play.”

With the kind of dedication already demonstrated by his current team, Van Liew hopes to see the program continue to grow.

“We could always use a few more girls,” Van Liew said. “Hopefully we keep growing. We have a couple more than last year, and I think we have a pretty good team, but it would be nice to get a few more involved and keep this going and keep the team growing.”