This is being based on general observation and not expert analysis on the subject, but here it is: No sport in the 50 years since Title IX started to open scholastic competition to women has improved as much in a relatively short period of time as has girls and women's hockey.
The first girls high school game in Minnesota was played on Nov. 19, 1994 — South St. Paul vs. Holy Angels — and two decades after girls basketball had state tournaments.
I watched a game now and then. Covered the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, and watched our legends, Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell, drop a 3-2 heartbreaker to Canada (almost always Canada-U.S.) in the gold medal game.
That was fun, but other glances at girls hockey … well, the puck seemed to take quite a beating on more trips up and down the ice than not.
Edina, tremendous boosters of hockey in all categories, started sponsoring a girls holiday tournament in 2008. The goal was to invite the best teams that were willing to show up.
The tournament is now the Walser Invitational. It was being held for the 14th time and the eight-team field had five of the top-ranked seven in Class 2A.
And what spectators were watching, with the skill, speed, puck movement and even feistiness, could not have borne great resemblance to what was on display when Minnesota's hockey elite first assembled at Braemar in '08.
Andover and Minnetonka were set up in the upper bracket to renew their rivalry. This required these Monday results: Minnetonka, 3-2 vs. talented Maple Grove, and Andover, 7-0, vs. overmatched Moorhead.
