London's little devils invade the Elm City

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Lauren Gulka, BK '01, and Sue Vanderhill, CC '01, who played together in high school, hope that next season will be a more successful one for the Yale women's hockey team.

The small city of London, Ontario, is known for its women's youth hockey and the rabid fanaticism that surrounds it. Once, when the Intermediate AA London Devilettes were playing, a rowdy fan of the other team started making rude and vulgar remarks about the players. After hearing one too many comments, Ina Vanderhill, the mother of current Yale defender Sue Vanderhill, CC '01, politely asked him to be quiet. When he refused and directed an obscenity at her, she did what any self-respecting Vanderhill would do: she kicked him.

At the time, Lauren Gulka, BK '01, another former Devilette and current Yale defender, wasn't suprised by the actions of her friend's mother. Her mother had become close with Vanderhill's mom after years of carpooling to hockey tournaments, and neither parent was about to let her daughter get discouraged from playing a sport she loved. In fact, even after the girls became old enough to drive to practices and games, their mothers would still come to chat and cheer their daughters on.

They had a lot to cheer about while Sue and Lauren were playing for the Devilettes. During the many years that the pair competed together, the team won the Provincials and were champions of several local tournaments. The last year they played, the team finished 65-5-5. The Devilettes were among the first Canadian women club teams to produce players that would go on to compete for collegiate teams in the United States. "We were looked up to by the younger players in London," Gulka said. "By going away to school, we were showing them that they could use their hockey skills to get ahead."

Gulka and Vanderhill are not the only former Devilettes playing in the ECAC. Melissa Rennison '01, Cara Gardner '01, and Jill Grant '00 now play for Brown, and Jen Wildman '01 skates for New Hampshire. In addition, Yale forward Sue Barnes, DC '00 played club hockey in London for the age group above them. "Though it's unfortunate that Canadian schools can't offer what colleges in the U.S. have," Devilette head coach Dani Isen said, "It's great that these girls are getting a chance to play in the States.

Gulka and Vanderhill chose Yale over both Harvard and Princeton even though the Bulldogs had not won an Ivy league game in over a decade. "I knew Yale had its troubles," Vanderhill said. "But we were part of a strong recruiting class, we were getting a new head coach, and above all, I really liked the people that I met." In addition, though she tried not to let it influence her decision, Gulka wanted to play in college with her friend. "It was always in the back of my mind," she said.

Upon arriving at Yale, the two were both placed on defense--a position Gulka had always played, but was relatively new to Vanderhill. It wasn't a problem for her though, as both were soon integrated into the regular rotation and saw a lot of ice time, including time together on the same penalty-killing line. "Sue's a smart hockey player," Isen said. "This makes her versatile because she understands where the puck is going to end up." Unfortunately, Vanderhill has not been able to play this year due to the flaring up of a knee injury she suffered as a Devilette. "I don't think anyone has ever seen her full potential," Isen said. "If she could stay healthy, she'd be a star."

Although Vanderhill still attends practice and travels with the team, the game time duties of the duo belong to Gulka until next year. Gulka is what Isen describes as "extremely tough and physical for her size. She is very competitive and doesn't like to lose." As a member of the Yale defense, though, Gulka has watched games slip away time and time again. "It's hard to compete against teams that have three or four lines that are as strong as our front line," she said, adding, "we can't seem to come back from power-play goals."

This year has not been entirely negative for the Elis, though. They have shown remarkable improvement over the season in coming back to tie St. Lawrence on Fri., Feb 12 after losing to the Knights 7-1 on Sun., Nov. 15. They have also made remarkable strides on the Ivy front, as on Sat., Feb. 13 they came within a goal of tying Cornell, a team they lost to by seven goals earlier this season.

Next year, Vanderhill will be playing, there will be a strong freshman class, and the team will only lose one senior. The women, who live less than five minutes away from one another and have already shared many life experiences, hope to share one more next year: an Ivy victory.

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