ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Fierce? Typically. Fearless? Apparently. Fast-paced? Always.
It can be tough to describe the sport to someone who’s never seen it.
“At the beginning, we didn’t know hockey at all because we grew up in a warm area, with almost no snow,” said Tom Wu.
He and his wife Cheyenne were fast learners when they moved to West St. Louis County and became hockey lovers four years ago.
“Now we are all Blues fans,” asserts Cheyenne.
But most of their time is spent cheering on another team: their daughter Sophia’s.
“Most things don't really hurt you because you're wearing a lot of gear,” she said of the notoriously feisty sport. “I did figure skating, so I was like, why not do hockey?”
“Her [figure skating] coach said she was a good skater, but she just didn't like to go fast,” explained Tom. “So he was saying, OK, maybe you sign her up for a hockey game, that will help. And that's how it started.”
The 11-year-old is a standout on her St. Louis Rockets roster this year for one particular reason: the rest of her teammates are boys.
“It's actually kind of fun being only the girl sometimes,” she said. “At the end of the game where you do handshakes, I always get to be second in line because there's always the goalie first and then it's ladies second and then the rest of the boys. “
With little sister Mia now on a team, too—hers with a few more girls—the Wu family is a hockey family through and through.
“I think at their age, they're still going along very well,” said Tom Wu of the co-ed nature of the sport.
So how would they describe the game to the next newcomers? Friendly and formative, first of all.
“All the hockey players and their parents and families, I think this is a very good community,” said Tom. “We are still the stage they are not allowed to check. So we are good. But overall, the other side of that toughness with them is it makes them also tougher in their personality, and we want that part,” said Cheyenne.
And the most important descriptor of all?
“Just fun,” said Sophia.
The St. Louis Rockets is a co-ed hockey club with kids from the learn-to-skate stage, to early teens. If you or your kids are interested in learning more about their program, visit their website.