BILLINGS — It may be chilly inside Centennial Ice Arena, but the girls practicing are on fire doing something no other Billings hockey team has ever done.
These players are forming the Magic City's first 19-and-under all-girls high school club hockey team. Josh Cavan serves as head coach for this groundbreaking squad.
"Kids from (Billings) Skyview, Senior, West, Huntley, Lockwood … we have a player who joined us from Glasgow. She did not have a team to play on," Cavan told MTN Sports.
So Glasgow's player drives about 4½ hours one way to join her teammates for games.
Until now, these Billings Bulls had often been playing coed hockey.
"It's just different being with the boys. They all get dressed in a locker room together and the girls are stuck in a different locker room or a storage closet together," said Brekk Davis, a 15-year-old center.
Hear what the Bulls say about forming Billings' first 19U girls high school team:
Peyton Mordhorst is the Bulls' oldest player at 16.
"It feels good because it feels like a lot of them look up to me and try to keep up with me … which most of them do," Mordhorst said.
Last year, these girls won the 14U state championship. While some may be young, they're not backing down from a shot at the 19U level.
"We have some very competitive hockey players, and our older girls are very experienced and highly skilled," Cavan said.
"The feeling of being on the ice with a puck on your stick … it's just unbeatable," said Ivy Tillery, the Bulls' 15-year-old defenseman/center.
Cavan said plans are to shift games and practices to the new Signal Peak Energy Arena next spring when doors open. Meanwhile, the Bulls face their first 19U test this weekend at Centennial Arena with three games against Whitefish starting Saturday.
"I'm super excited, but I'm also really nervous," Tillery admitted with a big smile.
"You can't really have too much contact in girls hockey, so it's not something I'm personally worried about. I just want to see what the team can do," Davis added.
Truth is, what the team has already accomplished is impressive on its own.
