The Winter Garden Ice Arena opened on Prospect Ridge in 1975, introducing the Ridgefield Amateur Hockey Association (RAHA) Lions to the community. Now in its 50th year, RAHA has another reason to celebrate. Last August, coaches Melissa Miller and Ashley Trimble joined forces to form the very first all-girls Lions team.
Growing up in Ottawa, Ontario, Trimble was destined to become a hockey player. Picking up the sport at age 4, Trimble went on to play prep hockey at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Reflecting on her journey, Trimble shares, “I was fortunate to play at the collegiate level at Manhattanville College,” where she earned All-American honors and competed in two NCAA National Championship games. After graduating, she transitioned into coaching and officiating but took a brief hiatus from the sport to focus on raising her young children. Then, in 2023, Trimble returned to the ice at Learn to Play in Brewster—this time with her daughters, Riley, 8, and Reece, 5, joining her on the ice.
Conversely, Miller spent her early years figure skating. “There weren’t girls’ leagues around back then, so I do wonder if I would have played hockey instead. The opportunity just wasn’t there,” she tells us. Then, like an inverted version of The Cutting Edge, Miller swapped her toe picks for hockey skates and never looked back. Now an elementary school teacher here in Ridgefield, she has two children in the RAHA travel program: 11-year-old Carson and 7-year-old Sloane. Hockey clearly runs in the family—Miller’s husband, who also grew up playing the sport, coaches Carson’s team.
“Carson played with the Lions, and Sloane became interested in playing too. She did a program called Learn to Play through the New York Rangers,” Miller tells us. “I volunteered to help coach, and she kept saying to me, ‘Mom, I’m going to be a Lion’. So then I started thinking, ‘OK, well, this is great—I want you to do these things!’ But I really didn’t see a place for just girls,” Miller explains.
RAHA is a tryout-based organization which hosts teams by age, starting with Mites (8 and under), Squirts (10 and under), Peewee (12 and under), Bantam (14 and under), and Midget (18 and under). Girls are encouraged to try out—and they do, knowing that if they make the team, the majority of their teammates will likely be boys.
“One of the things that drove me to start an all-girls team,” Miller tells us, “is that since my son started playing travel hockey, there’s always been a girl on his team. Only one girl.” Being the sole girl on a team of all boys—whether in the locker room during games or on overnight trips for tournaments—is something Miller was keenly aware of. “It was important for my daughter to have that social aspect of being around other girls with similar interests. She loves playing hockey. I don’t know if she would love it as much if she didn’t have the team camaraderie,” Miller adds.
Although women have been playing ice hockey for decades, their journey to reaching the sport’s upper echelons has been marked by stops and starts. Then, in 2023, hundreds of female players from Canada and the United States shattered a significant glass ceiling with the formation of the Professional Women’s Hockey League. The league introduced fair salaries and launched six teams: the Boston Fleet, the Minnesota Frost, the Montréal Victoire, the Ottawa Charge, the New York Sirens, and the Toronto Sceptres.
Fortuitous timing for the Ridgefield Lions.
When a mutual friend introduced Miller to Trimble—on the soccer field, of all places—the two women immediately hit it off. “We just started talking, and it snowballed from there,” Trimble shares. Soon after, Riley and Reece joined Sloane as the first three members of the newly-formed team.
Miller, who is a RAHA board member, smiles as she admits she had a slight “in” to help get the ball rolling. “I brought this to the table and said an all-girls team is something I really want to do. RAHA gave me the support to make it a reality, providing ice time and tuition,” she tells us.
“I’ve tried to start girls' programs in the past, and we haven’t had the support like we’ve had here. RAHA has been great,” Trimble says. Going on to reference Field of Dreams, she adds, “If you build it, they will come. Girls want to play with all girls. And it’s a little hard to find that at this age.”
Through word of mouth, planning, logistics, and perseverance, the team grew to 17 girls. On August 28th, RAHA’s inaugural all-girls Lions team took the ice for their very first practice together.
RAHA serves as a feeder program for girls’ varsity teams, including the Ridgefield Tigers, which currently features two players from Immaculate and one from Danbury. However, building an exceptionally strong team at that level has been an uphill battle—largely due to a lack of consistent support from the outset. Fostering team camaraderie from an early age is essential for retaining players and strengthening any sports program.
Now, when joining RAHA as a Mite, girls will have an opportunity that was previously unavailable to them. They can develop their love for the sport while also fostering the all-important camaraderie from the very beginning. Miller and Trimble hope to see more girls join the program each year, eventually advancing the teams to Squirts, Peewee, and beyond.
“We’ve played over 15 games around the area, predominantly against coed teams. But as we get older, there will be more opportunities to play all-girls teams,” Miller tells us. “It’s been awesome, I love coaching with Ashley. The girls love it. It’s amazing to see how much they’ve improved in such a short amount of time because they’re having a good time. They’re practicing something they like!” Miller says enthusiastically.
“And they’re all little besties off the ice!” Trimble adds. “It’s fun. They’re from all different schools, all different towns. We’ve captured the local demographic.”
The inaugural all-girls Lions season wraps up in March. Be sure to stop by the Winter Garden to catch a game! Learn more by visiting ridgefieldhockey.org, and follow along on Instagram at @raha_girls_hockey and @ridgfieldhockey.
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