In this inspiring episode of Two Women Who Give a Puck, hosts Sarah and Tera sit down with Kimmi and Kelly — two women who began their hockey journeys as adult players and are now taking on coaching roles.

They discuss what drew them to hockey, how they found confidence in a new sport, and what it means to step into leadership as women in a male-dominated arena. Together, they explore:

The value of female coaches in youth hockey

Overcoming impostor syndrome and self-doubt

Creating safe, supportive, and empowering team environments

Advocating for inclusion and balance in sports and family life

Whether you’re a player, parent, or coach, this episode celebrates the strength of women who choose to lead, mentor, and uplift others in hockey — proving that representation truly changes the game.

✨ Follow and subscribe for more real stories of women shaping the future of hockey — on and off the ice.

On this episode Tera and Sarah interview another one of their Buzzer Beater players, Haley Mathison. 

Haley grew up LOVING hockey, but it wasn’t in the cards for her to play organized hockey in her youth. Instead, she practiced solo on frozen lakes and city rinks, dreaming of one day playing organized hockey.

She achieved her dream after attending a WHAM 101 clinic solo. Even though she started on her own, she quickly and easily formed a team with fellow clinic participants.

With this team she found a deep sense of camaraderie and support among teammates, leading to lasting friendships and a strong sense of community.

Haley’s story shows how trying something new, even on your own, can lead to personal growth, leadership opportunities, and unexpected joy.

Haley hopes her legacy is one of being coachable, athletic, supportive, and a leader. Her hope is to be a role model for others entering the sport.

She has already inspired so many around her to try hockey and she believes that women belong in hockey. And that it is the greatest game in the world!

Whether you're seeking friendship, fitness, or fun— she believes there’s a place for you on the ice.

Tera and Sarah sit down with one of their Buzzer Beater players, Moriah Gilbertson.

In this episode, Moriah shares her deeply personal and inspiring journey into hockey. She initially said “No” when a friend asked her to try a women’s 101 hockey clinic with her. However, she was convinced to switch that “No” to “Yes” and that decision led to immense transformation.

She developed a fixed mindset from her dance background, which made her resistant to trying new things, especially sports. Hockey helped her develop a growth mindset, which she now models for her daughters.

After suffering severe health issues during pregnancy, including months of immobility, hockey became a symbol of physical recovery and empowerment. She now feels strong, capable, and proud to be active with her family.

Moriah wants her legacy to be one of strength, resilience, and openness to new experiences, both within her family and the broader hockey community. 

Moriah’s story is a powerful reminder that it’s never too late to try something new. 

Hockey has given her joy, strength, and a sense of belonging. AND she wants to make sure all women, of all ages and abilities, realize that hockey is TRULY for EVERYONE. Even someone like her who had no prior experience and physical health struggles to overcome.

Tera and Sarah sit down with Dan Miller, youth hockey coach, girls varsity hockey head coach, youth hockey coaching director, USHL scout, AAA coach, High Performance Hockey coach…… OMG, that’s A LOT!!

Dan shares with us his unique hockey experience. He started later in life (according to MN standards!) at the age of 10, played high school hockey, Junior B, Junior A and then ended his career after suffering a broken leg while playing D1 hockey in Madison.

This injury didn’t keep him from hockey long, shortly after leaving the Madison program, he started his coaching journey. 

His main mission as a coach is to make it about the kids by building relationships with each player and helping them to transform into better athletes AND (maybe more importantly) better people.

He sees the girl hockey players he is currently coaching as athletes and treats them as such. Pushing them to do more off-ice than they have before and helping them understand what it takes to become strong. 

He also encourages parents, players (male and female), and spectators to see all female athletes and coaches as capable. And has helped to create a supportive environment within Rogers youth hockey for attracting, supporting and retaining female coaches.  Rogers youth hockey is currently ABOVE the national (7%) and MN (8.6%) average for percentage of female coaches (9%)!!

Sarah and Tera and joined by Vanessa Fuchs and Lizzy Ristano from WeCOACH.

WeCOACH is a one-of-a-kind nonprofit membership organization dedicated to recruiting, advancing, and retaining women coaches in all sports and levels through year-round professional growth & leadership development programs.

In this episode we talk about all things female coaches, from identifying who you are as a coach, creating a supportive community around you, asking for help and the importance of having females in coaching. 

For more on WeCOACH, check out all of the great programs they have created at WeCOACH

Tera and Sarah sit down with Jenna Thompson, the brains behind the Puck Yea! Hockey Collective.

Puck Yea! Hockey Collective is all about bringing individuals together through the love of hockey where fun, empowerment, and inclusivity are at the heart of everything. 

This Hockey Collective has a place for all females of all skill levels. 

Through Puck Yea! Hockey Collective Jenna has found a place for many individuals, who may have fallen a little bit out of love of the game after playing in high school and/or college (i.e. Tera!). They have jumped back into loving the game through this fun and supportive environment. Even Tera!!! She is planning on playing with Sarah’s Puck Yea! Team in a few weeks!!!

Jenna has also created a Try Hockey for Free day for females and Spanish speaking females where she has free equipment to use. She saw that paying for hockey equipment before you know if you’re going to love the sport is a barrier that not everyone can overcome, so she removed that barrier!  AWESOME!! 

If you are curious about whether or not there is a place for you in the Puck Yea! Hockey Collective, reach out to Jenna at [email protected], she would love to help you out!! 

Check out all the action around the Puck Yea! League on their Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/puck.yea.hockey

Sign up or learn more about the league here - https://www.puckyeahockey.com/

Tera and I are joined by Ashley Holmes, the Assistant Coach in Chief for Female Coach Development in the Minnesota District (that’s a mouth full!!). 

Ashley shares her story of growing up playing hockey in the Alexandria area, how that led to playing at the University of North Dakota and then on to coaching. 

An important part of her coaching journey is that she was ASKED to coach a 12U hockey team. Without that invitation, she is unsure if she ever would have found her path in coaching. 

So, hockey associations, and mainly MALE ALLIES (because you are currently the majority in hockey), remember to ASK females to coach. Many of them will not step up without an invitation.

Within her role at USA Hockey, she is working to attract more female coaches to get involved in the coach developer role and NORMALIZING seeing women in leadership roles within USA hockey, MN hockey and within the youth levels. 

She also hears from many female coaches throughout the state of MN who are facing similar challenges. 

She regularly hears females express encountering the challenges below:

It’s a challenge for those female coaches to want to continue coaching within the game when they are volunteering their time AND having to overcome all of the situations at the same time. They start to question, “Why am I doing this? Is it even worth it?”

This leads to a challenge in retaining the female coaches who are willing to step up. 

Lastly, we talk about how the move away from USA hockey’s ADM model and community-based hockey is producing fewer top level female talent within the State of Hockey. Parents having an understanding of the ADM model and its value is vital to continuing to be the State of Hockey on the female side. 

She is also focusing on bringing MN female coaches together to help support each other and be resources for each other. If you are a MN female hockey coach, look for an invitation to a MN female coaches GroupMe and reach out to Ashley at any time with questions. She is here to support you!

Contact info:

Ashley Holmes - [email protected]

USA Hockey Female Coaches GroupMe - GroupMe - Join the group for USAH Female Coaches

Reach out to Tera and Sarah if you have any questions or if you have a story to share.

[email protected]

Tera and Sarah sit down with Alicia Pelton, the Program Director for Coaching HER from the Tucker Center, a research center at the University of Minnesota that researches girls and women in sport. 

Coaching HER is a coaching resource that helps sport coaches of girls challenge the status quo and the taken-for-granted assumptions of what it means to coach girls. We are helping coaches minimize gender inequalities and to coach differently.

Coaching HER tackles central and unaddressed issues which negatively impact girls’ and women’s performance, self-perceptions, sport choices, and experiences: coaches’ unconscious gender biases and stereotypes.

During this episode, Alicia shares with us the inequity she saw between her son’s hockey experience compared to her daughter’s and what she did about it.  

We also discuss the fact that sports were created for men by men and continue to be coached by men and designed around men, i.e. sport equipment. 

However, women are different. Our hormones are different, we injure differently, we hit puberty at different times, AND we are treated differently in society. 

So instead of looking at the sport of hockey as a boys sport and the girls simply exist in it, we may need to rethink the design of the sport so we can meet the girls where they are at and appreciate what they bring to the game, rather than trying to fit them into the existing model.  

The game of women’s hockey may look different than men’s hockey; however, it is a BEAUTIFUL game and embracing the differences can help to expand the sport for females.

This is important because when girls play, they are more successful in life. 

They are healthier, they have healthier families, they have less depression and anxiety, they’re healthier in every way and succeed occupationally.

AUDIO WARNING - some of the audio is a little rocky!!  Good ol' technology... It doesn't always cooperate.......!

On this episode Tera and Sarah chat with Topher Scott from The Hockey Think Tank about the value of community based hockey, for everyone, and especially for female hockey players. The less accessible hockey becomes, the fewer females there will be in the sport. 

Topher’s mission is to get people to recognize the importance and the power of the front of the jersey again.  Meaning, no one has made it to higher levels alone and creating a supportive community around your daughter during her playing career, better enables her to develop all of the important life skills that lead to success on the ice.

We touch on the mental and physical health challenges within the youth hockey and youth sports experiences and Topher shares his advice with parents on how to manage this, THE STRUGGLE IS REAL! 

Topher also highlights that a well balanced approach MAY include saying “No” to your daughter even if she LOVES the game and wants to play in ALL the hockey programs coming your way.   Saying “No” to something DOES NOT mean your daughter’s hockey career is over!  It may actually enhance it!

We end the conversation talking about the benefits of the unique community model that Minnesota Youth Hockey has and why it has enabled us to become THE STATE HOCKEY. 

It is a MUST listen for anyone immersed in the youth hockey world!! 

Topher references his podcast with Kendall Coyne-Schofield. It’s a great listen to hear about the challenges the top USA female hockey players faced with USA hockey.

 https://thehockeythinktank.podbean.com/e/episode-5-kendall-coyne/

In this episode Tera and Sarah discuss all the ways female coaches can provide value even if they never played hockey. 

They discuss the many aspects of coaching that have NOTHING to do with the Xs and Os of the game. 

From helping players overcome adversity, to teaching them how to be good teammates, to holding them accountable, ALL of these are INCREDIBLY valuable. AND none of them require hockey knowledge to teach. 

They remind female coaches that if they are starting with the younger ages, they can learn the game alongside the players and that is wonderful!

Also, the most important aspect of hockey is: if the kids are having fun, they’re going to want to come back. If you can help them have fun, you can be out there!!!