In a first for Danbury High School, the Hatters are part of an FCIAC girls’ ice hockey team.

Juniors Ciara Tonic, Sandi Turner, and Olivia Alessandro dress in Ridgefield jerseys to help round out the Tigers’ roster. The team, as of Jan. 17, is off to a 1-5 start.

Chip Salvestrini, athletics director, said it’s an idea that had been discussed over the years, but stalled because of money.

Last spring, Salvestrini said, talks of combining efforts with Ridgefield began. “We had six or seven girls interested, and in the end three were accepted.”

Turner was “introduced to ice hockey in 6th grade. I love the sport and have a huge passion for it,”  she said, adding when on the ice, “there is no place I’d rather be.”

Recalling her reaction when finding out there was a girls’ team, she said that, “I was honestly shocked” and added “because there was no girls’ team, I was legally allowed to play on the boys’ team. Either way, I was very pleased that I would finally get to play with people my age and level.”

But with Ridgefield, the Hatters’ rival? The teammates said, yes, it was a little awkward at first. Turner, however, notes that she has become best friends with one of her Ridgefield teammates. “I am very happy about that,” she said. 

Alessandro, who plays right wing, said she has been “interested in hockey all her life.” She explained that she started with simple hockey development and grew into joining a travel team in middle school.

“I’ve always loved ice hockey and the feeling it gives me when I am on the ice,” Alessandro said. “It was always a dream of mine to play for a high school girls’ ice hockey team and be a part of something with girls my age and represent our school. I was thrilled.”

She said the Ridgefield girls have been welcoming. “We bond very well on and off the ice,” she said. “I could not have asked for a better group of girls to form a team with. No matter the situation, they are so supportive.”

Tonic was originally a figure skater who transitioned to hockey. “I love ice hockey with all my heart,” she said, adding “we [the Danbury girls] had a push for it to happen ourselves; we wouldn’t have one right now if there wasn’t so much effort from us put into it.”

Tonic added that, “I fit in very well with the Ridgefield girls. They’re awesome people, much better and different then I had first expected.”

Ridgefield previously combined with Immaculate High School to field a team, but the amount of the interested players from IHS declined over the years.

After DHS and RHS came to terms, Salvestrini said he’s happy it all worked out for the girls, the team and and the schools.

“Ridgefield is responsible for the team itself in terms of results, coaching and training but the paperwork of each of our players is done here in our school,” Salvestrini explained.

Asking why we have no separate team, he said, “We have no ability to go alone, just like our boys’ team who is teaming up with Bethel and Brookfield.” That team is known as the BBD Icecats.

Salvestrini said he and Immaculate are also discussing the possibility of combining boys’ swim teams. Both schools have seen a drop off in participation in that sport.

Meanwhile, Turner and her DHS teammates are focusing on the team’s performance on the ice.

“It’s been a difficult but fun season so far,” she said. “We’ve had a rough start, but we won our last game, so I am just going to continue to hope for the best and keep playing hard.”