Ice girls bring spirit to hockey games
At 4:15 a.m, the cars roll in, the squad jumps in and the day begins for the Ice Girls, a spirit squad for the USC Ice Hockey team.
The Ice Girls were founded during the 2010-2011 hockey season by members of the University’s figure skating club who wanted to combine their passion for figure skating with the sport they could cheer for — hockey.
“If you take the LA Kings Ice Crew and then the Song Girls and make them into one [that’s us,]” said co-president of the Ice Girls, Devon Bowman.
The Ice Girls serve as the spirit crew for all home hockey games. The team energizes and interacts with fans at the game. Though they don’t lead the crowd in any cheers, the girls help maintain crowd enthusiasm throughout the game.
The girls also perform in between periods during the games. The team has two routines and is currently working on a third to add to their repertoire.
The Ice Girls have been managed from their start by coach and former USC student Michelle Hanabusa. Hanabusa is responsible for choreographing all of the game routines for the girls.
In addition to the performances, the team also “sweeps” the ice, a service to the teams playing in which, during a stoppage of play in the period, the girls shovel loose ice and remove it from the rink.
“Our main goal is to help figure skaters continue their figure skating training in college and then also to support the boys on the team,” Bowman said.
The Ice Girls practice twice a week, once on the ice and once off the ice. Their off-ice practice consists of practicing their choreography and dance routines.
Then, on Thursday morning, the girls travel to The Rinks Anaheim Ice in Anaheim for their 5 a.m. on-ice practice.
“We’re all together at 4 a.m, and you become close and really learn a lot about the other girls on the team,” Bowman said. “It’s so early, but it’s so fun.”
Bowman said one of her favorite things about Ice Girls is the breakfast burrito stops the girls frequently make on their way back to school in the mornings.
In addition to the hockey games, the Ice Girls have another major commitment: the holiday show they put on in the L.A. Live outdoor rink every December. This provides the girls with an opportunity to perform under a different premise than their usual game routine.
The team also develops a special holiday routine for the show.
Girls have the opportunity to participate in duets or solo performances that are geared more toward their figure skating background, which is often missing from the game atmosphere.
While skating experience is not required, most of the girls on the team have extensive figure skating backgrounds, and many have competed at the national and international level.
This year, the team added a competition aspect to the program as a USC recreational sport. The Ice Girls qualify as a fourth tier group in their first year as a rec sport and do not receive any funding, but hope to move up to tier three next year.
For their competition, the squad will be competing in the Pacific Coast regional section. There are normally three competitions the team would need to compete in to qualify for the next level of competition, but for monetary reasons the team will only be participating in one competition in late January.
“As Ice Girls has evolved, we have become more figure skating-based,” Bowman said. “But it’s not just about figure skating ability. It’s also about personality, tenaciousness and love for hockey.”
The Ice Girls bring together girls from all backgrounds and majors at USC to join together in something that they are all passionate about.
“It’s given me the opportunity to pursue something that I love to do at a university that I love,” Bowman said.
Not only do the girls enjoy the family they have discovered among themselves, they enjoy rooting the hockey team on for who they are both on and off the ice.
“We’re all pretty close. The hockey guys are all super outgoing and fun to be around so we try to do events with them,” Bowman said. “We do ice cream socials with them and broomball. It’s definitely a family.”
The Ice Girls will be in action for their holiday show on Sunday, Dec. 6, and will be cheering for the hockey team through the end of their season in late January.