Inside Augsburg University’s hockey arena in Minneapolis, women ages 18 to 74 are playing in a summer league.
The leader on the ice is the matriarch, Sue Ring-Jarvi, who has been playing the game for more than 50 years.
“I love hockey more than any other sport,” Ring-Jarvi said.
Her passion is to bring all these women together who love hockey and don’t want to stop playing — something she’s been doing since 1974 at the University of Minnesota.
“I hung up signs at Cooke Hall and put an ad in the Daily, and we met, I had 30 women who wanted to play,” she said.
Ring-Jarvi started the first Gopher women’s hockey club team before a NCAA-sanctioned program existed.
“The university gave us ice at 5:45 to 8 in the morning a couple times a week, and we took it,” she said.
Since then, the Gopher women have won six NCAA championships.
“I’m really proud to be a part of the growth of girls hockey in Minnesota,” Ring-Jarvi said.
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Hockey keeps the 74-year-old active and healthy, along with dozens of other women, like 52-year-old Janal Petersen.
“I just came back from a MCL tear and like I have osteoporosis, so just to keep like having something to keep shooting for, to have to keep in shape, and it really helps to keep in shape,” Petersen said. “It motivates you, other people are counting on you, you signed up, all that.”
This summer league is also bringing families together. Heidi Osendorf and her two daughters, Trista and Leah, are all out on the ice together.
“Always a dream come true. I always wanted to play the sports with my kids, and I’m finally getting that opportunity with my girls,” said Heidi Osendorf.
Ring-Jarvi is inspiring all three of them to keep playing, and passing it onto the next generations.
“If she can do it, I can do it,” said Trista Osendorf.
“Oh, she teaches me a lot (laughs),” said Leah Osendorf.
Ring-Jarvi can relate, because it was her mom who first got her on the ice.
“My mom started when she was 47 and she played until she was 81, so there’s a pretty large time period where you can continue to play,” Ring-Jarvi said.
And she says she appreciates sharing the rink with the younger players, too.
“Not only are they keeping me young in movement, but they’re also keeping me young in activities, like my phone (laughs),” Ring-Jarvi said.
And she has no plans to stop skating anytime soon.
“If you have a passion and a love for something, look at what you can build?” she said.
Ring-Jarvi recently wrote a book called, “Can You Keep Up? Fifty Years of Organizing, Playing and Coaching Women’s Hockey.” It’s available online right now and at Strauss Skates in St. Paul, Hat Trick Hockey in Anoka and Westwood Sports in Apple Valley.
Every week, Marielle Mohs shares inspiring stories highlighting WoMN in Sports from the Twin Cities and beyond. Don’t miss that streaming every Friday night on CBS News Minnesota.
