Anchorage girls high school hockey receives $100K grant and new gear from Dick’s Sporting Goods

A decade ago, the Anchorage School District dropped girls high school hockey as a sanctioned and funded sport. The Scotty Gomez Foundation stepped in and with a generous $200,000 donation from the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation, the league was able to have its fees covered for two years.

Since then, the Anchorage Hockey Association has been running the program for the past seven years, struggling to keep it afloat to the point where coaches have opted to forfeit their stipends just to save costs.

Over the summer, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation reached out about doing a follow-up story on the league. When they found out it was facing some of the same financial hardships, the company surprised the program by making another generous donation to help keep it alive in the form of a grant for $100,000.

“It’s exciting to know that the program is going to be around for a few more years,” Anchorage Girls High School Hockey program director Brian Gross said. “Every year we’ve wondered ‘Is this the last year? Will we be back next?’ just because it’s been so hard financially to keep the program alive.”

The high school league expanded to include a pair of teams in the Mat-Su and in 2023 the state tournament expanded to include seven teams.

“We’re super excited to reconnect with the Anchorage Girls Hockey Program and see how much they’ve grown over the last 10 years,” Dick’s Sporting Goods Director of Sports Matter and Community Relations Kristen Garmey said in a statement. “Since 2014, The DICK’S Foundation has kept over 2 million kids in the game across 42 different sports. Supporting programs like the Anchorage Girls Hockey Program is so important as it keeps the life-changing power of sports alive in communities, and now, it means these athletes can stay on the ice for years to come. As a huge advocate for women’s sports and girls’ hockey, it’s amazing to see their success!”

A group of players gathered at the Dempsey Anderson Ice Arena and were presented with the great news by a pair of former Anchorage prep hockey players who were the beneficiaries of the first grant 10 years ago, Gabi Gibson and Amber Steinhilpert. Representatives from Dick’s were at the arena to document the moment with a video.

“I thought (Dick’s was) just interviewing them so I had no idea that (Gibson and Steinhilpert) would be back in town for this story,” Gross said. “They were surprised when the two former players were out there on the ice already.”

Gross said it has been a welcomed sight the continued growth of girls prep hockey be backed up with funding. While there has always been interest outside of Anchorage, there are now multiple Mat-Su teams and a team from the Kenai Peninsula. Gross shared that the hockey community in Kodiak has expressed interest in forming a team.

“It’s good to see the league growing, it’s good to see more girls playing and it’s good to know that there is a little more financial backing behind us,” he said. “We’re going to try to spread that money out over several years instead of using it all up right away and try to keep this thing going as long as we can.”

The typical high school girls hockey season is funded a third of the way by registration fees, another third from sponsorship and a third from the player fundraising with a raffle but even those methods don’t always completely cover the entire annual cost.

“The sponsorships are difficult to attain and even the fundraising gets challenging trying to raise a third of the fees,” Gross said. “We haven’t made our numbers every year and the Anchorage Hockey Association has had to cover those losses.”

He is especially happy for the underclassmen to have reassurance that they’ll be able to have junior and senior seasons.

“A lot of the girls don’t know if it’s going to be around next year, so there’s always some anxiety and some people don’t play because they don’t know if it’s going to be around again,” Gross said. “It helps with the continuity. Coaches know that it’s going to be around, players know it’s going to be around and sponsors know that it’s going to be around. It’s nice to be a part of something that you know is going to last.”

They hope to continue to keep the cost to participate in the high school season low so more kids that can’t afford to be on travel teams can still enjoy the sport.

“It’s $275 to play for the season for high school hockey versus the club teams which are in the thousands,” Gross said. “I hope we can get some more sponsors and money because it certainly costs a lot more per season than the grant will cover.”