North Carolina Trailblazers
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The North Carolina Trailblazers is a women's recreational ice hockey association founded in April 1995 in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is one of the oldest existing women's hockey programs in the Southeastern United States.
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[edit] Origins
The Trailblazers were founded by Lise Barley-Maloney and a group of women and girls who held their first practices in Dorton Arena on the N.C. State Fairgrounds.
By the 2000-01 season, the organization had expanded to the point of fielding two full teams. Since then, it has fielded at least two and sometimes three teams each season ranging in skill level from B to D/open (under USA Hockey classifications). It has a C travel and D/open teams for the 2006-07 season.
[edit] Titles
The Trailblazers' B team won the USA Hockey Southeast Regional title in the 2002-03 season.
[edit] Members
Notable current and past players include Lise Barley-Maloney, current C team head coach and past member of the Carolinas Amateur Hockey Association Board (the regional USA Hockey affiliate); Julia Zeigler, 1999 national State Games female athlete of the year; Emily Cole, wife of NHL player Erik Cole; Sherene Halko, wife of former NHL player Steve Halko; and Kelly Kirwin, member of the Carolina Hurricanes' staff whose name is on the Stanley Cup as a part of that organization during its 2005-06 championship season.
