Mouse Eradicated by Girl Hockey Player
by Kevin Schmaltz

Bolingbrook (Rocket Ice Arena) 1/30/05: In the middle of the 2nd period of a girls hockey game between the Joliet Jaguars 10 & Under Girls and the Indianapolis Stars 12 & Under Girls teams, a mouse made an appearance on the home players bench.

While play continued on the ice, the coaches (both adult males) both noticed the presence of the mouse, but said nothing to the players on the bench. After a short time, the mouse was noticed by players, causing the home bench of the Jaguars to erupt with the sound of several little girls (in full hockey gear and carrying sticks) screaming in fear and jumping out of the mouse’s way. 

While the girls on the bench were doing the Texas Two-Step to avoid the mouse, both coaches and tried to shoo the mouse back out the way it came onto the bench, which is open to the side and accessible by walking around the boards of the rink. Play on the ice continued. The coaches were able to get the mouse to change directions and try to head back out of the bench area. 

Unfortunately, one of the panicked little Joliet players, in the middle of her Texas Two-Step dance to avoid the mouse, accidentally stepped on the rodent as it tried to exit the bench area. The mouse’s life was extinguished at that point, crushed underneath the hockey skate blade of a traumatized little 9-year-old girl. Thankfully, there was no blood.

The coaches were able to remove the now-expired mouse from the bench at the next stoppage of play. The game went on. The Joliet girls recovered from their trauma and earned a 1-1 tie with Indy.

The little girl who unintentionally terminated the mouse has seen the mouse in her dreams the last couple of nights. “Mom, I can't sleep, that mouse keeps getting in every dream. I think about baseball and I accidentally hit the ball into the mouse. I try saying the alphabet but the mouse just runs between the letters!" Although she has been mildly traumatized, she is expected to recover fully.

The coaches, who have both played hockey and coached boys teams, noted that if this incident would have happened on the bench of a Boys 10 & Under team, the mouse would have been instantly used as a puck and shot out of the bench by the little boys. Yet another difference between boys & girls, even in the rough & tough world of ice hockey.

1/30/05