The Bruins website has been updated with profiles for this year’s group of Ice Girls. Click here to check it out!
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A twirl as an ice girl When my editor asked me to try out to be a Boston Bruins Ice Girl, I gave it a cool reception. “It’ll be fun,” she said, “and you can get the inside scoop on being the ultimate B’s booster.” And thus, I found myself one day last week checking into Walter Brown Arena for my audition. I was Number 52, and headed to the locker room.
One look at the competition and it was clear — I’m nearly old enough to be their mother (a young mother, but still). I find a banker and a recent graduate from the University of Vermont in the mix. One of the friendliest faces belongs to Rachel Sibley, a special education aide who is painting over a tattoo on the side of her rib cage with concealer. “I’m a Revs Girl,” she said, hoping the promotional experience will give her an edge. There are 15 to 20 Ice Girls on the squad, and they have to commit to motivating fans at 30 of the team’s home games and 10 community appearances. This audition hopes to fill seven to 10 spots, I’m told. A current Ice Girl hands out the written test. I can easily name three Bruins players who have had their numbers retired: Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque and Cam Neely. I also know the length of a minor penalty. But my diagram of a hockey rink takes some misguided creative license, and I have no idea who the Bruins play for the upcoming season-opening game. Next up is the individual interview, which gives me a boost. I respond to the favorite player question with Andrew Ference, and when they ask whom I would call first to tell I got the Ice Girl job, I answer honestly. “My kids. My 12-year-old is a huge Bruins fan.”
Then it’s rink time. Although I have figure-skated for years, this is my first time in hockey skates and the missing toe pick and shorter blade are painfully tricky to navigate.
I whiff within a minute of getting on the ice. I’m embarrassed, and freezing in a tank top. Thirty minutes of drills — round the boards, wave and cheer, then skate to each line, pick up the puck and wave to imaginary fans — are draining. “You looked pretty comfortable out there,” says Brandon Anthony, who manages the Ice Girls for the Bruins. I am still thawing out when Anthony brings the entire group of 50 girls together to make his first cut. In a room full of bra tops and Victoria’s Secret Pink shorts, I feel a bit self-conscious in my tank, which actually covers my midriff. Then he reads “52.” Goal! Though thrilled to make the first cut, this reporter is leaving the Ice Girl experience to her talented fellow auditioners. Check out photo gallery here
Boston Bruins: Of 625 applicants, less than 30 girls now compete to make the 2012-13 squad.
Applications are available here and are due by Friday, August 17, at 5:00 p.m. Auditions for the girls selected will take place Thursday, August 30 at the TD Garden. Below is a list of frequently asked questions: Is being a Boston Bruins Ice Girl a full-time job? Do I need to have skating or dancing experience to audition? Is there an age requirement? What do the judges look for? How can I apply? Completed Boston Bruins Ice Girl Application You can submit your application in two ways… Print and mail application with two non-returnable photos of yourself to: Boston Bruins Fill out the online application at BostonBruins.com When and where are the Auditions? *(Invite Only)* Date: Thursday, August 30 Qualified applicants will be contacted directly if invited to auditions. This week, Sports Illustrated has photos from just about every team that has Ice Girls: the Ducks, Bruins, Flames, Storm, Blackhawks, Bluejackets, Stars, Oilers, Kings, Panthers, Predators, Islanders, Flyers, Penguins, and Lightning. Click here to go there now.
Boston Bruins: BOSTON, MA – The “Bruins Beard-A-Thon” is underway and fans are invited to grow their own playoff beards for the duration of the team’s 2012 Stanley Cup playoff run. The “Bruins Beard-A-Thon” gives Bruins fans the opportunity to show their support for the team and raise money for the Boston Bruins Foundation. The hockey playoff beard is an age-old tradition for players participating in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Fans can join in on the tradition by “growing one for the team” and inviting family, friends and business associates to make a pledge towards their playoff beards. Fans can create their “Bruins Beard-A-Thon” profile by uploading their photo at www.beardathon.com/bruins. Participants can choose to grow their own beard and update their growth throughout the playoffs or they can grow their beard virtually by choosing the ‘Build-A-Beard’ option, giving women and children an opportunity to get h Beard growers may pledge themselves by making a donation and their friends and family can also support their efforts at anytime by making a one-time pledge (minimum $10). Throughout the playoffs, participants who raise the most money will have the opportunity to win playoff tickets and a grand prize will be awarded to the overall top fundraiser. The “Bruins Beard-A-Thon” has raised $160,000 to date and was the NHL’s top raising team during the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs will mark the fourth year of the Beard-A-Thon program. Since its inception, more than $1,000,000 has been raised for individual team charities from over 16,000 participants league-wide.
SOMERSWORTH — Two members of the Boston Bruins Ice Girls with their furry friend and mascot, Blades, paid a visit to Somersworth Middle School Wednesday morning to see some of the final projects completed by the students during their temporary enrollment in I.C.E. School. I.C.E. School is a collection of lesson plans developed by Bruins staff to help students learn required subjects with a twist of hockey. The lesson plans, available online, are created to meet state education standards for grades pre-kindergarten to eighth grade in the subjects of French, geography, math, English, language, arts and science. For the past several weeks, middle school students completed I.C.E. lessons plans in math and reading comprehension, among other subjects. On Wednesday morning, some of the students got to present their hard work to Rory Patten and Kelly Thomson, two of the current Bruins Ice Girls, as well as Blades at a schoolwide assembly. First, a group of sixth-graders presented Bruin’s ice rinks constructed out of paper. Participating students first took the actual size of the Bruin’s ice rank in feet and converted it to inches. Then, the students constructed miniature paper ice rinks, complete with the Bruins colored logo in the middle. Along with the ice rinks, another group of sixth-graders presented handwritten Hock-us to their classmates. Hock-us, similar to Haikus, are several line poems where a certain number of syllables is required of each line. Although the structure of the poems were set, the subjects of the creations were up to the students — as long as they related to hockey, of course. Some of the chosen subjects included overtime and the excitement of the game itself. But, these weren’t the only activities completed by the students. According to Kathy Patten, mother of Ice Girl Rory and reading comprehension teacher at SMS, participating students did everything from completing research on every Bruins player to finding out a little more about the visiting Ice Girls. Students even wrote down their reading goal for the year on a paper shaped hockey puck before placing it on one of the school’s walls in the shape of the Boston Bruin’s logo. “It was very successful and the kids loved it,” said Patten. Patten began looking into bringing the Ice Girls to SMS after her daughter became a member of the group four years ago. Initially, Patten just wanted to bring members of the Ice Girls to the school to promote reading and initiate literacy activities between the visitors and students. However, after she began researching the Bruins community page, she found out about I.C.E. school lessons and thought it was the perfect scenario for SMS to become involved in. Hosting the Ice Girls was just another added plus to the assembly. “I call them the ambassadors to the Bruins,” said Patten. ‘They’re not cheerleaders, which is generally what comes to mind. They’re great role models and accomplished young women.” At the end of the assembly, every SMS student received a special reward for the completion of their projects: an authentic, real-life Bruins hockey puck. “COOL,” the crowd of SMS students bellowed after the announcement. The Ice Girls pages have been updated on BostonBruins.com. Click here to learn more about the crew!
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By Amanda Beland