“Pure terror — but also exciting!”

That’s how Jocelyn Gunia of Bethel Park described the first time a shot came whizzing directly at her in goal while she was playing dek hockey.

Gunia, 30, spent most of the past decade as a casual hockey fan, watching alongside her husband.

These days, she drives an hour every Friday night to play as the goalie and team captain for “Netstix & Chill,” one of 10 teams in the Pittsburgh Women’s Ball Hockey League. It is one of the only all-women’s ball hockey leagues in the region.

Jennifer Free, 38, of Murrysville grew up watching the Penguins and is a “hockey mom” to two young boys who play at the Murrysville SportZone and in Penn Hills.

“I’ve always been really involved with my sons, and I thought a women’s league might be something fun for all of us,” Free said.

Last year, she asked a neighborhood friend if they could find 20 women to play.

“I was looking for 20, and the first season I found 85 who came out to play,” Free said. “It got bigger than I realized and told me that there were more women out there maybe quietly hoping that something like this would come around.”

League participants range in age from 15 to 58. A draft league and a teams league each play a roughly two-month season at the SportZone on William Penn Highway, with playoffs and a championship.

The league kicked off in September, just as more public activities in the region were starting to take place following heavier pandemic lockdowns in the spring and summer.

“I actually feel like that’s part of why it started taking off,” Free said.

The league kicked off its third season on Friday, and this year there are 150 participants. Gunia, who was among the first group to join, said being cooped up during the early stages of the pandemic had her ready to move.

“It was something I didn’t know I needed, and I haven’t looked back,” she said. “For me, I’ve never had a lot of female friendships, and it’s such a diverse group of women. I have something on Friday nights to look forward to that keeps me athletic, helps me be able to keep up with my kids — I haven’t found any negatives. That hour’s drive? I’ll take it.”

Gunia isn’t the only one: League members come from as far away as Aliquippa and Nemacolin.

Free also connected with the Steel City Bombers, a women’s ball hockey travel team with members who have joined the league, helped players train and conducted skills sessions.

An important consideration for Free was an open atmosphere.

“The (Murrysville SportZone) has been really supportive, and they really want to help us build this,” she said. “Since the majority of women haven’t played before, it’s really important to make it an inviting place.”

Free said she enjoys not just the camaraderie but the variety of other women she’s met through the league.

“It’s expanded to women who are just interested in athletics, women who played sports in high school, and women like me who never played organized sports in their life,” she said. “Why not, at 38 (years old)?”

For more about the league, search “Pittsburgh Women’s Ball Hockey League” on Facebook, or email WHL@murrysvillesportzone.com.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story listed the Pittsburgh Women’s Ball Hockey League as the only all-women’s league in the region. There is a second league which plays at the Olympic Swim & Health Club in Penn Hills.

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