Twelve-year-old Emerie “Emmie” Jones from Littleton is making history on the ice rink. As a hockey player for three years, she’s now the first Black female lead player on the Littleton Hawks 12U boys’ team.
Emmie watched her big brother play hockey for years; she was always the little sister who was dragged around to watch his games and tournaments. The games were uninteresting until one day she noticed one of the players was a girl.
“I remember one day specifically, I actually sat down and watched the game. It was the first time I noticed a girl on the ice,” Emmie said. “I had never really considered it, never thought that playing hockey was truly an option. But from that day forward I thought, ‘If she can do it why couldn’t I?’”
She had previous experience with figure skating but wasn’t initially drawn to it because the sport felt too repetitive to her. But Emmie said hockey hooked her in.
“Hockey spoke to me, maybe because of my ADHD. It’s fast-paced, it’s physical, and there are a lot of components to being a good hockey player. I quickly realized that I was yearning for quicker play, more physicality. I ended up trying out for both girls’ and boys’ teams, and I found my place with the boys.”
Emmie first joined an all-girls hockey organization, the Colorado 14ers, which is under the Littleton Hockey Association. The organization has professional female coaching on every team and that resonated with Emmie.
“I loved the idea of this girl-forward organization, focusing on empowerment, role models, and mentorship,” Emmie said.
But it wasn’t long before Emmie craved an even faster-paced game. After playing on the Colorado 14ers for several seasons, this past year she also tried out for the Littleton Hawks. Since she joined the boys’ team, she’s been awarded the honor of assistant captain. Emmie’s family is very supportive of her hockey career and is proud of the fact she’s making waves as a Black girl in a white, male-dominated sport.
“I’m super proud,” said Emmie’s mom Melissa Jones. “I never thought that she would really be interested in playing. But for us, I think that we’re always trying to encourage women in men’s spaces. Not only that, but minorities in these spaces, because it’s a white privilege sport.”
Kim Davis, executive vice president of the NHL, said in an interview with the Associated Press in 2022 that 54 active players are Arab, Asian, Black, Latino or Indigenous. That’s only roughly 7% of the entire league.
“To have a girl who is also a minority out there, she’s leading and she’s one of the top defenders on the boys’ team. She’s just competitive in all aspects of the game mentally and physically. We’re super proud,” Melissa said.
There has been a call for more diversity within the NHL, but the changes start at the local level.
“You can’t listen to the kind of people that say you shouldn’t be there,” Emmie said. “There’s always a reason that you are where you are. If you shouldn’t be there, you wouldn’t be there. You deserve to be in these spaces and you are no different than anybody else and don’t let anyone tell you differently.”
At the Littleton Hawks’ games, parents of other players cheer Emmie on as one big supportive family. She is a fast skater and a team player, stopping goals and saving the puck from the opposing team. Emmie shows the boys a girl can be equally skilled and maybe even more powerful. In the future, she hopes she can play at higher levels and has a goal of playing in the recently announced girls’ high school hockey organization.
“My long-term goal is to come back and coach,” Emmie said. “I would love to be able to influence the next generation of strong girls. Girls are competitive and capable and I want to be here watching and cheering them on even if it’s just on the bench.”