ITHACA, N.Y. (WENY) - Sunday afternoon, the History Center in Tompkins County opened their display "We Broke the Ice": Women's and Girls Ice Hockey at the History Center" put together by Mary Granger. The display was a part of the "Sporting Chance" exhibit.

A mother, daughter duo spoke at the gallery, telling their own personal stories from playing hockey in Ithaca. 

Cornell Hall of Famer, Susan "Coz" Cosentini, is the only Cornellian to have participated in two varsity women's sports in one season; swimming and ice hockey. Coz was also one of the founding players of the Tompkins Girls Hockey Association (TGHA). 

Her daughter, Jamie Jensen has also made history in the Southern Tier by being one of the first girls to be on the Ithaca High School Varsity Ice Hockey team. While on the team, Jensen helped lead the Little Red to multiple state championships.

"The community at TGHA, as well as being able to play, and a lot of us did play with the boys, but we all had this community of women and young girls that supported each other", said Jensen.

Hockey is an expensive sport to play; many families struggling to afford the costs. With the help of the TGHA board and other generous families, many girls dreams of playing ice hockey in Ithaca became a reality.

Jensen was born into a hockey family, at first rebelling against them, refusing to play the game. But after participating in a "Fun Night" which was held at Cass Park in Ithaca and put on by Megan Shull, Jensen was finally convinced to play ice hockey when she was 10 years old. 

Coz's journey playing the sport had a few more road blocks. Even though Title IX went into effect in 1972, Coz said she and the team did not reap the benefits while they were playing for Cornell.

"Our locker rooms at Cornell were the bathrooms", said Coz. "We had a bit of an area but it was one of those horrible steel case chairs. We used to have to store our equipment under stairs, it was always covered with mold but we didn't care, we put in on anyway. We just wanted to play!"

Both Jensen and Coz spoke about all of the aspects of playing ice hockey and how it can teach girls comradery, teamwork and resilience; things they say you can't always learn from academia. 

"I think there's a lot of communities that don't have what we have, and still don't have what we have. So I think that it's important to showcase what we did, what people before me did, my mother, Mary Granger, who organized this kiosk, that to create a venue for us to play and to really enjoy a sport that's really male dominated."

Women's ice hockey in the United States still has a long way to go. The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) just had their inaugural season in January of 2024. But with the expansion of the sport across the country, young girls in towns and cities like Ithaca can have the resources to play ice hockey one day.