The screaming fans, the buzzers, the fights, the speed, the ice.  Ice hockey is a difficult sport to play for anybody.  It is even more difficult being the only girl on an all-boys team, and 16-year-old junior Jenny Janowski knows what it’s like. Janowski has been on the team for years and loves it even with the positives and negatives.

“I started when I was 6, quit when I was 15 and have just been on stick and puck, (non-competitive hockey for whenever you have free time),” Janowski said.  “So I guess I’ve been playing for 10 years.”

Janowski’s mother is the one who persuaded her to be on an ice hockey team.  Janowski talks about when she goes on the ice she becomes a different person — more serious, more aggressive.

“I grew up watching the Detroit Red Wings games and had such a passion for it,” Janowski said.  “I look up to Sergei Federov and Alexander Ovetchkin.  When I was in middle school I also began to love the Capitals.  I love the people, the sport, and the way of life for hockey.”

Her friends and family go to all of her games, wear the shirts and scream their heads off.

“I love that about my friends and family.  My mom doesn’t miss a game, my teammates always try, my sister cheers at the games, and my father brags about his little ’tough’ daughter,” Janowski said. “And the post-game Chipotle doesn’t hurt either.”

Being the only girl on the team the boys see her as one of the guys and she sees them as one of her brothers.  No matter how much they butt heads, they love each other in the end.

“Being the only girl is hard, stressful, but less drama.”  Janowski said.  “If you aren’t motivated, all you’ll be is a benchwarmer- but hey- it is on ice isn’t it?  Some people hesitate to hit me, but why should I let up?”

Janowski said she would rather be on a boys team than a girls team.  Janowski said girls are too competitive and hurtful, while boys leave it at the rink.

“Girls are too fragile, and with all of the girls crying over broken nails nothing would ever get done,”  Janowski said.

“I would hate being on a girls team; too sissy,”  Janowski said.  “From [lacrosse], I know when girls get their own team pads and rules change; it’s hardly even the same sport.”

Janowski said she sometimes is and sometimes isn’t treated differently than other team members.  When Janowski is in a game, they’ll treat her like a guy.  When she goes through a big breakup or a bad injury, she’s as fragile as a glass bowl.

“I’m a boy [to them], [but if I’m] emotionally or physically hurt? I’m like their baby sister,” Janowski said.  “Being one of the guys is so much easier; pity is terrible.”

Janowski’s favorite thing about being on the team is that they are all like family.  Janowski made an analogy explaining a cake: You use sugar, flour, eggs, milk, oil; no one’s going to compliment the eggs you used.  It’s the cake that matters.

“The love and family, they are so my family,” Janowski said. “No one’s a hero, we’re a team and I love all of them — sometimes.”

Janowski said hockey fights are real, but the motives aren’t.  In professional hockey games, the ref will tell them to fight or not depending on if the crowd is losing excitement — it’s almost a business.

“Getting in a fight is a given,” Janowski said. “You can’t really do much damage though, with the pads and all.”

For those of you that might not know what being benched means, it is when one fouls so bad, they sit out for the whole game.  It’s not technical, just opinion.

“I was benched for slamming another kid in the goal in an attempt to get the puck,” Janowski said. “He lost a tooth, I lost a game.”

Some of the scariest things about hockey is learning how to skate and worrying about being skated over.

“I fell and someone almost skated over my hand, and teaching you how to skate, that was scary too,” Janowski said.

Someone hooked on her leg at a game, and she fell face first on the ice, who hooked her skated be her to get the puck.

“Hockey gets scary; but without violence, it’s just figure skating,” she said.

There aren’t many teams that Janowski is afraid to play but the Lake Erie Monsters are one of those teams.  The Monsters are a local Cincinnati team that she stopped by to see when she visited Michigan with family.

“I watched them this summer and it just amazes me how great they are,”  Janowski said.  “I admire their motivation, that’s so hard to find in the south.”

It is quite difficult to get hurt in junior ice hockey. With the rules, padding, and just sportsmanship, junior hockey is really nothing to fear.

“Junior hockey is actually extremely safe- believe it or not,” Janowski said.  “The only person who can really hurt or harm you is yourself, being stupid.”

Two years ago Janowski’s team won the top shelf shootout.  When they advanced to the finals, they headed up to Dallas for a Memorial Day weekend game.  They were tied with the Charlotte Bulldogs 3-3 until one of her members scored during a double overtime.

“We had all never been so close, and I was never more proud to be on my team,” Janowski said.