Color of Hockey: McCoy was goalie for first Boston College women's team

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog for the past 10 years. Douglas joined NHL.com in March 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, as part of the NHL's celebration of Gender Equality Month, he profiles Doxie McCoy, a founding member of the first women's hockey team at Boston College.

Doxie McCoy was playing goal for Boston College's women's field hockey team when someone approached her with a surprising question.

"I was in the net and he came up to me and said, 'Do you want to play ice hockey?'" McCoy said. "I said, 'Really? I don't know how to skate.'"

The year was 1973. The question came from John "Snooks" Kelley, a U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer who coached Boston College's men's hockey team from 1932-42 and 1946-72.

Kelley's inquiry led McCoy to become a founding member of Boston College's women's ice hockey team in 1973. That inaugural club squad helped pave the way for Boston College's formidable women's NCAA Division I program that has made seven Frozen Four appearances, won five regular-season and three conference tournament titles and produced eight U.S. Olympians since 1994-95.

"I never really looked at myself as a pioneer, even though I was on the original team," McCoy said. "But looking back on it now, I'll accept it, that I was a pioneer."

BC's inaugural women's hockey team was formed by students a year after Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in educational programs or activities that receive federal assistance, came into law. The law celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Even with Title IX, BC's first women's team faced challenges, especially when it came to finding players. Some women had hockey experience, others didn't. Some knew how to skate, but only on figure skates.

Then there was McCoy, who grew up in Washington, D.C.. She said she never saw an ice hockey game before attending college. But that didn't deter Kelley from recruiting her, figuring her field hockey goaltending skills would translate to ice.

"It seemed kind of crazy, in the sense that, yeah, I was a Black girl out there -- I'm not sure whether I was the only Black girl on field hockey, but I know I was the only Black girl out there for ice hockey," said McCoy, who is the public information officer for the Office of the People's Counsel of the District of Columbia, an independent government agency. "But 'Snooks' asked me to play.

"He said they would teach me, and I ended up getting my own goaltending coach, they taught me how to skate and, as they say, the rest is history."

Reenie Baker-Sandsted, who co-founded the team, said McCoy turned into one of its better players.

"She was outstanding, she was really, really good," said Baker-Sandsted, who grew up playing pond hockey in North Lansing, New York. "None of the rest of team was all that great but she kept the puck out of the goal."

McCoy and the team learned that being a first isn't easy. Funding, equipment and other resources were hard to come by, despite Title IX's existence.

"I do remember they were scrounging around for uniforms and equipment," she said. "Back then, I don't think the women did a lot of body checking like the men did, but there was always a fear of people getting hurt because we did not have the right equipment.

"The main leaders of the team, I know they were fighting hard, and they came upon a lot of opposition in terms of trying to get funds and trying to get equipment, even though we were struggling in terms of people being safe on the ice."

McCoy beams when she talks about the success of Boston College's women's hockey program today. It became a varsity sport in 1994-95, first as a member of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. It later developed into a powerhouse in the Hockey East conference.

Eight players have gone from the Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, campus to represent the United States at the Winter Olympics and won a collective eight silver medals and five gold medals: Molly Schaus (2010, 2014), Kelli Stack (2010, 2014), Alex Carpenter (2014, 2022), Megan Keller (2018, 2022), Cayla Barnes (2018, 2022), Haley Skarupa (2018), Kali Flanagan (2018) and Emily Pfalzer Matheson (2018).

Blake Bolden, who captained BC's women's team in 2012-13, went on to become a pro scout and Growth and Inclusion specialist for the Los Angeles Kings after she was the first Black player in the National Women's Hockey League (now the Premier Hockey Federation) in 2015 and the first Black first-round draft pick in the Canadian Women's Hockey League in 2013.

She speaks about McCoy and the 1973 BC team with reverence.

"She broke barriers, that team broke barriers," Bolden said. "That team was a group of individuals that made it possible for women's hockey to be looked at seriously in the future and become one of the best college women's hockey programs in the United States."

McCoy hung up the goalie pads after graduating from BC, but she remains a hockey fan and occasionally attends Capitals games.

She said playing on that first team at BC reinforced a philosophy imparted by her parents: If you see something that interests you that others might see as unusual or different, go for it.

"Don't let anyone, whether you're the only African American in the room, don't be discouraged by that," she said. "With hockey, it was 'Go for it.' After that, my life has been kind of the same way -- don't be afraid to go for your dreams. And make sure you do well at it, or as well as you can."

Photos: Boston College Athletics, Doxie McCoy