CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. – The Olympic grit and determination of Team USA women’s hockey earned each player a gold medal; Now, as a result, girl and women hockey players around Western New York are celebrating how far the sport has come.
Girls hockey wasn't always widely available in Buffalo.
WNHL Buffalo Beaut Jacquie Greco says it was only eights year ago when she played for one of the only girls high school hockey teams at Nichols.
"Now, all the public school programs are having girls’ teams, whether they're combined with Orchard Park or Hamburg...they're combined teams, but still, it's definitely growing and you're definitely seeing that,” Greco said.
At nearly 3:00 a.m. ET Thursday morning, Greco got to see former teammate Emily Pfalzer from both high school and the WNHL — win gold.
"To be able to play alongside her, train alongside her and actually see her fulfill her life-long dream is really exciting,” Greco said.
That gold medal win is inspiring to 7-year-old Olivia Delisle, too.
"It was fun to see them win it,” Olivia said.
She currently plays for the Regals' 2010 mite minor team and is the only girl on her team, but if she keeps up with it, she could travel with the all-girls 16U Tier 1 Regals.
Jersey Phillips, 15 and a forward on that team, believes USA's win is a step toward making women's hockey more mainstream.
"You could see everybody on social media, everybody's blowing up their phones talking about Team USA. I know Steph Curry was saying some things, so it was pretty cool,” Phillips said.
The win reminds 16-year-old Mia Wendel to keep on competing. She stayed up until 3:00 a.m. to see the epic conclusion.
"As soon as they scored at the end in the sixth round, I just got goosebumps, and I was so excited, and hopefully I can be there someday,” Wendel said. “That's my all-time dream.”
One of their coaches, Matthew Miller, says a high profile game like Wednesday night’s puts women’s hockey in the spotlight.
“Some little girl sees, ‘Hey I can be on TV.’ I think that representation, seeing your future self on tv, it's huge for the girls,” Miller said.
Maybe that little girl is Olivia, but for now, she's focusing on what matters.
"It's mostly just having fun and playing your hardest,” she said.