The Freezing, Hungry Lives of NHL “Ice Girls”


A Kings ice girl cleans up during the June 7 Stanley Cup final. Louis Lopez/AP

Update (10/1/14): After eliminating the team, the Flyers announced at a game last night that the ice girls are returning. Auditions will take place this weekend, and the ice team will appear at the October 9 game.

Update (9/23/14): The Flyers have eliminated their ice girls team, according to Deadspin. At the Flyers’ first preseason game yesterday, 12 men in orange jackets cleaned the ice—and were booed by the fans.


With the Stanley Cup finals approaching—the Los Angeles Kings are now up 3-1 over the New York Rangers—I got to wondering how other NHL teams treat their ice girls, the scantily clad skaters who pump up the crowds and shovel the slush during breaks in the action.

Members of the Flyers’ crew at a March 24 faceoff with the Kings. Chris Szagola/AP

It turns out that the Rangers dismantled their ice crew back in 2007, the same year they settled a lawsuit (pdf) by a former ice girl who had accused team officials of sexual harassment. The Kings still have their crew, though, and four women who were part of it between 2006 and 2012 agreed to talk to me about their experiences. I also caught up with three former Flyers women, who cheered for the Philly team between 2009 and the present. Their impressions varied: One woman called it “the best experience of my life” while more than one likened some aspects of it to “torture.” But their stories shared several common elements:

If a player walked into a restaurant where ice girls were eating, “we had to put it in a to-go container.”

When a player walks in, it’s time to go: Both the Kings and the Flyers, like a number of other NHL teams, have adopted policies that strongly discourage relationships between ice girls and hockey players: There was to be no fraternization of any kind, the women told me. To prevent rumors from starting, the ice girls were instructed to make sure they weren’t in the same place as the players outside of work. But the burden of responsibility was placed on the women: If a Kings ice girl was at a restaurant or bar and a player walked in, she was expected to get up and leave, even in the middle of a meal. The rule was unwritten but corroborated by all of the women with whom I spoke. “If we were out in public and there was a player there,” one Kings crew member explained delicately, “you want to remove yourself from that situation.” Another put it more bluntly: “We’re at the bottom of the totem pole.”

The Dallas Stars’ ice crew cheers against the Anaheim Ducks. Manny Flores/AP

The policy interrupted meals on a regular basis. After games, the cheer team would often go to a restaurant across the street from a stadium. “There was always someone who was on alert, making sure the coast was clear,” recalled a former Kings ice girl. If a player walked into the restaurant, “we had to put it in a to-go container.” In a bar situation, she added, “We had to pay our tab and get the hell out of there.” The policy was especially inconvenient for women who lived in the same neighborhood as some of her team’s players. “Even if I wasn’t in uniform and I wasn’t clocked in,” another woman told me, “I’d still have to get out of that bar or restaurant or shopping center because I recognized a player across from me.”

“It was 20 degrees and we were in shorts, with two pairs of stockings” for more than eight hours.


The Flyers women agreed that they weren’t too cold out on the ice during regular games—they had to skate around for a few minutes in scant clothing, but they were full of adrenaline and could don a jacket when they left the ice. The bigger issue was “doing doors”—greeting fans as they entered the stadium. “When we’re standing at doors for an hour and it’s zero degrees and the doors keep opening,” said one woman, “that’s my biggest bone to pick.”

The Kings’ cheerleaders had balmier weather, but they described a similar, if unspoken, rule: If you’re on the ice or you’re performing or schmoozing in public, a former Kings’ crew member told me, “it was understood that you didn’t put your jacket on.” The rule applied regardless of weather conditions—including when the women stood outside the stadium to welcome fans. “One time, there were these dark black clouds,” one woman said, “and I asked to put a jacket on.” It was below 50 degrees out, but a more senior teammate insisted that it wasn’t cold, and told the women she couldn’t wear a jacket.

To eat at a charity event where food was served, “we’d have to go in a back corner where we couldn’t be seen.”

Scarfing food in the corner: During the Winter Classic, the Flyers ice team was not allowed to eat in public, despite the cold and the long hours. One squad member said she “had to sneak into a restaurant, get food, and hide in the back of somebody’s pickup truck” to eat it. Another ice girl befriended a woman who sold hot dogs and snuck her into the back room of her concession area so that she could eat.

The Kings women added that they were also prohibited from eating in uniform; the only place in the stadium they were allowed to eat was the locker room. If they were offered food at a corporate or charity event, “We’d have to go in a back corner,” one woman said, “where we couldn’t be seen.”


“There should be an ice-girl union to fight for our rights.”


Despite their complaints, several women told me there were perks that in some cases brought them back year after year. “It was cool to be part of something that fun and that big,” said one former Kings squad member. “When you’re in that community, you’re sort of like a mini-celebrity. It’s your 15 minutes of fame.” A former Flyers veteran said she had generally enjoyed her experience, but added, “There should be an ice-girl union to fight for our rights. The girls have never fought for them before.”

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