COEUR d’ALENE — Playing on the Coeur d’Alene Lady Thunder, Ailey George is the first girl to earn a varsity letter in hockey attending Gonzaga Preparatory School. 

While her team is unaffiliated with Gonzaga Prep, she is playing at a high enough standard for the school to award her a letter.

As a junior, George is a player in the Frontier Girls Hockey League and has goals of playing hockey in college and even trying out for the women’s Olympic hockey team someday. 

As a board member of the Inland Northwest Girls Hockey Foundation, Mike Baker said George frequently comes to the drop-in skates with the adults and is one of many talented local young women who are finally able to grow their skills in a concentrated way as the league has expanded with more members. 

“It's a pretty big deal and we were hoping we could honor that,” Baker said. “She's just one of those really cool souls and we’re just excited to see her thrive and continue in the sport.” 

The league was created with the intention to give girls the chance to be taken seriously as athletes. Playing defense for the Lady Thunder, George has now competed in tournaments on the East Coast, Midwest and in Canada.   

George said it was exciting to be the first girl to letter in her favorite sport at her school. 

“It definitely means a lot that people supported me through this and helped build a place where I can help grow as a sport,” George said.

In the years prior to the girls league being formed, she would often be annoyed by teasing and not being taken seriously by her male peers. Now playing on an all-female team in a girls league, she can just concentrate on her playing and hone her defensive skills. 

“I thought I’d just have to play boys to be able to play higher-level hockey, so it’s cool to have girls we can play against in a more structured league with people who really care about us and the sport,” George said. 

Her father, Chris George, said her travel team hasn't lost a tournament yet this season. 

Ailey noted the mentorship from women in the sport has been creating inspiring role models for her and her fellow players. 

“It's really helped me grow as a person for the sport,” she noted. 

Watching girls drop out of the sport due to a lack of support as they got older was an obstacle Baker and other board members in the foundation wanted to eliminate when the girls league was formed. 

“Now, with them having a league of their own and the professional women's league that’s out there, it’s really cool to see these role models of girls in professional sports just be amazing,” Baker said. 

Ailey said she hopes the progress the league has made in the last few years will continue to expand interest among girls in achieving all the sport has to offer. 

“It'll make it so much easier for the younger girls coming up to have a smoother road to playing higher-level hockey,” she said. 

    The Coeur d'Alene Lady Thunder hockey team poses after a 2023 MLK Winter Classic win in their division in Boston. Front: Kylie Jaksha (goalie); second row from left: Lucy Spiess, Carlyn Butterfield, Baylee Carpenter, Danika Johnson and Charlie Groff; back row: Norah Adoretti, Ailey George, Elsa Jehle, Mickayla O'Hara, Brooklyn Gentz, Cordelia Perkins and Logan Greene.