Clair DeGeorge of Anchorage, who is a forward with the PWHL Toronto Sceptres, held her first hockey camp at the Avis Alaska Sports Complex on Tuesday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Clair DeGeorge has been a trailblazer and prominent representative for Alaska girls hockey for over a decade.

The 26-year-old forward for the Toronto Sceptres of the Professional Women’s Hockey League has won a championship at every level, from high school to college and in the pros as a member of the inaugural Walter Cup-winning team back in 2023 with the Minnesota Frost.

Last summer, DeGeorge spoke at a camp in Anchorage, where she was born and raised. Even though the league she plays in is expanding and heading into its third season, many of the young girls she addressed didn’t know what the PWHL was and had many questions for her.

That trip inspired her to partner with Strong Girls United to put together the inaugural Clair DeGeorge Youth Hockey Camp. It runs through Thursday at the Avis Alaska Sports Complex on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage and features campers ranging from 8 to 16 years old.

Joining her in this venture were six additional PWHL players, including former teammates from her time in Minnesota and even before.

Clair DeGeorge, a forward with the PWHL Toronto Sceptres, held her first hockey camp at the Avis Alaska Sports Complex on Tuesday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

DeGeorge believed that bringing up pro players would give campers a glimpse of what their potential futures could include, reaching similar heights in the sport.

“I feel like it gives girls, in general, more confidence to see that there’s girls who can make it as far as they did,” Team Alaska 16U member Zoey Brady said.

DeGeorge has worked with Strong Girls United since she was in college at both Bemidji State and Ohio State. The organization’s objective is to empower girls and women to be “strong, confident, and resilient through sports, mentorship, and mental health programming,” according to its website.

Growing up, DeGeorge didn’t have an abundance of female role models to look up to in the sport and was convinced that she could make it all the way playing against the boys. To be able to provide young girls in Alaska, especially, with an obtainable goal to strive for is one of the most rewarding parts of the job and is a big reason she was inspired to give back in a tangible way.

“Being able to see kids’ faces light up when they get to see women that are doing the things that they watch on TV because usually it’s the men,” DeGeorge said. “I didn’t have anyone here to do that … Being able to show the little girls that there are women that can do it is pretty cool.”

Team Alaska 14U member Chloe Hayner has looked up to DeGeorge for a while and has two younger sisters coming up through the youth pipeline with similar dreams of reaching the pinnacle of the sport.

“I was really excited to meet Clair because she’s really amazing at hockey,” Hayner said. “I was (also) really excited because I heard a bunch of (the players) were from Ohio State, and that’s the college that I want to go to, so it was cool to meet them.”

Clair DeGeorge holds a hockey camp in Anchoreage on Tuesday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

The turnout was even greater than organizers anticipated, with 135-145 attendees. They had initially budgeted for 100 participants before opening up registration to more kids.

“I was shocked at first,” DeGeorge said. “We got more ice so that we could get those off the waitlist into camp. It’s cool to see that there are enough girls to even have a full team up here now.”

When DeGeorge was coming up, it was hard to form one full girls team, let alone several, and she finds it heartening to see the progress and growth of girls hockey in Alaska over the past decade and a half.

Impressions of the Alaska from a first-time visitor

It didn’t take much to persuade her fellow pro players to make the trek up to the 49th state as many of them are multi-time visitors.

“Being up in Alaska does not take much convincing,” DeGeorge said. “They’re also my close friends who I have grown up with and are amazing. They have meant a lot to me and I know how they are able to grow the game themselves, so bringing them up, I knew the young girls would get a lot out of it.”

The one pro player who made her maiden voyage to Alaska this year is goalie Nicole Hensley, who hoisted the Walter Cup trophy with DeGeorge back in 2023.

The two first met in the USA hockey program, going to camps and playing on the same teams.

“I’ve known Clair for a long time and was super excited when she invited me to come out here and help the goalies,” Hensley said.

After hearing about how much fun some of her teammates had when they traveled to Alaska previously, she was further motivated to see for herself.

“I’ve always wanted to come to Alaska and this seemed like a pretty good way to do it,” Hensley said.

Nicole Hensley, goalie for the Minnesota Frost of the PWHL, coached during a hockey camp at the Avis Alaska Sports Complex on Tuesday. (Bill Roth / ADN)

Being from Lakewood, Colorado, she is accustomed to seeing mountains, but since it’s a landlocked state, seeing them so close to the oceans was “kind of crazy” to her at first. The group has been on two hikes so far between camp days, and she has enjoyed taking in the scenery.

“It’s been cool to help these girls out here but at the same time, get to adventure around and see what makes Alaska so great,” Hensley said.

Importance of continued growth in the PWHL

Through her experience in the PWHL, DeGeorge has experienced multiple cultures and visited different countries, and the common threads between each were communities with a deep love for hockey.

“In Canada, hockey is huge out there, so everywhere you go, they show their support, have a lot of energy everywhere,” she said. “Minnesota is a big hockey state, so being there, they’ve been extremely supportive.”

Montreal’s Clair DeGeorge, of Anchorage, skates with the puck in a game against Ottawa in 2024. (Photo by Marty Summa via PWHL)

It’s very “rewarding” when she and her fellow competitors in the league get recognized in public, even if it’s just in passing at an airport, because it means that word of the league is getting around and more eyes are on them.

The PWHL’s expansion has reached the West Coast with franchises in Seattle and Vancouver, which DeGeorge thinks will drum up even more interest and support from Alaska because of regional loyalties to the area.

“A lot of them support the Seattle Kraken, so now they can support Seattle and Vancouver and they can kind of be their home teams,” she said. “Not only is it good for the league to have that expansion and exposure, but it just goes to show how fast the girls game is growing, the talent that the women have and the potential of the league.”

The boom in female hockey isn’t isolated to Alaska. Nationwide, girls programs are on the rise.

“I think the ability to bring seven athletes out here that play professionally, and give these girls something to look up to and aspire to, is only going to help grow the game in Alaska as well as the rest of the country,” Hensley said.