The Winter Olympic Games kick off on February 9, but you can get into the ice hockey spirit early with a new graphic novel from Ominous Press, KICKING ICE, about a few ice hockey girls breaking the mold. The book is written by Stephanie Phillips, drawn by Lee Moder, and colored by Marissa Louise.
Phillips launched a Kickstarter Thursday morning to fund the graphic novel.
Kicking Ice tells the story of two young female hockey players, Bella and Skye, who dream of playing professional hockey in the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL). Bella and Skye are the only girls on their co-ed hockey team and learn to overcome bullying from some of their male opponents. In particular, a rival player named Derek likes to tease Bella and Skye by telling them that girls will never be as good at hockey as boys. Of course, Bella and Skye prove that kicking ice isn’t just for boys.
The NWHL, established in 2015, is an American women’s professional ice hockey league comprised of four teams: the Buffalo Beauts, Boston Pride, Connecticut Whale, and Metropolitan Riveters. The Isobel Cup is the league’s championship trophy, named after Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy, the daughter of Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, donor of the Stanley Cup.
The average salary of an NWHL player is between $6,000 and $20,000 a year for a 16 game schedule plus playoffs.
“Our goal is to support the NWHL’s efforts to grow the game and foster equality through sports. As such, a portion of all of our sales go to the players and their efforts to grow women’s hockey,” said Phillips.
Check out the Kickstarter for KICKING ICE.
In the Winter Olympics this year the U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team is in Group A alongside Canada, Finland, and Russia, and will open the competition Sunday, February 11 against Finland at 2:40 a.m. ET.
Complete 2018 U.S. OLYMPIC ICE HOCKEY SCHEDULE
